New Bullet Concept… CRAZY?

[MT-JONAS]

For whatever reason I've never even bothered to research the idea. I do confess I tend to get hung up on SD and BC numbers. I forget that if I limit my shots to 500 yds there are plenty of excellent bullets available for my needs. But I'm always looking for a better mousetrap when I really don't need one. Right? Right?

After doing some online searches (and you guys helping) I see that companies have already tried this very idea.

Again the Bible is correct when it says in Ecc 1:7
That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.

Not even my bullet idea

 

[Petey308]

You mean like this?

It became an issue of cost effectiveness. It was scrapped because it seemed to be a better financial decision to focus on other more cost effectiveness options. Didn't mean it didn't work or there's not something to it.

 

[fseaman.js]

You mean like this?

View attachment 640484

It became an issue of cost effectiveness. It was scrapped because it seemed to be a better financial decision to focus on other more cost effectiveness options. Didn't mean it didn't work or there's not something to it.

Barnes X?

 

[Petey308]

Barnes X?

Its the MRX

 

[adam32+P]

You mean like this?

View attachment 640484

It became an issue of cost effectiveness. It was scrapped because it seemed to be a better financial decision to focus on other more cost effectiveness options. Didn't mean it didn't work or there's not something to it.

If I remember right, accuracy was horrible is why they scrapped them?

 

[fseaman.js]

If I remember right, accuracy was horrible is why they scrapped them?

Revisiting the idea. I think that is a challenge as well.

It make be that a tungsten core would need to be football shaped inside the jacket.

 

[Petey308]

If I remember right, accuracy was horrible is why they scrapped them?

I'm sure it didn't help. They claimed not cost effective, but that sounds better than "they sucked" lol. Anytime you introduce variables that have the potential to induce imbalances in flight, it becomes really tricky. Even some regular lead cores have issues at times with things like non-concentric jackets or imperfections in the core, etc

 

[Petey308]

Revisiting the idea. I think that is a challenge as well.

It make be that a tungsten core would need to be football shaped inside the jacket.

Eh, the football shape (prolate spheroid) helps with aerodynamics and stability, but if only the core went from traditional shape to the football shape, it wouldn't help stability because the center of pressure vs center of mass is relative to the aerodynamic forces- so the exterior chape. So changing the shape of the core alone won't help.

Whatever the core's shape, it has to be consistent from bullet to bullet and positioned consistently from bullet to bullet as well, otherwise one bullet will fly differently than the next or previous one.

 

[bigngreen]

Balance seems an issue, they functioned like TTSX, at the ranges they would have been an advantage the accuracy wasn't there and price was such that none of us really wanted to spend more than the average time to dial in vs TTSX.

 

[Petey308]

I would also think being tail heavy would by itself create an imbalance or the potential of one. I would theorize that upon impact, the heavier tail would be more apt to try to overcome the front of the mushroomed bullet and induce tumbling. You'd likely really need the petals to open very abruptly to help offset that. Something like this may work better with a petal shedding mono.

So lets take that idea. You could maybe lathe turn a soft copper and create the usual cavity in the nose to allow for the petals to shed, then drill out the base and press in a tungsten core. Perhaps an added benefit would be that after the petals shed, the remaining "cap" around the tungsten core would allow for the opposing forces of the tissues to push against the harder tungsten and create more of a mushroomed front of that remaining shank that will still produce disproportionate wounding to shank size, That is, more so than the current designs out there with copper alone.

The petals shedding upon impact would help keep the heavier tail from wanting to overcome the nose, as the center of pressure and center of gravity both shift rearward together as that shedding occurs, keeping it stable still.

This is just a theory and would need to be tested. The huge downside would still be cost and whether it's actually worth that added cost.

 

[fruitnut]

The Hornaday ELD-VT are heavy in the rear. They require more twist than similar weight V-max. Maybe that's all due to the longer length. Maybe in part due to the weight distribution.

 

[Poor_choices]

The Speer African Grand Slam solids had a tungsten core. I used those in a 458 Win Mag probably 20 years ago. Accuracy was within reason for the rifle I had, but I remember the bullets being pretty expensive.

 

[Critter Picker]

As heavy as tungsten is,if it was a hair off center the vibration at 300,000 RPM would be a lot.

On the other hand,have you ever dissected a military black tipped (armor piercing) bullet?

Do it. Your idea isn't really new.

 

[Calvin45]

Barnes Mrx.

Also if using pure tungsten you may run afoul of laws regarding armor piercing bullets. A penetrator rod.

But no the idea isn't crazy at all and I've thought of this kind of thing myself quite a bit. Of course I'd rather just use lead. It's cheap, it's still pretty dense, and it's malleable which is good. Of course, it's not lead free…

Winchester had this idea as well, with lead, in the now discontinued XP3 bullet.