Why do you use Match bullets hunting?
- Thread starter coop2564
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memtb
Well-Known Member
memtbIt's all better than trying to hunt long range with an Adl Adl. They have a pretty low BC.
Lots of good points on many posts. One thing I have seen is a lot of inconsistent bullet expansion in videos. For instance, Tipped game changers, ELDX & ELDM, and especially bergers. Watched one video every 143 ELDX 6.5cm he shot into only gel blew up into many tiny peaces and it was factory ammo (maybe just a bad soft batch, but it happened). Yet I have seen many other videos where they mushroom nicely and lose about 50% weight. Bergers are very inconsistent, some mushroom, some break into many large chunks and some tumble and look like a banana (but they kill in all 3 cases) key for bergers is they penetrate 3-5 inches before they do what they are going to do, many bullets start expanding almost immediately and cannot penetrate well if they strike the shoulder muscles and bone. The bullets that behave the most consistent are in fact mono's, and bonded bullets. If mono's have a hollow tip they can plug and pencil threw but have yet to see a tipped one do that. But Mono's are very velocity dependent. So, for me bonded are just the most reliable for hunting. Never seen one in any median not open or blowup if shot at normal velocities. I think unbonded cup and core and match bullets can make some spectacular kills, but also make some horrible failures. Just my 2 cents.
Shootin4fun
Well-Known Member
One option missing from the poll: " I don't hunt with match bullets because where i hunt requires mono hunting bullets only. "
Shootin4fun
Well-Known Member
Haha, i called Berger about this.
So, I know Communist California requires mono. Are there other states?
FireFlyFishing
Well-Known Member
Hah! Can't argue with this logic!
wapitiaddict
Well-Known Member
I stopped using TTSX because I had pencil throughs on a cow elk and then a muley buck. They were 120gr TTSX out of a 270 win. The cow elk was shot at about 250-275 yards. The deer was about 225 yards.
The cow elk would have gotten away had I not shot it 3 times. Two of the bullets had penciled. The buck only took one shot and didn't go far, and I guess the bullet resulted in a dead deer. But upon inspection of the wound channel I just didn't like what I saw and it looked like the bullet pretty much penciled through. The exit wound was basically the same size as entrance. After that I decided to switch to bonded bullets and other lead cores and haven't regretted it. I regularly get pass throughs on bull elk and have excellent wound channels and large exit wounds. And bulls pile up quickly.
I know a lot of people swear by monos or solid coppers, but I wasn't impressed. Maybe I didn't give them enough of a chance, but I didn't like what i was experiencing and didn't want to chance it on another animal. YMMV
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BigNate
Well-Known Member
To the OP.....I usually try not to hurt sensitive people's feelings, BUT........
If you're still asking this question you don't possess the intelligence to understand the answers.
If you're still asking this question you don't possess the intelligence to understand the answers.
Many more choices for all copper bullets than just Barnes. Not all copper bullets are made the same. Some mushroom and some some shed the nose petals. I do understand how bad performance of a bullet can turn you off. But don't be afraid to try a different all copper bullet.
RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
Not all copper bullets are created the same. There are a ton of different manufacturing processes and exponential choices of copper alloy and variations within specific alloys. You can't lump all copper bullets into the same category any more than you can lump all lead core bullets into one category. Probably the biggest hurdle that we had to overcome when we started manufacturing bullets was finding the copper alloy that would do what we wanted a hunting bullet to do. We had no idea that diff copper alloys would play such a role in terminal performance. We just thought that if we got the most pure copper available it would work the best. Well, it didn't work and at this point we had a cnc lathe set up in my garage and needed to try and get some return on our investment. We ran the first couple of years with copper that is commonly used by other manufacturers, even though it would not perform terminally the way we wanted. It was the best we could find, until we found the alloy that we currently use. I was continuously studying copper alloys trying to figure out what we should use to get the performance standards that we set. Literally by God's grace (because we aren't that smart) we found the alloy that we use today. We are able to control the percent of weight retention base on the depth that we drill the hollow point. Weight retention is not dependent on impact vel. We are also able to control our weight retention without having to score or create weak points in the bullet to help initiate expansion. This is often done with broaching. It is a good way to overcome the poor performance, of the cheapest most common copper alloy, at impact velocity below 2500 fps. Problem is it makes the bullet come apart too easily and you lose the "pop" or shock that is created on the impact. Also it causes the shed petals to radiate outwardly too much and the wound channel winds up being small after the shedding. When our bullets shed the petals they will tend to travel along with the retained shank and usually exit around the shank. This gives us the "pop" or shock that is associated with the highly frangible lead core bullets as well as good straight line penetration with a large permanent wound channel all the way through the animal.
All of this gives us a greater temporary and permanent wound channel at a wider range of impact velocity than any other projectile on the market. We set the bar for terminal performance with our Hammer Hunter line of bullets and now we have raised the bar with our new line of Hammer HHT polymer tipped bullets. We have yet to find a ceiling where impact vel is too high and we retain the same weight down to 1700-1800 fps, depending on which Hammer Bullet you are using. We have impact tested over 4000 fps and still retain the same weight as low velocity impacts.
I am sure that someone will pop in here and try and say that it is not possible for us to make a bullet that works better. They are simply wrong and have no real world experience with Hammer Bullets. And probably not much with other mono's or lead core bullets.
wapitiaddict
Well-Known Member
I apologize, I agree my last comments were too generalized regarding copper alloy bullets. One day maybe I'll try another brand of copper bullets. I guess my experience with the Barnes TTSX, the first solid that I tried, got me a little "gun shy" with the category. Again, I know many have had great experiences with the TTSX and other coppers.
Shane Lindsey
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They just tranysitioned
