Since I've had zero experience with solid copper bullets. I was wanting to know from the more seasoned reloaders if there is any place for them in long range shooting? I've talked to hunters that swear by them and claim accuracy but hunting is more of a one shot a year sport! There's quite a few of those to choose from but I'm needing feedback from the hide.
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Solid copper bullets
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Barnes are the new revelation in hunting bullets.The next comparable is the Hornady GMX.i.e.a similar manufacturing process. Run up some GMX in 130gr for a mates 270 T3 for stags.We run 55gr Barnes in 223 and 62gr Barnes in 223WSSM. These pills really tag everything. Mean penetration.We recovered a 55gr TSX which tipped over a big stag @ 200m on the run.[2 weeks ago in our rut down here in Godzone] Perfect peel back on the petals. It weighed 54.9gr. First time we have ever recovered any projectile.
He probably means that is the first one that stayed in the animal. I'd say cost would be a big factor, at least it would be for me. Accuracy wise they generally shoot very well. I've tested the barnes (.224's) on deer sized game, and never recovered one either. They will shoot through both shoulders on a broadside shot. The ones I tested didn't leave a large exit hole and the animals didn't bleed much at all.
When reloading pay attention to statring loads, pressure tends to be higher on an all copper bullet. Also, they are generally longer vs a lead core bullet, so if you are on the edge of your twist rate they may not work where a lead core would.
When reloading pay attention to statring loads, pressure tends to be higher on an all copper bullet. Also, they are generally longer vs a lead core bullet, so if you are on the edge of your twist rate they may not work where a lead core would.
All I wanted to say but said much better.Need a fast twist i.e. 8 or smaller. The beauty of them is that you can use a smaller projectile that performs way beyond its diameter [.224].We run the 55's with BM2 and 62 with 2209 [4350 for you guys].Put it this way if the US army used TSX in their main frontline weapons can't see many insurgents running across in front of them. It would poleaxe them .
That's where I was confused. First he was talking about great penetration, yet this is the first bullet he found in the animal. I'm still trying to figure out what copper bullets have over jacketed lead bullets.
The one thing they have over lead bullets is penetration. They stay together better and generally penetrate deeper. For general use the positives probably don't outweigh the cost. Solid copper bullets are used in premium hunting loads, glass penetration rounds, and in larger calibers like 338, 375s and 408s are sometimes turned on a lathe...for very expensive speciality rounds. Some heavy 30 cals are being turned for subsonic ammo.
The negatives are premium cost, and increased copper fouling (although this has been improved over the years). For .30 cal and smaller I'd stick with lead core for normal range use.
The negatives are premium cost, and increased copper fouling (although this has been improved over the years). For .30 cal and smaller I'd stick with lead core for normal range use.
The Barnes TTSX or LRX are excellent hunting bullets, the TSX works too,but it's of a tougher construction, and slower expansion makes it even more dependent on velocity.
In my opinion there is no better hunting bullets available for short to medium range hunting, clean and quick kills, with little meat damage, good terminal effect, and incredible penetration, never found a projectile left in a animal yet, even with my 308 broadside shots on Moose.
For long range hunting more fragnible bullets will perform better like a A-max, Berger hunting, Accubonds etc.
There is also one more thing you must understand about these bullets, they are dependent on velocity or a lot of resistance to deliver proper terminal effect and expansion, and the lighter weight bullets will usually perform better in any caliber, with some moderation on heavy game, a long with the fact that they are longer then a normal lead core bullet.
Below 2000-2200 fps the performance of the bullets will drop drastically, the expansion will be less and the terminal effect will lessen, witch can lead to slow kills at longer ranges.
I do suspect a lot of shooters, look first at the bc and choose the heaviest bullets for they're caliber , at fairly low velocity, witch is counter productive to the design of these bullets, and the length can some times give issues with the twist rate.
Witch both will leave the user with some of the undesirable results i have read a lot of times.
These bullets has they're limitations, but when used the right way they will perform admirably from my experience.
This is just my personal experience though,have shot around a 100 deer and some Moose with Barnes ttsx,lrx and tsx.
So my hunting is most likely more then one shot a year, or i would be quite seasoned by now ^^
The gmx i have no experience with.
However i have used/tried, Partitions,Accubonds, A Frame, Scirocco, Game king, Oryx and Interbonds.
And for use out to 3-400 meters depending on the caliber Barnes is my choice at least.
My favorite big game bullets currently, is the 284 145 gr lrx, while i use 180 berger hybrids for target shooting.
As the Barnes bullets usually shoot well with some jump, the accuracy has been good.
For long range shooting, if your looking for solid copper bullets only, you can find very consistent lathe turned copper bullets, that work very well with the proper twist rate, they normally cost a lot though and is often for bigger calibers.
If your just looking for target bullets that will perform well at long range, Berger, Lapua, SIerra and Hornady.
Provides that for a reasonable price and with bullets designed for the task.
There are also some good custom bullets out there, like JLK, Matrix and Cauterico for a price.
In my opinion there is no better hunting bullets available for short to medium range hunting, clean and quick kills, with little meat damage, good terminal effect, and incredible penetration, never found a projectile left in a animal yet, even with my 308 broadside shots on Moose.
For long range hunting more fragnible bullets will perform better like a A-max, Berger hunting, Accubonds etc.
There is also one more thing you must understand about these bullets, they are dependent on velocity or a lot of resistance to deliver proper terminal effect and expansion, and the lighter weight bullets will usually perform better in any caliber, with some moderation on heavy game, a long with the fact that they are longer then a normal lead core bullet.
Below 2000-2200 fps the performance of the bullets will drop drastically, the expansion will be less and the terminal effect will lessen, witch can lead to slow kills at longer ranges.
I do suspect a lot of shooters, look first at the bc and choose the heaviest bullets for they're caliber , at fairly low velocity, witch is counter productive to the design of these bullets, and the length can some times give issues with the twist rate.
Witch both will leave the user with some of the undesirable results i have read a lot of times.
These bullets has they're limitations, but when used the right way they will perform admirably from my experience.
This is just my personal experience though,have shot around a 100 deer and some Moose with Barnes ttsx,lrx and tsx.
So my hunting is most likely more then one shot a year, or i would be quite seasoned by now ^^
The gmx i have no experience with.
However i have used/tried, Partitions,Accubonds, A Frame, Scirocco, Game king, Oryx and Interbonds.
And for use out to 3-400 meters depending on the caliber Barnes is my choice at least.
My favorite big game bullets currently, is the 284 145 gr lrx, while i use 180 berger hybrids for target shooting.
As the Barnes bullets usually shoot well with some jump, the accuracy has been good.
For long range shooting, if your looking for solid copper bullets only, you can find very consistent lathe turned copper bullets, that work very well with the proper twist rate, they normally cost a lot though and is often for bigger calibers.
If your just looking for target bullets that will perform well at long range, Berger, Lapua, SIerra and Hornady.
Provides that for a reasonable price and with bullets designed for the task.
There are also some good custom bullets out there, like JLK, Matrix and Cauterico for a price.
For hunting they're great, for target shooting don't bother. They're not target bullets and aren't designed as such. On-game performance is a huge part of a hunting bullet's design criteria and gnat's azz accuracy usually takes a backseat to that. I'm not saying that hunters don't demand an accurate bullet, but an accurate bullet that fails after impact isn't desirable from a hunting point of view. A target bullet's job is done as soon at impact, post impact performance doesn't matter so it's optimized strictly for precision. They're just two different design criteria, you don't buy a corvette if you want to tow a travel trailer and you don't buy a pickup if you want to race Le Mans.
Barnes TSX/TTSX/LRX all copper bullets are optimized for hunting. They'll typically shoot well but in most accurate rifles you're going to be able to get a berger or matchking to shoot better with a little tweaking, plus they're a lot cheaper than the Barnes.
Barnes TSX/TTSX/LRX all copper bullets are optimized for hunting. They'll typically shoot well but in most accurate rifles you're going to be able to get a berger or matchking to shoot better with a little tweaking, plus they're a lot cheaper than the Barnes.
The barnes TSX etc are different from what you may have heard called "solids"-the solids are made for penetration on hardheaded dangerous game like rhinos and elephants etc.
The TSX etc are very high performance hunting bullets that will expand without coming apart and retain probably at least 95% of their weight for penetration. They are also longer for a given weight, so make sure they will stabilize with your rifling. If you normally shoot a 180 gr, you'll probably have to drop down to a 165 or even a 150 to maintain the same bullet length. Barnes will usually give the rifling twist requirements in their load data, and it's printed right on the box for the 22 caliber bullets I have at home.
The TSX etc are very high performance hunting bullets that will expand without coming apart and retain probably at least 95% of their weight for penetration. They are also longer for a given weight, so make sure they will stabilize with your rifling. If you normally shoot a 180 gr, you'll probably have to drop down to a 165 or even a 150 to maintain the same bullet length. Barnes will usually give the rifling twist requirements in their load data, and it's printed right on the box for the 22 caliber bullets I have at home.
