Shooting out bullet facts

[MeghanOOD]

https://oodmag.com/shooting-out-bullet-facts/

It's common for hunters to think that a bigger bullet is better. In the old days, it was mostly true. We dug deeper and did some testing.

[Gun Nut]

https://oodmag.com/shooting-out-bullet-facts/

It's common for hunters to think that a bigger bullet is better. In the old days, it was mostly true. We dug deeper and did some testing.

It wasn't the fact that hunters thought that bigger bullets were better, but rather they were attempting to arrive at greater killing energy. the big bullets heyday was back when black powder was in use and they were working with soft lead bullets. Black powder bullet velocity generally topped out at about 1500 fps. Bullet killing energy is a product of both velocity and bullet weight, so if bullet velocity topped out at round 1500 fps the only thing you could do to create more killing energy was to increase the size and mass of the bullets you used. If you push a 200 grain bullet at 1500 fps you arrive at a killing energy of about 1000 ft-lbs. However if you increase the bullets diameter and weight to 340 grains, at 1500 fps you arrive at a killing energy of about 1700 ft-lbs. Jacket bullets and the velocity generate by smokeless powder meant that a smaller diameter and lighter jacketed bullet travelling at a higher velocity could match or exceed the killing energy of larger bullets, with velocity tipping the balance rather then bullet mass. For example a 30 caliber bullet weighing 150 grains travelling at 2400 fps provides a killing energy of about 1920 ft-lbs. meanwhile a soft lead core surround by a protective copper jacket made for something of a mushrooming effect, expanding the size of the wound track, setting up a small entrance hole followed by a large exit hole. The kill being achieved by the shocking energy of the bullet.

You don't stop hunting because you grow old. You grow old because you stop hunting.
- Gun Nut

[Terrible_E]

Lead is old news, copper alloy monolith bullets are the future. We have the technology and components now to make copper alloy bullets that work better than lead. However you're better off reloading them considering the price right now of good quality copper alloy bullets.

[DanE]

I watched a great little video on YouTube put out by Meateater about the differences between lead, bonded and copper bullets
they have fantastic slowmo videos that show frame by frame bullet performance at 140, 300 and 500 yards

[Terrible_E]

I just watched that as well, it is a fun video. They did one thing that I really liked, which was to put a bone into the ballistics gel. Ballistic gel is generally accepted as the best solution for testing but keep in mind it is a uniform density and a body isn't.

I did not like that they used different bullet weights and off the shelf ammo. The most scientific way to measure the differences would be to make the same weight of bullet traveling at the same velocity. I also would have liked to see the expansion and weight retention of each round after all 3 shots. That being said they do attempt to address this issue even if the explanation was limited.

The results of the test mirror what I have found and what's generally known about the differences between copper and lead bullets. I wish the sniper fella they had on went into more detail about the differences in velocity and how that affects different bullet materials. Basically the further you push the copper the faster it has to be going initially. Copper looses velocity faster then lead does and as you can see factory ammo at 500 yrds doesn't even expand correctly. You would need a round with a bigger case or use a faster burning powder to make that effective.

At the ranges they tested which are a better representation of the types of shots we would be able to take here in Ontario copper is either just as effective as bonded lead (they call it a close second in the video but honestly the damage difference is almost indistinguishable and on a more practical note just as deadly) or slightly superior. I will also add that of all the off the shelf copper ammo I have tried federal was the absolute worst.

All in all I think what we have is a video produced by a hunting lifestyle company that does a really good job of walking the line of showing people that copper can be as effective if not more effective and not alienating their base of support by appearing to be elitist about bullet selection. There are some important details left out and their methodology could use a little tweeking but overall a great video.