Copper bullets - the limitations

haven't seen prices for the copper bullets here in Ireland yet, any of ye have a price range from the UK for common caliber's.
 
They are a little bit more expensive, but - in my opinion - not enough to matter. My own concerns with copper bullets relate more to welfare and freedom-of-choice issues.

Take a look at 1967Spud for relative pricing in the UK.

just had a look ya don't mind the price a such, its the welfare of the animal i'm afraid of will they be up to the same standards of your conventional lead bullets.
 
just had a look ya don't mind the price a such, its the welfare of the animal i'm afraid of will they be up to the same standards of your conventional lead bullets.
There's a few good threads with discussions on the subject. Have a browse. I am a sceptic and quite resistant to copper; however, there are several people on here whose views I respect that have been using them to good effect for many years.
 
There's a few good threads with discussions on the subject. Have a browse. I am a sceptic and quite resistant to copper; however, there are several people on here whose views I respect that have been using them to good effect for many years.
Carl you are definitely slowing coming round!
 
Just some feedback and a question,
118grn VLR4 at 100m 5 shot average fps 2936, ES 11, at COL 76.7mm - 83 thou jump fantastic 7mm group ctc.
Now the question Nielson Sonic 120 which all the equations say should be stable in 1 in 8.3 twist goes in sideways at 2850fps, range =100m.HOW? WHY?
 
For interests sake only these are some Barnes TTSX bullets I dug out of our range backstop last w/e after some testing.

My concern would be, relying on expansion at anything below 2,200fps for a humane and quick kill with any of these wouldn't be advisable.

The .308 really did perform the closest to a cup/core bullet but at range of 300m (even 250m) it's fallen off way too much to keep this up but may well be adequate. The 6.5x55 100g's appear to mushroom nicely with a bit of velocity to spare for further distance. The 120g's at just over 2,500fps were already showing signs that at further range they would be coming up against their limitations.

If the 6.5 bullets were more accurate I would do this test at 200m and 300m but their accuracy is so shite they might hit my chrono!
 

Attachments

  • 308 & 6.5x55 Barnes TTSX TV @ 100m.webp
    308 & 6.5x55 Barnes TTSX TV @ 100m.webp
    47.5 KB · Views: 40
@brave echo niner , QL seriously underestimates mv for all non-lead bullets with driving bands, predicted by QL 2857, found by chrono that load gave 3018fps. This due to the fact that the driving band produces less friction, and engraving a driving band requires less energy than engraving a normal bullet, even through the material is harder.

Most of the 'boutique' bullet manufacturers are using cnc machines, which whilst being capable of a high output, it is nowhere near as fast as the pressure forming process, and driving bands give problems for pressure forming in that they probably require a split mould to facilitate bullet release. This would be more expensive, complex and slower than the normal process. The advantages of CNC machining is that minor changes to the bullet shape can be made very easily,-a few lines of code have to be changed, as opposed to waiting for a new mould to be made and installed. Similarly a different sized calibre can be made merely by loading a different program and feedstock.
Or……..

QL has underestimated the pressure and in fact the higher velocity is down to higher pressure. Without proper pressure testing equipment you just don’t know!
 
For interests sake only these are some Barnes TTSX bullets I dug out of our range backstop last w/e after some testing.

My concern would be, relying on expansion at anything below 2,200fps for a humane and quick kill with any of these wouldn't be advisable.

The .308 really did perform the closest to a cup/core bullet but at range of 300m (even 250m) it's fallen off way too much to keep this up but may well be adequate. The 6.5x55 100g's appear to mushroom nicely with a bit of velocity to spare for further distance. The 120g's at just over 2,500fps were already showing signs that at further range they would be coming up against their limitations.

If the 6.5 bullets were more accurate I would do this test at 200m and 300m but their accuracy is so shite they might hit my chrono!
Getting great accuracy in my 260 rem with 100 grain ttsx ( 1-8 twist ) by that I mean sub moa most often 0.5 moa out to 250 yards . Not got as good from 120s but haven't messed with that load much as I only bought a single box of 50, none the less I haven't seen bigger groups than moa . I will be pushing the speed a bit though haven't bothered to chrono yet I just went up till I found a stiff bolt and extractor marks as is my common practice then backed off ( on a hit day ) I don't recommend the practice to others just saying what I do
100 expand really well , 120 expand similar at the front but being longer you get more of a shank on them . Every expanded round recovered 100% weight retention into soft peaty ground again only out to 250 yards but thats further than most sporting folks shoot deer anyhow .
 
Back
Top