I thought I might revive this thread; there is a lot of talk around copper bullets and non-lead ammunition and this is a pretty good repository of knowledge and experience relating to one of the best-known brands in the UK.
A few months back (apologies I have been occupied with competitive shooting and my day job) I arranged a range day at the National Shooting Centre, for the Deer Management Group that I am a member of. There were 11 of us in total, the weather was outstanding, and the NRA were exceptionally helpful. Anyway, as with any
good marksmanship training, we set some objectives from the outset.
- Establish baseline confidence in head/neck shooting.
- Demonstrate differences in terminal performance between different calibres and different projectiles (primarily lead vs copper).
- Establish baseline confidence in the use of copper projectiles across the team.
I stopped at 3 because my brain can only retain 3 bits of information at one time; those of you who remember it, I am pretty sure that "Stop, Drop, Roll" was invented specifically in case I caught fire.
Anyway, we went about achieving these objectives in order; mainly because developing precision seemed like a relatively simple thing to achieve in 8 hours; so even if I failed with the other 2, it wouldn't be an entirely wasted day!
Establishing confidence in head/neck shooting. As I have said before, I am fully aware of the ethical arguments against such practice and I won't address them here; If you feel the need to publicly voice your opinion, there are several other threads on SD that offer such an opportunity. We manage a sizeable herd of Fallow in an enclosure, as well as a significant number of wild animal as part of our DMG. In order to maximise the commercial value of the venison we produce, we aim to head-shoot or neck-shoot wherever possible without bringing animal welfare into question. Over the past 12 months, we have noticed that across the DMG, there is significant variation in the ratio of head-shot deer to chest-shot deer. Having witnessed people taking chest shots on occasions where I would have taken a head shot, I began asking "why?". The response was simple and very reassuring; "I wasn't confident in taking such a shot".
Given that all of us within the DMG undertake a regular marksmanship assessment, I knew that the issue was unlikely to be the standard of their shooting, and more likely to be the lack of confidence that their ability would translate to effective head-shooting. Now, while you're sat reading this, it is easy to think "a 1 inch group is a 1 inch group, regardless of where you put it". However, when you consider the following, head-shooting becomes a far more daunting prospect:
- Chest-shooting is taught as best practice from the very outset in deer stalking.
- Most deer-related marksmanship training and testing occurs on targets where the 'kill zone' is the chest.
- All of the shooting in DSC1 and DSC2 is aimed at chest-shooting (except humane dispatch).
- There is less apparent margin for error with head-shooting.
- Injuries that result from a poorly placed shot have the potential to be far more shocking that those from a poorly placed chest shot.
- Head-shooting remains something of a taboo in many deer stalking circles; this forum and my perceived need to include a caveat at the start of this topic serve as a great example of what I'm talking about.
So, this seemed like a fairly simple nut to crack...... get people shooting at the head of the deer targets to establish the maximum distance at which each person can reliably head-shoot deer, followed by a discussion regarding the benefits, the risks, people's own experiences, and how the practice is perceived within the DMG and the wider community,including the general public. By doing so, we ensured that the next time an animal presents, each person is able to make an informed decision; is it close enough for them to deliver a well-placed shot? And an educated decision; is it something that they are comfortable doing given all of the psychological factors. I won't say what the average distance achieved was as it serves no purpose. This is a very personal thing that every individual needs to work out for themselves.
Demonstrate differences in terminal performance between different calibres and different projectiles. So many variables and not enough time (or ballistic gel) to explore the effects of each. As such, we chose 4 rifles (because we had 4 block of gel) that represented common calibres and fired a combination of lead and copper projectiles at 60yds. We had intended to use 8 blocks and a wider variety of calibres and projectiles but a fridge failure and a couple of last-minute no-shows meant we were unable to do so. Anyway, the combinations used were:
- 300 AAC BLK with 140gr Virtus Eagle at around 2100fps (intended to replicate a .308 Win at distance)
- .243 Win with 70gr Virtus Merlin at around 3450fps
- .308 Win with 165gr Sierra Gameking at around 2700fps
- .270 Win with 150 Rem Core Lokt.... going very fast!
I won't bore you with all the detail but having fired each one at a block of ballistic gel (if anyone if really interested in the specifics of the gel, feel free to ask) there were some key takeaways for each calibre/projectile.
- The 300 BLK generated around half of the excitement from its gel that the 270 produced, indicating a moderate temporary wound channel (it is worth noting that the reduced impact velocity afforded by the 300BLK represented a .308 impact at around 280 yards). However, the projectile followed a beautifully straight trajectory through the gel, broke up uniformly and resulted in a wide permanent wound channel that penetrated the full width of the block. Ideal for use in a 300BLK for smaller deer at standard distances (that's precisely what I use it for!) or in a 308 for any UK deer at extended ranges.
- The .243 made it no more than halfway through the block (approx 20cm) having completely disassembled itself. Upon inspection, the owner confirmed that he was unsurprised and had deliberately loaded to such a velocity in order to see if copper would withstand it better than lead; it turns out that the Merlin performs about the same as lead projectiles when fired at the speed of light! Having personally experienced Barnes TSX fired from my 220 Swift do the very same on CWD and Muntjac at around the same distance, it appears that past a certain point, velocity plays a greater part in determining terminal performance than the projectile itself. Collectively we agreed that this demonstrated 2 things: The pitfalls of extracting higher velocities from a .243 (especially when deer are the quarry); and related to that, in 'faster' calibres, heavier projectiles are better suited to the needs of our DMG.
- The 308 appeared to cause a significant temporary wound channel as the gel moved more than it did with the 300BLK but less than with the 270. Interestingly though, it made the narrowest and least uniform of all the permanent wound channels. Based on experience of using Gamekings and the experiences of others using them, I would assess that the projectile broke up rapidly upon striking the gel and that the narrow permanent wound channel was a result of the core separating from it's jacket and passing through the remainder of the block without imparting much energy. A good combination for vermin but perhaps not ideal for small deer if meat damage is a concern and not ideal for large deer where penetration may well be key.
- The 270 sent its block of gel somersaulting over the target frame, indicating a huge temporary wound channel not observed with any of the other rifles. It also resulted in a significant permanent channel too. Great for larger deer where meat damage is not a concern, or if you are head-shooting. Not great for smaller deer or any deer where meet damage is of concern...... Interestingly, the rifle and ammo belongs to our Game Dealer!
Those budding scientists and engineers amongst you will have noted that there was no 'Control' rifle/projectile combo, and we were unable to do any like-for-like testing. Nevertheless it proved very much worthwhile as within the context of the collective experience of the DMG, it demonstrated a number of things.
- The deliberate variation in terminal performance that is available across some manufacturers ranges of copper projectiles.
- The consistently poor (for deer, at least) terminal performance of any nature of projectile once you get above a certain velocity.
- The distance at which the right projectile might deliver an ethical killshot, assuming that you put it in the right place.
- The fact that selecting a good quality projectile, of the right nature for the task, driving it at a suitable velocity, and putting it in the right place can be used to effectively mitigate limitations in calibres, bullet weight, and even range.
Establish baseline confidence in the use of copper projectiles across the team. With the exception of some accuracy issues brought about by my assumptions regarding twist rates in certain calibres, the entire DMG warmed to copper projectiles. Conclusions ranged from "I may have been a little hasty to write of copper and should probably have a play with a few more" to "I won't bother buying any more lead projectiles; I'll switch to copper when my stash runs out".
There were 2 others who are already copper converts who took great pleasure in saying "I told you so" to those who didn't believe. Interestingly, all 3 of us use Virtus; the other 2 got there after trialling several other brands and I got there through sheer chance!
One final thought..... At the moment, the greatest barrier to many people experimenting more with copper is the limited availability/variety of factory loaded ammo. There are some but to my knowledge, nobody in the UK offers the variety in terminal performance available from projectiles such as Virtus, in factory ammunition. Not all of us have the time, inclination, money, space, etc to reload, so someone (maybe
@Virtus Precision UK) needs to step up and offer some less vanilla factory offerings that cater for a wider set of shooting needs!
I have attached a few photos. Excuse the colour of the gel, it was sat in my fridge for 3 weeks after being made and it slowly turned from 'well hydrated' to 'severely dehydrated' in colour!
The first one is of all 4, top to bottom: .270 Win, .308 Win, .243 Win, 300 BLK.
The second is ballistic gel shot with the .243 Win.
The last is the ballistic gel shot with the 300 BLK.
