.30-06 Copper head advice

[Twodogs]

Perhaps the moderators can generate a sticky for reference to the correct terminologies commonly used in shooting/stalking?

 

[Olaf]

Haven’t read the website. But Bullets like the Evo which use a zinc, tin or other non lead fragmenting core are in many ways no better than a lead core.

You still have the fundamental problem of the bullet fragmenting inside the carcass send fragments of metal throughout the carcass. This still leaves plenty of meat contaminated with metal fragments that are too small to be seen with naked eye, thus unlikely to be removed and will end up in food products.

Monolithic bullets such as the Barnes, RWS HIT etc work by openIng up but remaining in one piece. They cause damage by cutting their way through the animal, but retaining 99% of their mass.

Most of the cored bullets loose a large proportion of their mass as they go through, especially if they hit any solid bone.

A good friend tried the Geco Zero in 7x57. Deer looked they had been hit with an explosive 20mm cannon bullet. He stopped using them.

I suspect different brands and designs will act differently. But I think they are there for hunters who only want to use a cored bullet, or perhaps its manufacturers trying to find use for their traditional bullet manufacturing lines.

But I would ask the question of whats the point of the complexity of making a multicored bonded type bullet, when a solid piece of copper alloy can easily be turned into a highly effective bullet that is accurate, penetrates and damages all the vitals, doesn’t cause huge meat damage and doesn’t contaminate the meat with metal fragments.

The material density argument doesn’t hold water either. Both Tin and Zinc are less dense than lead. And monolithic copper bullets are being used to shoot game out as far as we can reliably hit animals.

Now that the monolithic technology is well understood there are plenty of different options. Just looking through RWS site - they have just released their “Driven Hunt” which is round nosed, with a large hollow point, with the round nose plug acting to initiate expansion. It is designed to rapidly dump all its energy at close range but remain in one piece with an exit. Looks very much like Peregrine Bush Master which is being used in African bush on big game.

As for low velocity- have a look at videos of the 8.6 Blackout - 300gn monolithic at subsonic velocities being used on the likes of buffalo.

I agree with most of what you say, only, if you want something that behaves like a lead bullet, then the evo green does it in certain cartridge/ load configurations.
Is lead necessary in hunting cartridges for deer or wild boar hunting; in my opinion I’d say no.
I’m using the RWS evo green because it stops game much quicker , at longer ranges , (+100 m) than the full alloy bullets that I’ve tried . I’m no expert, but, over the past 200 shots fired, I feel happy with the evo green rws. Maybe this winter I will try something different. At present I’ve recovered a few evo green bullets from carcasses and they were perfect little mushrooms. Weight loss was the „expansion tip“.
All in all, if it works for you and your situation then why not use it ?
Kindest regards, Olaf

 

[Heym SR20]

I agree with most of what you say, only, if you want something that behaves like a lead bullet, then the evo green does it in certain cartridge/ load configurations.
Is lead necessary in hunting cartridges for deer or wild boar hunting; in my opinion I’d say no.
I’m using the RWS evo green because it stops game much quicker , at longer ranges , (+100 m) than the full alloy bullets that I’ve tried . I’m no expert, but, over the past 200 shots fired, I feel happy with the evo green rws. Maybe this winter I will try something different. At present I’ve recovered a few evo green bullets from carcasses and they were perfect little mushrooms. Weight loss was the „expansion tip“.
All in all, if it works for you and your situation then why not use it ?
Kindest regards, Olaf

No argument from me. But in my experience using monolithics - fox, peregrine, RWS HIT - is that pretty much all I have shot has dropped on the spot, or only gone a few paces. Where they have gone a little further or just stood stiff legged as if nothing much has happened its been down to my shot placement being a bit far back through the lungs.