Balistic tip , plastic or metal , pro and con

[VSS]

you're wrong.

It has been known.

 

[takbok]

What bullets are they?

Surely his own design.

@Tirea they look good. Hollow point without tip will probably expand best. Metal tips in yewtree bullets seem to work well and plastic tips in Barnes and others also work well.

 

[Smellydog]

Aircraft tend to have long, pointy noses for a reason...

maximus otter

Not all aircraft.

 

[Smellydog]

It's all splitting hairs. Bullet drop still happens. Gravity WILL have it's way.

It doesn't matter if you have to hold over by value x or y. You still got to do it and most shots in the UK hunting scene it won't mean diddly.

 

[12gsnapcaps]

I think the effect the tip has on Ballistic Coefficient and terminal expansion, in relation to the quarry and distances we shoot in the UK, isn't that important.

Now, Elk? Africa? Shooting a deer or bear over 700 yards in the USA? - Yeah OK it's probably a much bigger factor.

As others have said, find a reasonable priced bullet/cartridge from a reputable manufacturer producing over minimum legal energy levels that your rifle can repeatedly shoot accurately and stick with it.

I've shot the most deer with PPU and American Whitetail SP's and never had one get back up.

 

[slider]

I have no comments on the basic ballistics of either but as some that often carriers a loaded magazine in my pocket I sometimes wonder if the plastic tips could be damaged and affect the ballistics

 

[VSS]

I have no comments on the basic ballistics of either but as some that often carriers a loaded magazine in my pocket I sometimes wonder if the plastic tips could be damaged and affect the ballistics

If the pointy tip gets knocked even slightly out of true then the bullet will spiral in flight.
Same reason why pointy tipped air rifle pellets are notoriously less accurate than the traditional round nosed.

 

[tackb]

If the pointy tip gets knocked even slightly out of true then the bullet will spiral in flight.
Same reason why pointy tipped air rifle pellets are notoriously less accurate than the traditional round nosed.

interestingly the tip has much less affect on accuracy than base damage , read an interesting article on it once and it made me realise that what i thought up to then was wrong

 

[RCS Deer Management]

interestingly the tip has much less affect on accuracy than base damage , read an interesting article on it once and it made me realise that what i thought up to then was wrong

Correct, the point of a bullet can have a surprising amount of damage yet still fly true, yet even a slight defect in the boat tail/rear of the bullet will cause problems. My rifle really likes barnes lrx in 7mm, yet the plastic tips on them are all over the place!

 

[Jagged77]

Hornady did a podcast on ELD-M vs ELD-X bullets for hunting not too long ago - a very interesting listen. Im sure they covered a bit on ballistic tips and the science / purpose behind them in that episode.

 

[palmer_mike]

Surely his own design.

@Tirea they look good. Hollow point without tip will probably expand best. Metal tips in yewtree bullets seem to work well and plastic tips in Barnes and others also work well.

That explains it, as I was struggling to find a bullet that was available in both.

As bullets are usually only available in metal OR plastic tip,( and each bullet will have other design differences that are more likely to significantly affect terminal performance ) it’s not really possible for a meaningful comparison to be arrived at.

Note that the OP was quite specific in asking for experiences of using bullets in the field NOT IN THEORY

 

[enfieldspares]

FWIW British Mk VII GMJ ball ammunition was metal tipped. This was the cartridge adopted in 1907 and used throughout WWI, WWII and through the Korean War. The metal tip is only visible if you sectionalise a bullet or recover a bullet fired into sand. The tip was aluminium and had the effect of making the bullet longer for what would have been its actual length if made entirely as a monmetal lead cored bullet.

Two benefits of this feature where that its ballistic coefficient was improved and so the bullet shot flatter out to longer distance. However the real reason for the feature was to increase wounding as by having the aluminium filler the bullet became unstable in striking flesh or ;leather or webbing strapping and so would begin to initiate a tumble. Indeed the Germans in WWI complained that it was in fact contrary to the Hague Regulations.

Nowadays the less expensive way of improving the ballistic coefficient of a monometal lead cored bullet being made in great numbers is to have an open tip and this as less costly yet still producing a flatter trajectory is why many bullets sold for target use are made that way. In WWII at greater cost as it had to be sterilised paper aka as "fibre" was used as a tip filler for the Mk VII ball to conserve stocks of aluminium for other uses.

 

[Smellydog]

If the pointy tip gets knocked even slightly out of true then the bullet will spiral in flight.
Same reason why pointy tipped air rifle pellets are notoriously less accurate than the traditional round nosed.

Air gun pellets yaw and the low velocity and slow twist can cause issues with longer pellets.
Bullets tips even damaged with appropriate twists are still stable. The base of the bullet though if uneven or flawed will get a severe kick from the gasses escaping unevenly.

 

[Smellydog]

FWIW British Mk VII GMJ ball ammunition was metal tipped. This was the cartridge adopted in 1907 and used throughout WWI, WWII and through the Korean War. The metal tip is only visible if you sectionalise a bullet or recover a bullet fired into sand. The tip was aluminium and had the effect of making the bullet longer for what would have been its actual length if made entirely as a monmetal lead cored bullet.

Two benefits of this feature where that its ballistic coefficient was improved and so the bullet shot flatter out to longer distance. However the real reason for the feature was to increase wounding as by having the aluminium filler the bullet became unstable in striking flesh or ;leather or webbing strapping and so would begin to initiate a tumble. Indeed the Germans in WWI complained that it was in fact contrary to the Hague Regulations.

Nowadays the less expensive way of improving the ballistic coefficient of a monometal lead cored bullet being made in great numbers is to have an open tip and this as less costly yet still producing a flatter trajectory is why many bullets sold for target use are made that way. In WWII at greater cost as it had to be sterilised paper aka as "fibre" was used as a tip filler for the Mk VII ball to conserve stocks of aluminium for other uses.

A lead core jacketed bullet is not a monometal bullet by definition.

 

[enfieldspares]

A lead core jacketed bullet is not a monometal bullet by definition.

Yes, I can see that, and mayhe use of the expresssion "monometal lead cored" might have been better expressed as "uniform or solely lead cored" perhaps?

 

[Tirea]

Still waiting to hear what bullets you are using that are identical apart from tip material?

Predator hybrid with plastic tip and metal, and predator hollow point one next to plastic tip 30 caliber

 

[Tirea]

Plastic tips - tits on a bull
They do nothing more than impact external BC
Pull the tips and run the same bullet as a hollow point and you will see and increase in expansion. Tested them in clay and gel
Most ballistic tipped bullets that expand violently or have a reputation for expansion at range do so because the meplat is a very thin jacket
Compare ELD-X vs ELD-M

Metal tips with flat perpendicular shoulder to the meplat are much less significant than those with radial junctions to the hollow point
Peregrine are the latter
Tapping the tip (of the bullet!) on the table will nitiate meplat expansion
The rear of the hollow point has a radial surface like the back of a trumpet

Pro

 

[MarinePMI]

Probably the most violently expanding round I've ever used (modified Nosler RDF bullet). You don't want to have to eat anything you shoot with these....

 

[UpNorthMI]

Probably the most violently expanding round I've ever used (modified Nosler RDF bullet). You don't want to have to eat anything you shoot with these....

Interesting looking modification. I'm just about to start loading Nosler RDF in .224 70 grain weight for use in .223 and .22 ARC, I got a sweet deal on 1,000 bullets, I'm hoping they are an effective varmint bullet, there is not a lot of feedback around.

 

[Tirea]

Probably the most violently expanding round I've ever used (modified Nosler RDF bullet). You don't want to have to eat anything you shoot with these....

View attachment 478699

Looks funny