Copper heavy or light?

[paulbshooting]

I use same weight as what works best in lead so 150grn in my 308 and 130grn in my 270. Fox and barnes TTSX. Great accuracy and performance plus min meat damage. Went down the light and fast route on copper but lots of meat bruising / loss.

 

[4616Oxon]

Interestingly I just did some load testing on 140gr CX in Creedmoor and Virtus Merlin 110gr. The Merlin grouped way better. Whether that is due to weight or the projectiles not sure. Virtus 0.5inch CX often 1 inch +.

 

[CookM]

I use same weight as what works best in lead so 150grn in my 308 and 130grn in my 270. Fox and barnes TTSX. Great accuracy and performance plus min meat damage. Went down the light and fast route on copper but lots of meat bruising / loss.

Apart from some 148gr Yew Tree l just bought,l have not shot below 150gr.
I have a selection of other people's part boxes.

And in fact first used up a load of 168gr Barnes,and still shooting PPU 170gr too.

They do the deed.

 

[CookM]

I do have a box of Fox 130gr factory to try.
But they are for another day.

 

[Karhumies]

Actually considering the 130gr CX myself

I use same weight as what works best in lead so 150grn in my 308 and 130grn in my 270. Fox and barnes TTSX. Great accuracy and performance plus min meat damage. Went down the light and fast route on copper but lots of meat bruising / loss.

The meat damage is why i keep ending up on Fox. Their bullets perform the best according to my tests when going slow and heavy. Almost like shooting a Similar weight lead bullet. My mileage does vary per rifle tho. In .224 caliber i have had trouble getting them to open unless i really send them screaming down range, i think the tip gets clogged up. And i have found that pulling the plastic tips helps alot when going slow

 

[4616Oxon]

I meant 130gr CX IN 6.5CM

 

[4616Oxon]

Interestingly I just did some load testing on 140gr CX in Creedmoor and Virtus Merlin 110gr. The Merlin grouped way better. Whether that is due to weight or the projectiles not sure. Virtus 0.5inch CX often 1 inch +.

130grn Cx I meant

 

[CWY308]

I have shot the “awful” 308 Winchester for more than 20 years on the hill up north and for all its apparent faults the deer don’t run far.
On copper I went light compared to my 150gn lead load. I have shot SST hornady and Nosler BT quite a lot as I my preference was a deer on the ground to one my dog would need to find.
Everyone’s needs differ.
Now I am shooting 130gn fox and 150gn Nosler BT and don’t need to alter POA.
The fox ammo is spectacularly accurate but it does not come close to the stopping power of the Nosler.
So stalking for the food chain - Fox copper
Stalking for the freezer - Nosler
For clarity these are Red /Sika Deer, the 308 drops fallow and roe regardless.

 

[CookM]

I am a recent .308 convert, within the last 3 years.
They fall over.
I am eating lead shot on the .243.
The .308 is public consumption.

 

[Karhumies]

nothing "wrong" with 308 winchester. Its mediocre but that doesnt make it bad. few ever utilise the advantages of their chosen cartridge anyway. I know so mant people shooting a 223 or 22-250 at hare and birds while hunting exclusively sub 100 meters.

Or people getting a 338 or 300 magnum for blowing blood blisters on a moose when the shooting area confines them to 50-150m where a 308 is plenty.

Ofcourse when alot of us including me look at a new rifle to buy we peer over the ballistic profiles and want that fancy special cartridge.

I started on 30-06, the superior 308 i always called it. No animal at any range i shot then noticed the difference tho. But those 180gr monolithics looked mighty good on water jugs.

I fell in love with the 6.5x55 now and want for nothing. Now that i would call superior to 308 but purely for its versatility poking smaller holes in birds with relatively slow FMJ.

I do however find monolithics highlight specific cartridges more. 22 calibers really benefit massively from monolithics because they stay together better on deer species (depending on your local laws ofcourse)

and 30-06 does the monos better than 308 in my experience.

Again tho, 308 can do it all, its just not a master of anything. Exept.... it might just be a perfect recoil vs power cartridge for a semi auto battle rifle. Almost like it was designed for that.

Hence why i picked it for my Kalashnikov

 

[Emistie_89]

130gr Barnes TTSX in .308………from shooting muntjac to reds, I’ve got absolute confidence in them

 

[cjm1066]

308 with lead, 130 occasionally blew up on Muntjac, 150 excellent 165 would tumble on impact in 1in14 twist.

130 non lead perfect.

25/06 in short barrel (T3), 117 308 velocity, 100 gets the book velocity, lead blew up on deer non lead perfect.

Barnes we're designed for higher velocities so stepping down a weight works.

 

[Terrydeer]

I was wondering what people’s opinions is on the weight for copper for any calibre. I have a 6.5 CM 20imch barrel. So is it better to go heavy or light for calibre in copper.

There is the 130gr CX or 127barnes LRX for me or you can go down to 100gr with yew tree and other make presumably?

This is partly on ensuring expansion out to 250m on fallow and also thinking about meat damage.

114TLR out of 22” barrel going at 3,000fps very good results on fallow and roe

 

[4616Oxon]

114TLR out of 22” barrel going at 3,000fps very good results on fallow and roe

Is that 6.5CM? Not too destructive? What powder? Sorry manny questions I have the TLR and super X but haven’t loaded any yet.

 

[paulbshooting]

I have shot the “awful” 308 Winchester for more than 20 years on the hill up north and for all its apparent faults the deer don’t run far.
On copper I went light compared to my 150gn lead load. I have shot SST hornady and Nosler BT quite a lot as I my preference was a deer on the ground to one my dog would need to find.
Everyone’s needs differ.
Now I am shooting 130gn fox and 150gn Nosler BT and don’t need to alter POA.
The fox ammo is spectacularly accurate but it does not come close to the stopping power of the Nosler.
So stalking for the food chain - Fox copper
Stalking for the freezer - Nosler
For clarity these are Red /Sika Deer, the 308 drops fallow and roe regardless.

Shot nosler BT's and accubonds for years, they were great. Fallow, roe and occasional red.

 

[ColinBr]

I tried the 120gr TTSX in the 6.5CM and it was decent enough, but found that dropping down to the 100gr TTSX gave it that bit more of everything.

Better expansion due to the higher MV at longer range and flatter shooting.