Book Chapter 13-Home

Hunting Bullet Metrics

Apply Terminal Performance Truth

AFRICA HUNTER QUEST©

Chapter 13 - THE CUP AND CORE BULLET

GG: Based on my gel testing results, I am convinced that sweet-spot impact velocity ranges are determined by each bullet’s general generic design, specific features within the design, materials used in its construction, and a manufacturer’s control of specific production details. If you have already decided that anything I have to say on this subject is bogus because of the testing approach I have taken, then there is really no point in continuing this conversation.

D: At least I will know in great detail what isn’t true, or at best, highly suspect.

“Smart a$$,” thought GG. “The no-answer answer. I suppose that passes for ‘okay’ in snark-speak.”

GG: In my opinion, there are five major generic bullet designs that can be considered for hunting most Africa plains game. These are what I will call and define as cup and core, solid copper, bonded-lead core, dual-lead cell, and single-lead cell bullets. I believe each has primary design features influenced by impact velocity that control both wound cavity formation and penetration length.

There is no ‘best’ generic design. If that statement isn’t inflammatory enough, there is no ‘best’ bullet. John Taylor said it over 70 years ago in his discussion of cup and core bullet terminal performance. I believe my sheep hunting example is quantitative testimony to those notions. For the specified hunting scenario, the same bullet launched from two different chamberings would likely produce two very different terminal performance outcomes. Based on both Mann’s and my gel test results, I believe both the likely penetration and wound cavity volume produced by a selected bullet of a specified generic design at a probable impact velocity should be considered to assess its likely terminal performance.

Any one of the generic designs will work and can work well as long as you decide what your bullet’s terminal performance characteristic should be, keep each generic design within an impact velocity ‘sweet-spot’ range, and divest yourself of any notion of perfection. At the end of the day, it’s horses for courses.

D: You named five generic designs. That’s a lot. I was hoping for less.

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GG: Critically defining your hunting problem helps in narrowing the choices. The chambering you want to use, the expected shot distances with corresponding impact velocities, and your bullet performance objectives all tend to act as filters. Sometimes there is only one manufacturer with the bullet weight you think is required, and then it becomes a simple exercise of vetting the one bullet.

I want to start with the cup and core bullet. Five of the 11 gel tests I did were to evaluate that generic bullet’s terminal performance characteristics. The testing was performed on one, .375-caliber bullet; two, 35-caliber bullets; and two, 30-caliber bullets. Bullets of this generic design have been used to take 25 of my 28 African animals.

The .375-caliber bullet was a 300-grainer fired from my 375 H&H. The bullet is a boat-tail spitzer with a relatively large exposed lead tip. Its impact velocity was 2360 fps. It penetrated 24 inches and had a retained weight of 95%, a deformation of 44%, and an expansion ratio of 1.94. The recovered bullet had a mushroom that was virtually round. No evidence of tumbling was observed. The wound cavity looked like a guppy.

The 35-caliber bullets were a 250-grain flat-base spitzer and a 225-grain boat- tail spitzer. Both were fired from my 358 Winchester. Both had relatively large, exposed lead tips.

The 250-grainer had an impact velocity of 2165 fps. It penetrated 32 inches and had a retained weight of 93%, a deformation of 45%, and an expansion ratio of 1.84. The recovered bullet had an obviously egg-shaped mushroom and was judged to have begun to tumble at about 31-1/2 inches. The wound cavity looked like a guppy with a long-a$$ tail.

The 225-grainer had an impact velocity of 2346 fps. It penetrated 19-1/2 inches and had a retained weight of 94%, a deformation of 46%, and an expansion ratio of 2.17. The recovered bullet had an obviously egg-shaped mushroom and was judged to have begun tumbling at about 17 inches. The wound cavity looked like a pregnant guppy.

The 30-caliber bullets were a 240-grain boat-tail spitzer match bullet and a 220-grain flat-base round nose. Both were fired from my 300 Winchester. The 240-grainer had a poly tip that I installed by hand. The 220-grainer had a relatively large, exposed lead tip. It also had a cannelure at approximately mid-length.

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The 240-grainer had an impact velocity of 2430 fps. It penetrated 20-1/2 inches and had a retained weight of 59%, a deformation of 60%, and an expansion ratio of 1.83. The recovered bullet had a mushroom that was nearly symmetrical. The bullet was judged to have begun tumbling at about 19-1/2 inches. The wound cavity looked like a pregnant guppy.

The 220-grainer had an impact velocity of 2402 fps. It penetrated 19 inches and had a retained weight of 60%, a deformation of 49%, and had an expansion ratio of 1.83. The recovered bullet had a mushroom that was nearly symmetrical. The bullet was judged to have begun tumbling at about 17 inches. The wound cavity also looked like a pregnant guppy.

D: I think I know what a cup and core bullet is, but there is a strong probability that what I believe is just another sacred animal that you will slaughter.

“Unwilling victim,” thought GG. “Defiant to the end.”

GG: This bullet is simply a wire of lead alloy placed into a cup or open cylinder of copper alloy, with the copper then formed around the lead to make the final bullet shape. The copper is called the jacket, and the lead is called the core.

It was the basic design of all modern bullets up until the late 1940s. By then, the velocity race was full on. With the ever-increasing impact velocities, these traditional bullets were not performing to hunter expectations concerning penetration and debatable notions of how much weight a bullet should retain. Alternative bullet designs began to appear, each with more complex architecture requiring more bullet-forming steps, with some constructed using more expensive materials. As a result, these new designs were more expensive to manufacture than the basic cup and core bullets. I think this different material and added manufacturing expense are responsible for fostering the term ‘premium’. As I have already said, such bullets have the design features, materials, and resultant structural integrity to satisfactorily withstand impact velocities on the shoulder greater than 2700 fps.

D: Could I conclude that the term ‘premium bullet’ is kindly a marketing fog factor?

GG: Pretty much. However, when a PH or expert outfitter uses the term ‘premium bullet’, I interpret he is trying to give hunters a good-faith ‘heads up’ that

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bullet performance is very important, and an informed and reasonable choice is warranted.

D: You tend to explain things by first talking about the extremes, then talking about what’s in the middle. More of the same?

GG: More of the same.

At high impact velocities, the cup and core design can represent the performance extreme of a high wound cavity volume at the expense of penetration. At that extreme, this performance results in a wound cavity that could look like a pissed-off blowfish. However, at moderate to even low-impact velocities, this design can morph into one that balances excellent wound cavity formation with very good penetration, penetration that is even compatible with the challenging rear quartering shot. That performance results in a wound cavity that can look like a guppy.

The cup and core bullets represent Africa old-school thinking and worked very, very well. Understanding its design will help in understanding what goes on with the others.

D: Are impact velocities the key?

GG: Yep, as they are with all the designs. But with cup and core, even more so.

D: Why?

GG: Because at high-impact velocities, they can be highly frangible. The materials used and their configuration are poorly suited to the stresses imposed by high-impact velocity and passage through tissue.

D: What do you mean by frangible?

GG: Tends to act like a grenade. This grenade-like performance tends to produce a large-diameter wound cavity of limited length due to reduced penetration, the poster child, pissed-off blowfish. Remember that when I am talking about the wound cavity, I include the volume of blood-shot tissue.

Manufacturers have apparently maxed out the cup and core design by trying to increase the impact velocity threshold at which this grenade-like performance

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becomes unacceptably pronounced. They have produced tapered jackets that significantly increase in thickness at what they believe are critical stress points. Some use cannelures in an attempt to keep the jacket integral with the core; others use internal shear rings of the jacket material that are peripherally embedded a short distance into the core. They use tricked-out metallurgy in both the jacket and core to increase strength and limit deformation.

Even with the tricked-out metallurgy, the materials are still relatively low strength and highly compressible. The lead core is not peripherally attached to the entire copper alloy jacket, and this plane of weakness contributes to an uncontrolled, high rate of expansion, high length-wise deformation, and jacket-core separation. My testing, which also included impacts into dry newspaper, indicates this generic bullet is subject to have the jacket separate from the core at a relatively high frequency, on the order of 1 in 4 to 1 in 3. This core-jacket separation occurs regardless of a cannelure or internal shear ring.

D: I just want to make sure about what you said earlier. This jacket-and- core separation issue doesn’t concern you, or does it?

GG: No. The jacket weighs on the order of only 10 to 15% of the entire bullet, and the separation I have seen both in testing and in autopsies typically occurs within an inch or less of the length at which the core terminates. I’ve had the jacket separate from the core on two animals that I have taken. One animal dropped to the shot, and the other traveled about 90 yards before piling up.

D: I take it the relatively soft materials and the plane of weakness between the jacket and the core contribute to the design acting like a grenade at high-impact velocities.

GG: Absolutely. Little lead pellets and copper shards come flying off the bullet and act like shrapnel. These particles could be found at the limits of the fractures in the gel, and sometimes well beyond those limits. Forty to 50% weight loss in cup and core bullets is not uncommon at elevated impact velocities.

I view this weight loss as productive because the shrapnel produced is an investment in wound cavity volume. Furthermore, the radial drainage pathways created by this debris as it passes through the tissue contribute to rapid bleed-out.

D: Is this weight loss the primary reason these bullets don’t penetrate well at high velocity?

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GG: In my view, not to an appreciable extent. Certainly, loss of mass means loss of momentum, and loss of momentum contributes to reduced penetration. But I think loss of mass is a minor consideration, certainly not as significant as what the current prevalent thinking seems to attach to it.

D: So, what factors do you believe are more important in explaining why this generic bullet doesn’t penetrate all that well at high velocity?

GG: The first is uncontrolled, rapid and non-uniform expansion and the limits to which it is allowed to occur in forming the mushroom. Because of the plane of weakness between the jacket and the core, these bullets expand very quickly in comparison to other generic bullet types. This more rapid expansion creates an initial larger-diameter mushroom at a corresponding smaller penetration distance. The quickly blossoming mushroom causes greater resistance to penetration sooner, thus contributing to less total penetration.

When we were talking about bullet performance factors, I indicated that I didn’t know the maximum extent to which the bullet actually mushroomed along its penetration path. What we measure could be the maximum, but I really don’t think so for this generic bullet type, particularly at high impact velocities.

There are no design features in a classic cup and core bullet to physically limit the mushroom diameter. The initial impact stress could cause the bullet to expand well beyond what we measure at its termination point. The material being stripped from an initially very large mushroom likely accounts for a significant percentage of the calculated weight loss. As I have indicated, this bigger initial mushroom causes more drag and thus contributes to reduced penetration. When I discuss other generic bullet types, I will point out what I think are premeditated design features that are used to physically limit the degree to which a bullet is allowed to expand, and thus likely contribute to a greater penetration potential.

The second factor is there are no design features to control the symmetry of the mushroom nor its orientation along the long axis or centerline of the bullet. By symmetry, I primarily mean the degree of mushroom roundness, as this is the easiest to see. Off-set mushrooms also occur, but can be subtle and less obvious.

In general, my testing typically indicates the more symmetrically round the mushroom, the greater the likely penetration. Asymmetric (egg-shaped) mushrooms or even slight, axial off-set mushrooms can cause deviations in trajectory and can

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even initiate tumbling. Any time a bullet tumbles, it has penetrated less than it could have otherwise.

Another factor I think potentially contributes to the tumbling I observed is some of the bullets were short to begin with. The length-wise deformation that can occur in cup and core bullets can be so great that only a minimal shank is present behind the mushroom. The result is there may not be enough mass in the shank to conceptually act as a counterbalance to the tumbling forces. That indirectly speaks to the importance of having a bullet with a good sectional density. Such bullets are necessarily long in relation to their diameter.

The 35-caliber, 225-grainer tumbled. It has a sectional density of only .251, one of the smallest sectional densities of all the bullets tested. The as-manufactured shape kindly looks stubby. It deformed 46% length-wise, leaving only a residual shank ‘nub’ on a bullet that was relatively short to begin with. Plus, it had an egg-shaped mushroom. All of these factors likely contributed to it tumbling and reduced its potential to penetrate.

D: Does the tip that is on a bullet have anything to do with expansion rate?

GG: Excellent question. Absolutely. Flat-nose and round-nose bullets can be expected to open the quickest and are prone to a reduced potential for penetration. If the bullet has a spitzer or pointy-nose shape, a plastic tip, or an exposed lead-tip, it will open quicker than a pointy tip fully protected by the jacket.

The round-nose, 30-caliber 220-grainer penetrated the least of all the bullets tested. It rapidly expanded, as evidenced by the maximum cavity diameter occurring at only 4 inches. As I have already indicated, the average length at which all the test bullets achieved a maximum cavity diameter was at 5 inches of penetration, with some having the maximum diameter at 7 inches of penetration. All the other cup and core bullets that penetrated farther were spitzer-shaped.

D: Even if no bones were hit, I would expect that a cup and core bullet would expand quicker if the aim point is the shoulder rather than the lungs because of greater muscle density and mass. Is that true?

GG: I have the same expectation. I speculate that the shoulder muscle is denser than the muscle in the lung area. But there is no speculation about its thickness. There is simply more tissue to penetrate to get to the boiler room than there is at the lungs. This greater thickness and likely greater tissue density cause

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greater expansion sooner. Hold that thought about impact on the shoulder. When I talk about impact velocities, I will always mean impact velocities on the shoulder, never the lungs.

D: Just what are you calling high impact-velocity on the shoulder?

GG: You tell me.

Donny sat there, momentarily befuddled.

D: (Thinking out loud) You said that the granddaddy of all bullets is the cup and core generic design. You also said that the muzzle velocity race that started in the 1950’s spawned other designs that you called premium bullets. You defined a premium bullet as one that could withstand an impact velocity greater than 2700 fps on an animal’s shoulder. So, I suppose an impact velocity of 2700 fps on the shoulder is considered an upper bound for a cup and core bullet.

GG: Bingo! Two of the hotrod small bores in 1948 when Taylor published his book were the 300 H&H and the 275 Rigby Magnum. The 300 H&H had a muzzle velocity of 2700 fps with a 180-grain bullet, and the 275 Rigby had a muzzle velocity of 2750 fps with a 140-grain bullet. Both performed well on shoulder shots with lead-tipped and protected lead-tipped cup and core bullets of the day. My limited testing and field experience also indicates 2700 fps is a reasonable numerical representation of ‘high’ impact velocity, again on the shoulder.

GG fell silent and stared inquisitively at the Pilgrim, hoping he would connect the final dots. His silence and facial expression caused Donny to fidget and return a “What?!” expression. GG let him stew and chew.

Donny was confused. GG was staring at him as if he was waiting for some cosmic question or revelation. Then it came to him. “Holy $#!+!” thought Donny. “It’s my bullet! We have been directly talking about my bullet and indirectly talking about my 270 Winchester as the delivery platform!”

GG watched Donny’s eyes get big when he finally saw the connect-the-dot picture.

D: It’s about the bullet, isn’t it? I came to you wanting to know about my 270 Winchester. You wouldn’t answer. Instead, you asked questions about animals, shot distances, the ammo I use, and if I had access to other chamberings. You never

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told me what I wanted to do with my 270 Winchester and ammo was potentially an open invitation to a lost animal. Why?

GG: Would you have believed me if I had?

Donny’s eyes fell. He wouldn’t have, just like he didn’t accept what the PHs and his dad were trying to tell him.

D: No. I was pretty much wrapped around my 270 Winchester’s axle. My thinking was all bound up with what you have described as fog factors. I had to discover these limitations for myself in order to accept them.

GG: Well said. You have discovered a significant reason why North American hunters sometimes do not recover African animals: they believe that what works for deer on the lungs will work for plains game on the shoulder. They bring their magnums with bullets that work for lung shots where the bullet encounters only rib bones and relatively thin, low-density tissue. They dutifully follow their PH’s instructions and place their shots on the shoulder with much stouter bones, tissue density, and thickness. The result can be what you now know as perfectly predictable: grenade-like performance with poor penetration into the boiler room.

This isn’t a speculative spew. The PH I used for two of my trips has a tracker with two pairs of work boots. The first is his preferred pair: high tops. The second is a pair of hiking boots. When he finds out the client has a 300 Winchester or similar magnum, he shows up for work in his hiking boots. Why? Because he figures he is in for a long day tracking an animal because of poor bullet performance.

The first year I went to Africa, I was in camp with a hunter shooting a Remington 300 RSAUM with a 150-grain deer bullet. It took six shots to down a blue wildebeest, with the sixth being a mercy shot to the head. Speculative impact velocities were on the order of 2900 fps. Six shots! Geeze Louise! No animal deserves that.

D: You said earlier that at moderate to low impact velocities, cup and core bullets can have excellent wound cavity formation coupled with very good penetration. Is 2700 fps a break point for moderate velocity?

GG: Unfortunately, no. I think the break point for moderate velocity is around 2400 fps, again referencing shots on the shoulder as well as keying to what Taylor catalogued in his book. The 318 Westley Richards had a muzzle velocity of

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2400 fps with a 250-grain bullet, and the 300 H&H had a muzzle velocity of 2350 fps with a 220-grain bullet. Robertson has said that a 30-06 shooting a 220-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2400 fps has a “fine reputation in Africa”. Even though the 375 H&H had a muzzle velocity of 2500 fps with a 300-grainer and the 350 Rigby Magnum had a muzzle velocity of 2600 fps with a 225-grainer, the impact velocities of both could be expected to be in the 2400 fps range and below for typical shots.

D: So, what goes on in the never-never land between 2400 and 2700 fps for cup and core bullets?

GG: I think the best way to answer that is I believe there should be a transition in shot angle on the animal. At impact velocities from about 2550 to 2700 fps, I judge all shots should be broadside on the shoulder. Below about 2550 fps, I think you can transition to any shot angle on the shoulder except the rear quartering. At 2400 fps and lower, I think any shot angle using a cup and core bullet is reasonable as long as the bullet sectional density is at least .271 and field performance indicates it consistently passes through the animal on broadside shots on the shoulder or through the ribs to the rear of the shoulder.

D: What about shots on the shoulder with cup and core bullets at impact velocities greater than 2700 fps?

GG: In my mind, you increase the risk of a lost animal, with risk increasing with increased impact velocity above 2700 fps. With increasing impact velocity, the bullet begins to act more and more like a grenade, losing its ability to completely traverse into and through the boiler room. An impact velocity of greater than 2700 fps would prompt me to consider either a heavier cup and core bullet to reduce the impact velocity, or a bullet with different generic designs.

D: Are those impact velocities for cup and core bullets based totally on what Taylor says?

GG: The results of my gel testing have influenced them as well, particularly when considering shot angle. Penetration into the boiler room is key for an effective rear quartering shot. My testing generally points to better penetration for cup and core bullets when impact velocities fall below 2400 fps.

D: Is there a lower-bound impact velocity on the shoulder?

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GG: Yes. Nathan Foster of Ballistic Studies repeatedly refers to 1800 fps as the velocity at which I interpret marginal wound cavity generation occurs with cup and core bullets. I respect his opinion. That velocity is indirectly corroborated by the original Africa loading for the 9.3 x 62 Mauser with a 285-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2175 fps. That bullet’s impact velocity would have been about 1800 fps at 200 yards, a distance that Taylor considered ‘long’ for Africa.

D: Do you expect cup and core bullets to exit the animal?

GG: Only at low to moderate velocities on broadside shots, based on my experience with the 300-grainer.

Before we go any further, I need to emphasize that not all cup and core hunting bullets are created equal. The hunting bullets I am talking about have beefy jackets and tricked-out metallurgy compatible with an impact velocity on the shoulder up to 2700 fps. Hunting bullets typically used in North America lever-gun chamberings and some chamberings like the 35 Remington are more frangible because of their relatively low muzzle velocities and the typical intended shot placement into the lungs. Unless a manufacturer specifically states otherwise, I believe the maximum impact velocity on the shoulder produced by these ‘lever-gun’ bullets should be limited to 2300 fps. Furthermore, I believe shot angles for these bullets should be limited to broadside, regardless of impact velocity.

Another issue is I have implied that the sweet-spot impact velocity range for these stout cup and core bullets where both penetration and wound cavity volume increase with increasing impact velocity is between 1800 and 2700 fps. That is likely not the case. The impact velocity range of 1800 to 2700 fps is where I think reasonable terminal performance can be expected. Within that range, these stout cup and core bullets, regardless of the manufacturer, could have terminal performance shift toward penetration at the expense of wound cavity volume as the impact velocity approaches 1800 fps. Likewise, the terminal performance could shift toward wound cavity volume at the expense of penetration as the impact velocity approaches 2700 fps. As with all bullets, regardless of generic design, I believe manufacturer-furnished gel test data are necessary for hunters to make specific terminal performance assessments with any confidence.

D: One of the bullets you tested was a match bullet. Can they be used for hunting?

GG winced. Donny could tell he really didn’t want to answer.

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GG: Uhhhhh . . . They can be.

D: From you, that was an uncharacteristically PC non-answer. Such answers aren’t in your nature. What are the issues?

GG: The ones with no poly-tip don’t consistently expand. Sometimes they just pencil through the animal, leaving little more than a caliber-sized exit hole. The wound cavity can be inconsistent with what you would normally associate with a cup and core hunting bullet.

D: Any reasons why?

GG: VLD match and hunting bullets have long skinny noses with small diameter tips to enhance BC. I conclude that the nose shape and tip diameter are not really compatible with a consistent blossoming of the tip to form the mushroom. There is a chance the skinny nose will collapse and close up. I’ve seen evidence of what looks to be unexpanded VLD-style bullet performance on hunting shows several times.

D: What do you mean by evidence?

GG: For one thing, how the animal reacts to the shot. I’ve seen some animals just stand there and look around as if they are wondering where the noise came from. When you hear the hunter ask “Did I hit him?” with a response of either “I don’t know” or “I think so”, that is a pretty good indication of potentially poor bullet performance. I’ve never seen a video where the animal hasn’t finally dropped. For that matter, I’ve never seen video where these long-range guys have ever missed a shot or not recovered an animal. Zero defects are kinda hard to believe.

D: Any other clues?

GG: The exit hole looks like a pencil hole. I remember one instance I saw in a video in particular. The fellow made a 340-yard shot on a gemsbok with his custom, long-range system and custom ammo. He shot from sticks. The chambering was not specified, but I suspect it was a hotrod 7 millimeter. The gemsbok sprinted away in response to the shot. Per the video, there was very little blood, but the ground and vegetation were such that the little drops of blood were relatively easy to find by the tracker. There were camera shots of the blood and it wasn’t much. Not near

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the volume you would normally expect from a complete pass-through with a cup and core bullet.

The reason I remember it was the fellow said it was a chip shot for his rifle. Maybe for the rifle, but not for him or his bullet. They found the gemsbok over 300 yards away with both entrance and exit hole locations indicating passage through the lungs. The operative word is lungs. He missed the shoulder. From the hole locations on the animal, it looked like he also came close to missing the lungs. The exit hole was slightly larger than the entrance hole, but not by much. To me, the nearly equal-sized holes indicate limited bullet expansion.

Two things were apparent. First, I concluded he was at risk of losing an animal because the method of rifle support was inappropriate for the shot distance. Using a shooting position that enhanced the chances of actually hitting the gemsbok’s shoulder, such as seated with a bipod, would have reduced that risk.

Second, I believe he made a marginal choice with his bullet. He used a match bullet or a VLD-style hunting bullet that apparently did not properly expand upon impact. As seen on the hunting shows, these bullets apparently properly expand most of the time. Most of the time is not the same as all of the time.

D: Do you use match bullets for hunting?

GG: Yes. But I install my own poly tips to get them to positively expand each time.

D: Do they?

GG: Like gangbusters. I used a .375-caliber, 350-grain match bullet with a poly tip to take all my springbok. The carnage was epic.

D: Are the impact velocities you just discussed for cup and core hunting bullets applicable for match bullets?

GG: As far as I am concerned, no. Match bullets have thin, relatively soft copper alloy jackets that have no thickened sections to resist impact stresses. The lead core is also soft in comparison to the typical lead alloy used in hunting bullets. Match bullets are much more frangible than cup and core hunting bullets.

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Before I did the gel testing, my first primitive bullet testing was into 2x10 yellow pine structural lumber. Planks were clamped together so I could easily peel them apart, 1½ inches at a time. One of the bullets I tested was a 35-caliber, 225- grain cup and core hunting bullet. I shot the bullet into the lumber at a distance of 15 yards. The impact velocity was about 2600 fps. The bullet penetrated about 8½ inches. I was able to dig it out, weigh it, and measure it.

I shot a poly-tipped 220-grain, 30-caliber match bullet from the same manufacturer at the same lumber-stack placed at 220 yards. Again, the impact velocity was about 2600 fps. The bullet penetrated 61/8 inches through four, 1½ -inch thick planks of lumber. The surface of the fifth plank had a black splotch on its surface about 1/8 inch deep. There was no bullet left to weigh or measure. The bullet had completely disintegrated in the lumber. That is what I mean by match bullets being highly frangible and acting like a grenade.

D: Geeze Louise! What impact velocity ranges do you think can be used with match bullets?

GG: I am reluctant to say.

D: I gathered that. Why?

GG: Even though most manufacturers are not really forthcoming about recommended impact velocities for their hunting bullets, at least they call them hunting bullets. One manufacturer of match bullets emphatically states in print it does not recommend that its match bullets be used for hunting. Another one that shows pictures adjacent to bullet tabulations, indicating preferred use, only shows the symbol for a target adjacent to its match bullets.

D: You still haven’t answered my question. Furthermore, I’m getting a progressive’s “Do as I say and not as I do” vibe from you. You have used match bullets on Africa game. If I wanted to assume the same risk of using match bullets for hunting that you do, what would I have to do to use them?

GG: Use my empiricism to select a bullet weight compatible with the plains game you intend to shoot at the expected maximum distance. A 7-millimeter bullet should weigh at least 175 grains, a 30-caliber bullet at least 220 grains, and a .338-caliber bullet at least 300 grains. Install poly tips, if necessary. Do load development that results in three shot groups less than ¾ inches at 200 yards. Limit the impact velocities to between 1600 and 2400 fps. Shots should only be broadside on the

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shoulder with the heart as the target. Learn to shoot from bipods, both prone and seated. Practice, practice, practice.

Invest in a quality laser range finder and use it on each animal. Know scope come-ups or scope hold-overs for distances other than your zero. Take a wind meter and use it. Know your scope wind corrections or hold-overs at 5 miles per hour increments or 100-yard intervals.

D: No .277-caliber?

GG: If you must, the bullet should weigh at least 170 grains.

D: Did the 2400 fps come from gel testing?

GG: Yep. And assessments based on field performance of the .375-caliber, 350-grainer. The 240-grain, 30-caliber poly-tipped match bullet I gel tested had an impact velocity of 2430 fps at 135 yds. The four springbok I hunted with a 350 grain, .375-caliber poly-tipped bullet were at ranges from 181 to 364 yards. The impact velocities ranged from about 2250 to 2090 fps.

D: Okay. I suppose there was nothing left that was edible on the springbok.

GG: That wasn’t the point, was it?

D: Nope. But you will never convince me that you didn’t use too much gun and too much bullet with that .375-caliber, 350-grainer.

GG: Kinda like a 270 Winchester with an uber velocity, 130-grain bullet is too much gun for a 150-pound southern white tail? I’m not ashamed to take a tactical shot gun to a knife fight.

D: (Slightly red-faced) And the lower-bound impact velocity of 1600 fps?

GG: Scientific wild-a$$ guess, primarily based on what I saw going on with the poly-tipped 350.

D: Aren’t you worried about excessive bullet drop or drift with these low velocities?

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GG: That’s what laser range finders, wind meters, ballistic software, scope turrets, and scope come-ups are for.

D: Seems like a lot of unnecessary fiddlin’ before the shot.

GG: That’s your call and that’s okay. Personally speaking, if I took a $2,500 shot on an animal, that fiddlin’ can be easily justified. Run the numbers. If the difference in question is greater than a reasonable aiming error, chances are you have selected the wrong scope zero. There is nothing gospel about zeroes being 100 yards, or increments of 100 yards. The zero for my .375, 300-grainer in the Limpopo province of South Africa was first 175 yards. It increased to 200 yards based on field experience.

D: (Smirking) You are obviously fond of your 375 H&H, maybe to the point of bias. The way you talk about the things you have done with it and the way you dismiss cup and core jacket separation in the same breath as 40 percent weight loss lead me to believe that the 300-grainer is the contest winner. Is it?

GG: Nope.

D: What?! Which bullet is it?!

GG: Another cup and core, the 35-caliber, 250-grainer. For that matter, three of the top four finishers were cup and core bullets.

Donny felt his jaw grow slack. He had expected some sort of fix, but not a truly stacked deck. Either the Geezer had a PhD in snake oil sales, or there was something trying to crawl out from underneath the rock he kept stubbing his toe on.

Donny struggled to come up with some strategic question that exposed the deck stacking he was now sure of. He couldn’t do it.

D: How come the 35-caliber, 250-grainer won?

GG: I speculate the impact velocity of the 300-grainer was too high.

D: Too high?! What velocity is too high?

GG: 2360 fps.

D: I can run faster than that! What was the impact velocity of the 250-grainer?

GG: 2165 fps.

Donny’s eyebrows furrowed and once again he felt his jaw go slack. He needed to see spreadsheets. He needed to see numbers. He knew he would see neither.

GG had been watching the Pilgrim. Anyone with a high velocity fixation like the youngun had would struggle with the magnitude of the 250-grainer’s impact velocity. Low to the point of being ridiculous. That low impact velocity, coupled with postsperts’ and blogsperts’ notions that cup and core bullets were notorious for poor performance, would lead lots of folks to believe that such bullets were incapable of going head-to-head with modern generic designs shot from magnum chamberings, let along beating them.

GG really didn’t care. His results were his results. He had taken the time to explain the whys and the hows. Whether or not someone believed his results was not his concern. The Pilgrim needed to make his own decisions on whatever basis suited him.

D: Did the 300-grainer come in second?

GG: Yep.

Donny could not contain his snark.

D: (Smirking) And now I suppose you’re going to tell me the 240-grain match bullet finished third.

GG sat and laughed at him.

GG: No, not quite. It finished fourth. Another 30-caliber finished third. Both these 30-calibers beat three other 35-caliber bullets.

Donny couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Two 30-caliber bullets had beaten three other 35-caliber bullets. Not only that, the old coot had laughed at him before he dispensed his fairy dust. Was he mocking him? “Is this one of the Geezer’s

tests where I am required to play no BS card before I am to pass this crazy class?” he thought.

Donny was bumfuzzled. He didn’t know what to think. What he had just been told defied any logic as he knew it, seemingly incomprehensible quantum physics.

Yet everything about the Old Man was wired tight. His equipment, reloading and shooting mania, the stated hunting bullet accuracy criterion, and his fixation on analysis predicting reality all screamed precision. You could almost see neon lights on his forehead blinking out “U R Toast”.

The Old Man was obviously biased toward archaic and out-of-favor chamberings with slow, heavy bullets. Yet, he was considering a 300 Winchester as a worthy substitute, an apparent effort to beat his ‘big-and-slow’ favorites. Had he found good advice? Maybe.

D: I’ll be honest with you. What you have told me about your final bullet rankings is well beyond Ripley’s “Believe It or Not”. Do you believe your rankings?

GG: Yes.

D: Did you expect them?

GG: Not even close.

D: What did you expect?

GG: The .375-caliber, 300-grainer would pistol whip the snot out of all of them. The subsequent rankings would be a function of caliber, with all 35’s beating all the 30’s. Bigger hole, bigger wound cavity volume.

D: Do you have reasons for why things turned out like they did, or are you just willing to accept the results as they are?

GG: I have reasons, speculative, of course, most of which could likely be substantiated by further testing, others purely conceptual.

D: Well then, since we are talking about cup and core bullets, how come the 250-grainer beat out the 300-grainer?

GG: The big reason is the 250-grainer significantly out penetrated it, 32 to 24 inches. Because it out penetrated the 300-grainer, its total wound cavity volume was actually a tad more. As expected, the 300-grainer had the largest cavity diameter and the greatest volume of simulated blood-shot tissue. However, these advantages were negated mostly by the 250-grainer out penetrating the 300-grainer.

D: Why did the 250-grainer out penetrate the 300-grainer?

GG: As I already mentioned, the impact velocity of the 250-grainer was less. I suspect that resulted in a slower initial rate of bullet expansion. That slower rate likely gave the 250-grainer a penetration head start over the 300-grainer that the 300-grainer never made up.

An indirect indicator of that performance is the 250-grainer had an expansion ratio of 1.84, which is less than the 1.94 expansion ratio of the 300-grainer. This difference could indicate differences in metallurgy and the jacket configuration between these two bullets that may have also affected their expansion ratio.

D: What does your crystal ball say were the reasons the 240-grain cup and core match bullet finished so high?

GG: Because it beat out the ones that finished fifth through eleventh.

D: I suppose I deserve that.

GG: You have healthy skepticism that is negated by snark. The snark gets in the way of an otherwise excellent analytical thought process.

Donny was stunned. A compliment. Backhanded, but a compliment nonetheless.

GG: The primary reason it finished better than the fifth through eleventh place contenders was in its wound cavity scores. Both the total volume and the simulated blood-shot tissue volume were greater than the remaining contenders, with the blood-shot tissue simulated volume about 85% more than one of its 30-caliber, 180-grain competitors with an iconic Africa reputation and a supposedly superior generic design. Go figure. Its maximum wound cavity diameter was higher than all the remaining competitors as well, including the 35s.

Although its wound cavity volume was high, the actual cavity was of limited length. Ninety-six percent of the of the cavity volume was within the first 10-1/2 inches of penetration. That test result totally underscores that such frangible, match-style bullets should only be used for broadside shots at significantly reduced impact velocities.

D: The 240-grainer’s performance sounds pretty one dimensional, oriented toward wound cavity production. What about penetration?

GG: Only 3½ inches behind the 300-grainer. And, I might add, it lost 41% of its weight along the way.

Donny fell silent. A weight loss of 41% or only 59% weight retained. A true grenade wannabe contender.

D: Did you get a jacket and core separation with the 240-grainer?

GG: No, but it was the only bullet I tested that flung jacket shards and lead pellets beyond the extent of the primary radial fractures that define the limit of blood-shot tissue in my model. I did not include the shard or pellet limits in any bonus volume calculation. I measured only the radial extent of the fractures in each gel wafer, just like for the other bullets. That being said, looking at the dispersion and distribution of the shrapnel through the clear gel only underscored that this bullet was a contender, not a pretender, as long as shot angle and impact velocities were taken into consideration for its field application.

D: What about the third place, 30-caliber finisher?

GG: Another generic bullet for another conversation.

D: So, if I needed to run’em big and slow, cup and core bullets would be a reasonable way to go?

GG: Yep. Classic Africa old-school. When cup and core bullets are used prudently, keeping in mind their impact velocity limitations as previously discussed, they can perform very well as trophy hunting bullets for plains game. Wound cavity volume is excellent. Other than with match-style bullets, penetration is satisfactory for broadside, front quartering, and full-frontal shots. Use on rear quartering shots could be suspect unless they consistently fully exit on broadside shots through the shoulder or the ribs on animals of interest.

But enough of my applications. You are trying to make decisions concerning your 270 Winchester. What are your general takeaways concerning cup and core bullets? Those assessments will set the stage for comparison with the next generic bullet design: solid copper.

D: Cup and core bullets can be effective, but you have to really pay attention to impact velocity, shot placement, and the shot angle you use. Unless you drive the bullet comparatively slow or use a chambering that keeps the likely impact velocity below 2700 fps, they really aren’t applicable for Africa use. Too frangible for shoulder shots at high velocity with attendant unpredictable penetration. Even if I used a 150-grain bullet with my 270 Winchester, impact velocities for a good percentage of likely shots will probably be greater than 2700 fps. Cup and core bullets and my 270 Winchester aren’t a really good combination for hunting Africa plains game.

GG watched the Pilgrim pause. He could see from his facial expression that some vexing, unresolved issue had forced its way into an otherwise logical train of thought. It was as if he had picked up a partially solved Rubik’s cube while reciting the Gettysburg address, and had now diverted all mental resources from the recitation to solving the cube’s puzzle logic.

GG patiently waited, either expecting an epiphany or cosmic question.

D: Damn!!! It’s the impact velocity on a 150-grain cup and core bullet! That’s why Robertson never recommended a 270 Winchester for taking a kudu at short range, but entertained that prospect for shots at 300 yards!

GG nodded and faintly smiled.

GG: Robertson likely has decades of experience with North American deer hunters coming over to Africa with their 270 Winchesters and deer bullets. A hotrod 150-grain hand load with a poly-tipped cup and core bullet would likely have an impact velocity in the 2800’s at very close range. At 300 yds, I suspect it would be in the 2400’s. At short range the bullet is likely out of its sweet-spot impact velocity range. At long range, it’s likely right in the middle.

I think you gave a good appraisal for your 270 Winchester. You have just proven to yourself that with commonly available cup and core bullets from 130 to 150 grains, it would be a marginal choice for hunting Africa plains game.

D: Am I to assume that a 270 Winchester is a chambering associated with light and fast?

GG: Pretty much.

D: So, what generic bullets are compatible with light and fast?

GG: For Africa use, most any generic design other than a cup and core.

D: Is this where we move on and discuss a generic bullet with a performance extreme opposite of a cup and core bullet?

GG: Yep.