Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Advantages Of A Roundnose Bullet???

I have only seen one deer shot with a 220 corelockt out of a 06. The crazy thing was the deer was shot broadside through the ribs and the bullet did not pass through, but was found under the hide on the far side. The mushroom was huge and looked like it was out of a advertisement.

"I have just purchased a couple hundred 250 gr. RN Horndaddys for the 35 whelen. I have never used RN bullets before and I am anxious to try them."

cow, I think those bullets were made for that cartridge, should do great!

They are a little bit tough for my .35/336 rig but if I can't get some RNCL bullets I use the Hornadys. So, my deer run another ten steps before they drop, I don't much care.

I shot lengthwise through an 80 pound whitetail doe a couple of years back with a 154 grain Hornady RN out of a 7mm08. She ran about 40 yards and piled up. It would be my one and only experience with a RN bullet. I loaded up a few for my wife's .243 last year, but it ended up liking a 95 grain partition load that I had a partial box of, better, so she used them.

They are safer to use in a tube magazine, and they stabilize in some barrels that a spitzer bullet won't. Other than that, I am not sure that there is an advantage to them.

"A drunkards dream if I ever did see one."

Up On Cripple Creek... Jesse Winchester?

I've been using them for almost 40 years.Used mostly for Whitetail,due to short range,they open quickly and deer don't run off cause they're dead....Some pass thru,some don't,any I recovered looked like a copper marshmallow.They feed very well in most any rifle.But,I think the rifle must be wood and blue,I don't know anything about the new stainless stuff.
Used them in Africa in the .30-06,work there too.I don't shoot anything but in my Mannlichers,just ain't right...

they're cheap

they are generally pretty accurate

they make great fireform ammo

Otherwise I don't see any point in limiting my range just for old times sake. The pointed BTSP bullets I use now work well.

They look cool, they generally shoot very accurately, and they are effective on game. I've used one of the hornady 250 rn on a small doe several years back. It was driven 2700 fps from my 350 rigby and nearly decapitated her. I'm glad I aimed for the neck. Entrance was quarter size, exit fist size.

It seems the rn have generally been used in rounds generating 2400-2500 fps at the muzzle. That extra 200 fps and less than 10 yd shot no doubt contributed to the bullet opening up so fast.

I was glad that the big bears that inhabit that island weren't giving us any trouble, as I would consider the bullet at bit soft for the speed I was driving it against a coastal brown bear.

I think you'll like them just fine in the whelen.

With their longer bearing area,even undersized bullets like the 310 1/2 RN Speers work in a 313 P-14.

They shoot well for me (and do look cool and nostalgic). I do have a problem with them in my 10 year old M70 Classic Sporter .270 WCF and feeding.

These are Sierra 150-grainers and all are seated to the cannelure; and about half the time the tip of the bullet jams into the face of the breech above the chamber while the bolt is being pushed forward and the cartridge is trying to leave the magazine. Not good. I may try seating them a little deeper/past the cannelure next time.

Scott

I have found the 250 Hornady RN to be very accurate and deadly.

Too bad Speer quit making their 250 RN. That was a very accurate thumper in the Whelen and 350RMag.

WN

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I believe the spitzer was designed for the military for extended range shooting, beyond 500-600 yds. same reason for the boattail. The spitzer has it's place in long range shooting and round nose works well at closer ranges.

Like Ray said, they both have their place.

I wish hornady still made the 275 gr .358" round nose. That would be perfection in the bigger cased 35's such as the 350 rigby and 358 Norma.

I�ve used round nose (and flat nose) bullets for years on deer. I�ve also used the same weight/cal spitzer bullets for a number of years now. I can honestly say that I believe the blunt nose bullets smack �em harder. I get more �drop in their tracks� kills with them than I do with pointy bullets. I�ve always assumed it was that the blunt nose dumps more energy in the animal quicker but I don�t know that for sure.

I believe that one point that hasn't been mentioned here is their increased blunt surface area. This increases the effect of force on the front of the bullet, causing more radical expansion than on a pointed bullet (all else being equal).

I shot a whitetail doe with a 180 Interlock. She was walking straight at me and I put it just above the base of her neck and the bullet expanded radically as it exited through her spine. She dropped in her tracks. That was a pretty short range shot; my 30-30 with a 150 gr Hot Cor or Power Point would have done the same thing. It did do the same thing on my first buck which was a one shot kill though not a "bang-flop" like the neck shot. I hit a running coyote at about 50 yards with a Hot Cor and the bullet expanded nicely, decimating both lungs before exiting with a fist-sized hole. Not bad for such a light-framed animal. I used the 180 gr Interlocks on a spike at very close range a few seasons after the doe and he nearly fell over on me. The shot exited but expansion was pretty radical, pulverizing the lungs and heart.

I can't honestly say that these scenerios would have ended differently with pointed bullets, but the RNs certainly were more than up to the task.

As far as I'm concerned RNs are, as has been mentioned, a low-cost solution to the increase in copper and lead prices. There is absolutely no draw back to them, particularly for those of us who regularly shoot at ranges less than 150 or 200 yards.

RNs are the original controlled expansion bullet.

How well do you guys think a RN Partion would work? I've thought about that for years,but never said anything out loud until now...Might be too much of a good thing??

You mean like these?
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=261895

If memory serves me correctly, the early or at least some of them, partitions were round nose. Then when the technology for the spire point came around, Nosler made the bullets pointed so no one had to give up the partition for the potentially better down range ballistics.

I too like Crimson Tide found the 154 gr. and 160 gr. Hornadys to be one tough bullet and probably a little too tough for deer size animals. I love those 30-30 Noslers in my 30-30s.they work well, but in the 30-30 it has been around so long and the arms companies have worked with it so much due to high sales that about all 30-30 bullets work 100% or that has been my experience.

I still use a limited amount of RN bullets for certain jobs, but the premium spitzers will do anything these RN bullets will do, and RN bullest today are probably more nostalgia in sales than anything else, and thats not a bad thing..

Yes,those work,however they have a very thin jacket.I use them in my .30-40 a lot.What I was thinking about was .30 up to .375,in a round nose cylinder with a flat bottom.I have used a lot of Hawks and Woodies in their RN,they work well...