Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Were Hornady's Flex Tips A Flop ?

If the farthest shot you might ever encounter would be 100 yards, then no, the BC wouldn't matter much.

If you thought you might encounter a shot out to 200 yards, then yes, BC would matter.

For folks who always hunt the woods where the shots are going to be limited to 50 or 75 yards give or take, it doesn't make any difference. If someone might occasionally set up on a powerline, old logging road, or some other opening, I can see some interest in extending their effective range by 100 yards.

I remember being on a public hunt several years ago where a guy shot deer two days in a row (one each day) with a .30-30 at a range of about 200 yards (that was the distance from his assigned stand to where the deer crossed a road that he was allowed to shoot down during the controlled hunt). He didn't find either deer despite reaction from both deer at the shot and extensive searching by him and the Wildlife officials who were overseeing the hunt. He said there was some blood where the deer were when they were hit. I was kinda puzzled about why both deer got away until a few years later when I ran some numbers on .30-30 ballistics and found that he was probably past the range at which his bullet would expand reliably. He might have recovered one or both of those deer if he had been using a flex tip bullet (with higher BC) that carried enough velocity at 200 yards to expand reliably.

The Hornady 150 gr .308" Round Nose Interlock has a BC of .186 while the Hornady 160 gr .308" Flex Tip has a BC of .330. Even if the 160 gr FTX starts 100 fps slower than the 150 gr RN, the 160 gr FTX has somewhere around 50 yards more range for a given minimum impact velocity. With the Hornady LEVERevolution 160 gr FTX ammo, the listed muzzle velocity is basically the same as for the 150 gr RN standard load, so you would get around 100 yards more range for a given minimum impact velocity.

your just [bleep] around with number. yor trying to compare a 150's BC with a 160's BC.
lets take the FTX with a max load of CFE223...whats it a 2300MV? IF your using a 24" BBL. SO at 2300. I can get the sierra 170 FN to 2300 with a max charge of LVR.
BUT i am going to give you the advantage. Im going to give you a 100 FPS drop since I want to show what is like with a 20" rifle.
with the 170 at 2200, when zeroed at 170 yds its 3" high at 100 and 3" low at 200.
with the FTX at 2300, when zeroed at 190 yds its 3" high at 105 and 3" low at 222.

WOW... what an amazing advancment is bullet design.

anyone who takes to the deer woods with a rifle and knows that there may be 200 yards shots wouldnt be smart to carry a 30-30. If thats all they can afford or if thats what they are bound and determined to use then so be it. but a little rubber tip on the end of a bullet isnt going to make 2 chits of a difference if you cant hit it. And if you can hit it a cheap ass cor-loct or a chunk of soft lead is going to kill it just as quick.

If you have photos of any of the bullets from those six deer, I would certainly be interested in seeing them.

I don't know where he hit those two deer, I didn't see the shots myself, but at 400 ft elevation (which is roughly the elevation where we were), a RN bullet from a 20" 30-30 barrel is going pretty slow at 200 yards - around 1500 fps for a standard .30-30 150 grain load. Even for bullets intended for .30-30 use, that's kind of slow to expect consistent expansion.

yes. You are right.
its a monumental achievment...
It will save, literally, dozens of steps.
Kudos to hornady. I cant imagine all the deer that could have been killed if only someone had thought of this 50 years ago.
Such a shame...
I think I am going to start loading 170 flat nose bullets in my 308 steyr tactical out of pure remorse for questioning the end result practicality of double the price bullets and extra short brass.
DUH! stupid me...

It's tough to recover bullets that go all the way through and every one did, including the one that broke the onside shoulder going in and exited the far rib cage at 314 yds.. That was a handloaded 150 gr. rn core-lokt sitting on top of 33 gr's. of IMR 3031. That one made it all of maybe 40 yds. before it folded up. The fact is, you ain't got a clue how little it actually takes to kill a deer with a shot through the lung cavity so here's one for you. I've killed several with 40 gr. .22 WMR hp's through the lungs at 25-75 yds. and none went so far as 100 yds. after the shot. I also killed a couple with 38 gr. HP's from a 5mm Remington magnum rimfire. One forkhorn buck shot through the shoulder blade from 60 yds. and damned if the little bullet didn't exit !