Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .240 bullet choice

DF,

Let us know what works and doesn't .

I killed a 7 pt. cull yesterday at around 130 yds, angling slightly away and walking. I was shooting the .240, 90 gr. Scenar at 3,300 fps, which is the tightest grouping bullet in this gun so far, .33" at a hundred.

The bullet hit slightly more than halfway back on his chest, exited right behind and nicking the far shoulder. Deer ran around 20 yds and rolled.

Upon initial inspection, there was no sign of entrance or exit holes, no visible blood. With moving the carcass, bloody air bubbles were seen coming out of a 1" laceration right behind the far shoulder.

Not unlike VLD's, the Scenar made a minute entrance hole in the skin and a finger sized hole through the chest wall. The lungs, and liver were turned to soup with a few kernels of corn floating on the liquid goop.

Evidently the bullet went in, caliber size, and then exploded, blowing up the diaphragm, liver and lungs, messing up the heart and getting into the stomach. The guts were intact. The exit wound in the chest wall was the size of two fist imprints, side by side, with lots of blasted tissue.

I'll not again use a 90 gr. Scenar on a WT. I have some 105 gr. Scenars coming and will give them a whirl. Maybe the slightly heavier bullet at a lower velocity will do better.

I'm set up to test 90 gr. SSII's and 90 gr. NAB's. I may give E-Tips a whirl. I'm not crazy about monometals for lung shooting WT's, but E-Tips reportedly open better than TSX or TTSX.

High velocity is great for very long shots. With the 6mm bore, however, there's not a lot of bullet mass (remaining K.E.) for WT shots over 500 yd. Bullets seem to act differently when moving at 3K vs. 3,300 fps. That extra punch seems to make a big difference in bullet selection options.

Still learning.

DF

I'd like to know how you like the 90 SSII's and the E Tips when you shoot a few animals with them. I have not looked into the E tips, if they open quicker than the TTSX they might be a good option for lung shots.

JB thinks E-Tips open better than Barnes. I haven't gotten 90 gr. E-Tips to shoot sub-inch, although pretty close. A hunting bullet doesn't need to go half inch, but it's hard to be happy with an inch load in a half inch rifle... That's just not Loony... Such matters keep Loonies awake at night, while normal people just go out and kill stuff... I gotta come to grips with my pathology and make some adjustments...

I just reloaded several combos of NPT 100's and E-Tip 90's. My gun seems to like slow powders, so I'm using MagPro, Magnum, RL-25, N-217 (current version of MRP-2), MRP, and RL-22.

I've studied JB's article on "The Other 6mm's", which gives very useful info.

First stop is the range and the weather isn't cooperating. Then to the deer woods, the ultimate laboratory of hunting bullet performance.

DF

I don't think E-Tips open "better" than TSX's, but they do tend to open wider. Or at least the first E-Tips I tested side-by-side with TSX's did. But Tipped TSX's also generally open wider than standard TSX's--or at least the ones I've tested and recovered have.

The two big factors I've seen in how far monolithics open are how deep the hole runs down inside the bullet, and the diameter of the hole--and the diameter of the hole underneath plastic-tipped bullets. (Or at least that's the way it seems to work with monos designed to retain their petals.)

Most expanding big game bullets start to expand as soon as they hit an animal, and expand completely by the time they've penetrated the length of the bullet--the reason most damage occurs around the entrance hole, or right behind it. Some may open slightly quicker but any difference is tiny. The real difference in the amount of damage done is how much of the bullet fragments.

The exception is "target" bullets like Bergers and Scenars that tend to delay expansion until the bullet gets an couple of inches inside the animal. Unlike typical "big game" bullets more damage is done around the exit than the entrance.

They're all a compromise of some sort.

JB,

Didn't mean to misquote you, but to me wider is for sure better, when chest shooting WT's. I'm currently leaning toward the more expansive bullets for that application. The 90 gr. Scenar was just too much of a good thing, although it kills. The clean up was pretty bad. My hunting bud, who helped me clean this deer, suggested I needed to rethink my bullet choice. It was pretty gross and I didn't need much arm twisting to come to that same conclusion.

My 6.5-284 with 140 gr. VLD at around 3,000 fps, performed perfectly with a similar kill. Hard to find the entrance, 2" holes in chest wall, in and out, small exit with the chest messed up pretty bad. DRT, boom/plop. Very little blood seen on the carcass.

With my 30-06 HVA, shooting 130 gr. Horn SP's at around 3,100 fps, I killed a big doe. Nice entrance hole, nice exit hole, blood pouring out of both. Ribs wounds around 2" in and out, plenty of chest destruction, another DRT, boom/plop kill, with a positive "white belly" sign out in the food plot.

High shoulder/spine shots with a monometal should drop them fast, but with the .240 at high speeds, I'm afraid I'd trash the shoulders. Last year, same rifle, chest shooting a large doe, an 80 gr. TTSX at 3,600 fps. blasted a huge chest wall hematoma. Internal chest damage wasn't that impressive and she ran a hundred yards.

If I wasn't such a Loony, I'd load some 130 gr. Horn SP's for my HVA '06 and just kill deer...

DF

DF,

Most of the time I try to avoid "better" when talking about bullets, instead just attempting to describe how they perform, or how I've seen them perform. This is because I've found a lot of different bullets work on big game, but in different ways.

But I don't mind saying I've had very good "luck" with the 6.5 140 VLD!

How 'bouts "mo-better"...

I understand and could have chosen my words "mo-better"...

DF

I found the Barnes bullets to be more accurate than the E-Tips. The 80 gr. TTSX shot a half inch group at 3,600 fps, the 85 gr. TSX shot around .7" at a hundred. I've been struggling to get E-Tip under an inch, the best so far is slightly over an inch. So "mo-better" accuracy goes to the Barnes.

I have a batch of 90 gr. SSII's, loaded and ready for action. They'll be next up for a WT test. Loaded long, they didn't group too well. With plenty of jump, they suddenly shot sub-inch. Factory .240 COAL is 3.1". These are loaded shorter. I loaded some at 3.07", this batch at 3.09", both shooting pretty good.

People complain about SSII accuracy. Like VLD's, you gotta experiment with jump and loads to unlock the riddle. They're really pretty accurate when you find the combo they like.

DF

Below is a link to an old thread showing the forming of 25-06 W/W brass (costing around fifty cents a copy) into .240 Wby brass, (costing a buck fifty). The CH4D forming die costs around $70 or so. So after making 70 .240 cases, the die is paid for and from then on, all .240 cases are at W/W, not Wby. prices.

Also, I've noticed that Norma/Wby cases seem to be softer than W/W cases. Some of the Norma/Wby. cases develop loose primer pockets after a couple of uses, especially with hot loads. I've yet to have a W/W case develop a loose primer pocket, loaded the same as the others and after a number of reloads.

So, besides costing a third as much initially, the die formed W/W cases seem to last longer and I see NO difference in accuracy, no functional disadvantage at all.

Bottom line, 240 Wby. owners don't need to be held hostage to expensive Wby. brass. To me, that makes the .240 even more attractive, as the high cost of proprietary brass is often given as the main reasons for not going with a .240.

DF

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5820015/11

Dang your going to wear the barrel out before you find the perfect load. Not much experience with the 240 but in other 6mms the partitions are hard to beat, either the 85 or 95.

Kenny Jarretts favorite for the similar 6 Catbird or Jaybird is the 95gr. partition.

The smaller bullets appear to need to fragment some for quick kills but with the partition you have the best of both worlds with adequate penetration insured.

Another in this category is the cutting edge bullet haven't tried them yet though. The reports are good especially for velocities over 3,000 fps.

DF,

I've been itching for a 240 for a long time. I've just always been leary of the 6mms in general. You are quickly talking me into one! I like the looks of that .240 in the Backcountry - that could be sweet.

Which one do you have?

This .240 is an HS Precision SPL that I traded for. I didn't like the 42 oz. HS stock and replaced it with a 24 oz. McM Hunters Edge. It's pillared, glassed and free floated.

HS makes their own barrel, in fact are one of the largest makers of ballistic lab test barrels. They're cut rifling and appear to be comparable in quality to Kriegers, Brux, etc. HS rifles come with a 1/2" guarantee and will perform that well with a number of loads.



Tejano,

I hear what you're saying and I'm trying to limit the number of rounds. I load three of each and don't let the gun get hot. I usually take at least three rifles to the range, letting 2 cool while I'm shooting the third. I'm watching the bore with my Hawkeye borescope. The Dyna Coat precess just about eliminated copper fouling. I clean powder residue with Eliminator every now and then.

Just so many good combos, that my Loony tendencies are coming out in my quest for the Holy Grail of perfect loads. I think there are a number of "perfect loads" for this gun. I'm sorting them out.

DF

I have some of those, too, the 88 gr. So far they haven't shot that tight. I've got a few more loads to try.

This rifle really likes 80 gr. TTSX's at 3,600 fps, 85 gr. NPT's at 3,500 fps. and 90 gr. Scenars at 3,300 fps., all shooting 1/2 MOA or less. I shot one 1/2" group at 200 yds. with the 85 NPT, probably a fluke, but it looked pretty good at the time.

95 NPT's and 100 NPT's, shoot about the same. I did get one 100 NPT load to shoot about 1", the other groups were inch and a half or so.

It's a fun project.

DF

I always thought the 240 was one of the best open country southern white tail and pronghorn cartridges around. Almost bought a Mark V lefty but just seemed too heavy for the cartridge. An ultra light lefty would get me interested though.

Almost hurts to pull the trigger on those cutting edge bullets and I don't know of anything comparable for load work up.

If I do build one I will go the other direction on the twist rate maybe even a 7.5 to be sure the 115s will work.

I would have stopped with the 80 TTSX or 85 PT. Maybe a 87 HPBT for varmints and deer load.

The 17th edition of Handloader's Digest had a pretty good test of 6mm hunting bullets. A little out dated but still a good sampling.

Given the caveat that final diameter and weight from any medium is only a point of comparison rather than an indication of game performance.

If you can't find it I can try to scan it. Your work is saving me $$$ in bullets, so don't mind returning the favor.

Yeah, I've got quite an inventory. I'm always a sucker for another bullet, another powder...

It aggravates me to read about a load I would like to try and not have that powder in inventory. I had read about Norma MRP for a long time, never could find any. Seems that MidwayUSA recently got some in and I picked up an 8# jug. Also got a pound of N-217 (current version of MRP-2) and a pound of URP (current version of N-204).

DF

From about age 14 to age 25 I killed most of my deer with either a bow or my 6mm with 100 g hornady btsp's. My little brother also killed several deer with the same 6mm loads I loaded for him. I can recall at least 9 drt's with that load. They always seemed to drop at the shot and there wasn't usually an exit but you didn't need to track them anyways. It seems that hornady has changed some of there interlocks more recently so I don't know how the new stuff would do. Plus we were only running them about 3000.

My friend used to run a 6-06 and swore by the 100g nosler solid base. He said they worked great at 3200 +. Nosler made another brief run of them a few years back and I picked up some bags of seconds. I still haven't tried them yet. I tried a 105 vld on a buck a fee years ago and it worked.

Bb

I just got back from my deer camp, tried several .240 loads at the range with 105 gr. Scenars. They were scattered all over the target. I used RL-22 and RL-25, still have a few loads with MagPro and Magnum to try, but I'm not optimistic. This 10 twist just doesn't seem fast enough for 105's.

I was going to deer hunt with the .240 this PM, but used my 6.5-284 instead. With that one, I put four bullets on a pie plate at 400 yds, using my Z5 turret. That's a camp requirement, so I posted the target, qualifying that gun for 400 yds. The group was around 3". It has shot 2" with that same load, 140 VLD's with enough RL-17 to crank it up to 3,000 fps.

Back to the drawing board with the .240.

I want to thank Scenarshooter for sending me some 105 gr. Scenars to try. I wish this gun was an 8 twist, but the barrel is just too good to swap out. I'll shoot 85 gr. to 95 gr. bullets. It does pretty good with 95 gr. NBT's, not as good with 95 gr. NPT's. It will shoot a 100 gr. Speer Grand Slam, which is a stubby bullet compared with the high ogive types.

I think I'm going to go back to the 85 gr. NPT at 3,500 fps. That one shot a half inch group at 200 yds. If P. O. Ackley thought the .220 Swift was an awesome deer killer, this 85 gr. bullet at 3,500 fps may prove to be a good WT load.

DF

How does that work? You may only sit a stand where a 400 yard shot may present itself if you're using a gun you've qualified?