Petzal apparently believes (as many people do) that weight retention is the ONLY factor in bullet penetration, and it isn't. Frontal area of the mushroom is at least as important, and perhaps more so. This can easily be demonstrated by shooting various bullets of the same weight, diameter and muzzle velocity into the same media. But there are plenty of hunters who never get beyond a belief in sheer weight retention.
Yes, I understand what he says. But my point is that in general, the bullets that penetrate the most are the ones that retain more of their weight. For example, the partition is designed to retain around 65% of its weight, the A-Frame around 85 or more%, the FS and TSX around 100%, and so on.
Also, that every article I read about bullet penetration versus brand or type the A-Frame is always talked about out-penetrating the partition, and the reason why is one of the top bullets for hunting in Africa.
Ray, in the calibers and weights I've tried A-Frames on I have not only found them to penetrate less than partition counterparts but they also were stopped by offside hide in dramatic fashion. Specifically, on one cull hunt I found several stretched out hides were an a-frame never broke through, forming a dramatic nipple. Probably because the aframes were quite roundish with no sharp edges. Also, I felt swifts did generally less damage than partitions. Several reasons I feel make the X bullet a good penetrator: One, the frontal area of an expanded Xbullet is quite a bit smaller than a classic "mushroom" from a copper/lead bullet. Two, the mechanism in deformation by the means of bending that an X goes through takes less energy than the malleable plastic deformation a lead/jacketed bullet goes through. That's not to say the lead/jacketed bullet is harder, just the opposite in a general sense, and it just absorbs/dissipates more energy to expand. Ironically the swift AF looses energy by having the rear core rivet. Similarly, the failsafe penetrated deep but less when Winchester removed the steel insert in the rear core, causing it also to rivet. Winchester tried to convince people this double mushroom was some sort of double whammy on game and not some sort of cost cutting measure. Actually the frontal mushroom masked the the rear rivet as it does in the swift AF. Also, early X's commonly blew off thier petals, lost quite a bit of weight and still penetrated very deep. Now they don't but weight retention isn't really the reason behind their deep penetration. I have always looked at the swift as a generally unremarkable high priced premium bullet.
What I found with the 250-grain A-Frame is that it was quite difficult to push it out the barrel as fast as the 250-grain Partition. The one I posted above somewhere was retrieved from I moose I killed several years ago. It stayed inside the moose, but it dropped it pretty fast. The 230-grain FS caused almost and instant death, but the effect was greater because it broke the near shoulder bone, clipped the heart's arteries as well as the lungs. The A-Frame dropped the moose on the moss, and I waited for it to die perhaps 10 minutes.
I not longer use the A-Frame (very expensive), nor the Partition. I have settled on the 225-grain TTSX, since the results from the Triple-Shock have been nothing but outstanding on moose. The only problem is that I haven't been able to retrieve any from the moose I have killed with it. I haven't shot anything with the tipped X, just the Triple Shock. I will see what happens in September during moose season
Small fry is right... I.might also add that the petals on an expanded TSX are such that even when the frontal diameter is similar, the frontal area is less which provides for deeper penetration. With that said the TSX and the TTSX do have problems expanding sometimes which gives me pause. I am currently running them, but only because of the I have begun to wonder about exposing my young children to lead. I do know from shooting quit a few critters with 25 cal and 30 cal TSX and TTSX that they kill less quickly than something like a partition, an interbond, accubond, BT, etc.
