Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The .270

Just stick with your original statement:



Someone above said this was all theoretical. But for you, it isn't. You've put this into practice. You wrote, "My experience has been that a heavier bullet will do exactly that [penetrate further], assuming all else is equal." Can you post your load data that you used to draw this conclusion, and your testing method? Unless your loads and testing method meet your own criteria, your conclusion is flawed.

It sounds good, it sounds logical, it sounds intuitive. The problem is, actual studies have shown your conclusion is not necessarily the case, even among the same bullets with different weights and minimal velocity differences.

Take the time to read "Shooting Holes in Wounding Theories: The Mechanics of Terminal Ballistics." It's available online. The author writes that his study "should largely lay to rest the off-quoted generalization that heavy for caliber bullets or bullets of some particular sectional density penetrate deeper and retain more mass. All the bullets used were of conventional construction, meaning lead alloy bullets in drawn copper alloy jackets; no bonded cores, partitions or other special constructions." A lot of counterintuitive findings arise. He even goes on to study controlled expansion and controlled weight loss bullets and the findings there aren't all that intuitive, either. For instance, a 165gr Nosler Partition fired from a .30-06 penetrated deeper than a 180 gr Nosler Partition fired from the same gun, with scarcely a 100fps difference in velocity. That's a realistic comparison. Similar unexpected results arise among other cartridges.

If one were able to conduct testing within the extremely narrow parameters you've set, I suspect you'd me more right than wrong. But given the sheer number of bullet designs out there, I have no doubt a lot of unexpected results would arise.