Subject that has not seen much discussion here is bullet weight & construction & its impact on recoil & lethality. Lighter bullets will recoil less though in the case of lead or cup & core bullets will generally offer less penetration & Ill argue less reliable lethality. Bonded bullets will hold together better than most & in turn penetrate better than most cup & core bullets & generally offer more reliable lethality.
In the last two decades I have experimented with all copper bullets. The all copper bullets are less dense & in turn weigh less than a cup 7 core bullet of the same length. Early all copper bullets were constructed in a fashion that insured near 100 percent weight retention. with that weight retention came great penetration & reliable lethality though perhaps not the quickest lethality across the board. Generally these copper bullets do not perform well at lower velocity.
Then a few manufacturers started offering fracturing all copper bullets. The fracturing copper bullets would shed sharp petals that gives a bit larger wound channel. A substantial shank of the bullet would remain in tact & usually that shank would fully penetrate. Last fall I opted to give a frangible all copper bullet a try in the bolt action 6mm ARC. I went with a 87 grain Absolute Hammer. Terminal performance was as good as ever on 2, large bodied white tail deer. both deer were cleanly killed with 1 shot.
Again shot placement with any caliber is of first & foremost importance.
I would be very confident on the well constructed, all copper bullets from this rifle on Deer or large Black Bear. The Lighter bullet weight does result in less recoil. Unfortunately we see relatively few factory all copper loaded ammo offerings. Expect this to improve in time.
