TopCat sent me the whole article so i could save it this time, thought i would post the written part here and you could go back and look at the various pictures in the earlier post to see what he had to say about each of them. hope this is alrght to post.



Premium Bullet Shootout

A Look At 10 Bullets And What They Can Do For You
By Rick Jamison



Once you know the cartridge you're going to use for specific game, the most important elements of ammunition selection all center on the bullet. This makes sense because it is the bullet and the bullet alone that kills game. There are three basic attributes involved in picking the perfect bullet for a hunting application: weight, construction and shape. Weight and construction determine terminal performance while weight and, in part, shape play a part in terminal energy.

So weight is a main concern in choosing a bullet, but this can be confusing because of the many different bullet diameters. A 150-grain bullet in a .270 is a heavy bullet, for example, and something you might use for elk. In a .30-06, however, a 150-grain bullet is a lightweight big game bullet more suited to deer-size game. As bullet diameter varies more widely, so do bullet weights suitable for each game species.

One way to determine an optimum bullet weight is to pick one based on sectional density. I want a sectional density of at least .210 for deer, .260 or above for elk-size game and .300 or more for heavy-boned game. Use those guidelines, and you will know what bullet weights to select for which game--regardless of caliber.

These days, however, bullet construction trumps sectional density. Years ago, when most hunting bullets had conventional thin jackets and lead cores, hunters needed longer, heavier bullets (high sectional densities) for deeper penetration and smashing bigger bones.

Core and jacket separations were not uncommon, and sheer bullet mass was deemed critical to killing power for large game. That's not as true today because modern premium bullets--with their core bonding, thicker, tapered jackets, monolithic or cross-member construction--overcome some shortfalls in sectional density.

The result is that some of today's bullets are more effective at lighter weights than were traditional bullets. While a 180- or 200-grain .30 caliber bullet (.270 to .300 SD) was deemed best for elk in the old days, a bullet such as the Barnes TSX or Winchester Fail Safe can now produce more penetration with a lighter bullet weight, like a 165-grain (.248 SD).

Remember, too, that bullet shape affects exterior ballistics. A more pointed and streamlined bullet (one with a high ballistic coefficient) shoots with a flatter trajectory, reduced wind deflection, higher retained velocity and increased downrange energy.

If you want the ultimate in a long-range bullet, pick a long one for the diameter and weight, one with a pointed plastic tip and preferably a boattail. The Nosler AccuBond, Swift Scirocco, Hornady SST and Hornady InterBond are top contenders here.

Running not far behind for hunting purposes are sharply pointed lead-tipped bullets of conventional design. Although impact velocity is much reduced at long range because of their relatively lower ballistic coefficients, old-line conventional bullets can still perform fine for many hunting situations.

Here is a quick rundown on the current line of popular bullets designed for today's high performance cartridges. Accompanying photos are all .30 caliber 180-grain bullets fired from a .300 Win. Mag. with a 24-inch barrel. Each photo illustrates an unfired bullet, a sectioned bullet showing construction, a bullet recovered after close range high velocity impact at more than 3,000 fps, and a bullet recovered after an impact velocity of about 2,000 fps, simulating long-range results.

Barnes TSX Triple Shock

This solid copper bullet has an innovative nose cavity that predetermines and controls expansion, and it features circumferential relief grooves in the straight, bore-bearing section of the bullet. Firing tests show that the bottoms of these grooves are not engraved by a barrel's rifling during firing, greatly reducing the bearing surface of the bullet.

Being a homogeneous copper bullet, there is no core and jacket separation issue. A specially shaped cavity in the forward section of the bullet produces a predetermined and predictable formation of petals during expansion. The depth of the cavity also determines the degree of expansion. Uniformly shaped expanding petals fold back, and expansion stops when the bottom of the nose cavity is reached.

This type of bullet penetrates most deeply of any bullet in test after test. Under ultra high velocity close range impact, the expanded petals tend to break off, leaving a smaller frontal diameter for greater penetration with reduced meat destruction. At the same time, the blunt front end transmits considerable shock to surrounding tissue.

Expansion at normal downrange impact velocity produces a beautifully symmetrical front end with four petals. The Barnes TSX expands with a relatively long bullet shank, no matter what the impact velocity. The near 100 percent weight retention (at normal impact velocity) maintains kinetic energy. This, combined with the bullet's controlled smaller front end formation, results in deep penetration.



Winchester Fail Safe

One of the most complex bullets on the market, the Fail Safe, available in Winchester factory ammunition, has a solid nose section sans a lead core up front but with a lead core in the rear of the bullet. This core is surrounded by two steel inserts nested together in the .30 caliber, 180-grain configuration. It is all capped at the base. This bullet penetrates deeply with a controlled smaller frontal diameter and near 100 percent weight retention at normal impact velocity.




Hornady InterBond

The Hornady InterBond is a red-plastic-tipped bullet with a boattail and an overall shape designed for a high ballistic coefficient. The jacket walls are thick and unusually shaped with a type of scallop in the forward section that results from the thinner forward jacket being pressed inward during bullet point formation. Together with a thin base design, the InterBond produces positive bullet upset and mushrooming at low velocity while the thick walls and bonding produce a fairly high retained weight even when the bullet impacts at high velocity.






Nosler AccuBond

This bullet has a sharp plastic tip (white) and boattail base for a high ballistic coefficient. The AccuBond is formed by an impact extrusion process from a billet of metal rather than from a flat sheet. The base and jacket base walls of this bullet are very thick and taper thin toward the forward section, resulting in a wider (larger diameter) lead core in the forward portion of the unfired bullet. The AccuBond expands right down to the base during high velocity impact while, like most bullets, a relatively long shank is retained under normal to low velocities. While the AccuBond penetrated well during all tests, it shed also the most weight (among bonded bullets) during both high- and low-velocity testing.




Swift Scirocco

This bullet set a new standard in bonded bullet technology. It was the first bullet to combine the game-taking advantages of core bonding with VLD technology for a high ballistic coefficient. The Scirocco in all caliber and weight configurations produces some of the highest ballistic coefficients of all hunting bullets on the market.

The bullet has an extremely thick base and base-wall section and thinner jacket walls forward. The forward portion of the lead core is much thicker than the rear section, and the nose is capped with a black plastic tip with an air cavity beneath it. The bullet produces positive upset even under low-velocity impact. At high velocity, the bullet penetrates well and expands almost to the boattail with a high portion of retained weight.



Swift A-Frame

This is the bullet that popularized core bonding. It is relatively blunt-tipped and flat-based with a copper "jacket." I use that term in quotes because it is not a jacket in the traditional sense. It has a cross-member with two lead cores--one forward and one rearward. It has exceedingly thick jacket walls in the forward section with thinner walls in the base--at least in the .30 caliber 180-grain version.

There is a circumferential groove on the outside of the bullet over the cross member, and the bullet's jacket base is crimped over the base core. The A-Frame produced classic mushrooming in every test. Under extremely high impact velocity, the retained shank of the bullet that's rearward of the cross member bulges outward. The bulge serves to support the flaring and rearward-curling petals, maintaining a good-size frontal diameter. As a result of this design, the bullet retained the greatest weight under high impact velocity of any bullet in the test.



Speer Trophy Bonded

This non-boattail design with a small flat at the tip has an exceedingly thick and solid base--the thickest of all the lead-cored bullets--extending for a third of the bullet's length. Forward of the solid base are thick jacket walls that taper toward the front of the bullet. There is a "T" impressed into the base of each bullet.
The blunt tip of the Trophy Bonded bullet tends to make it shorter, but the thick base tends to make it longer for a given weight because there is not as much room for a large and more dense lead core inside. So while they're shorter than any of the long plastic-tipped bullets, they're longer than other blunt-tipped bullets.

The solid base causes the bullet to retain a good portion of shank during expansion, even under exceedingly high impact velocity. In my tests it retained a greater shank length under high impact velocity than any other bullet with a forward lead core. The Trophy Bonded bullet penetrates well with a good frontal diameter and retains a high percentage of weight.


Sierra Pro Hunter, Game King

Sierra sticks by its conventional old-line bullets: the flat-based Pro Hunter and Game King boattail. Thousands of game animals have been taken with these old reliables with a reputation for accuracy. I shot many head of elk with a 180-grain Sierra flat-base spitzer from a .300 Win. Mag. before someone told me I needed a premium bullet to do the job. I have learned that while other bullets may penetrate deeper, lung-shot elk do not necessarily expire more decisively. In my testing, two Pro-Hunter bullets shed jackets at a simulated 400-yard impact velocity.




Remington Core Lokt Ultra

A couple of years ago Remington introduced its own bonded-core bullet called the Core Lokt Ultra. The bullet has a thicker jacket in the midsection and features a cannelure. Under high impact velocity at close range, the bullet turned almost inside-out, expanding down to the base with a very large frontal diameter. However, since the core is bonded to the jacket, the bullet retains a fair amount of weight. As with most bullets tested, the Core Lokt Ultra expanded beautifully at a simulated 400-yard velocity.







Norma Oryx

The Norma Oryx is the shortest bullet of all because of its relatively thin cup-type jacket and blunt tip. This is an advantage if you have a rifle with a short magazine box, for example; the bullet base does not have to be seated very deeply inside a case and will intrude less into the powder space for a given overall cartridge length. However, this short length also gives it the lowest ballistic coefficient of all the bullets I tested.

Although the bullet expanded with an unbelievably large frontal diameter at ultra high impact velocity, it also penetrated the least of the group. Even so, the bonded bullet maintains its integrity and retains a very high percentage of weight. Generally, the bullet expands with four petals and even at normal velocity produces a good-size frontal area to transmit a maximum amount of shock to an animal. While the bullet expands almost to its base under ultra high impact velocity, under normal impact velocity it retains a considerable shank length and weight.

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