Copper bullets

[Jacks Grampa]

Anyone reloading them and do they work well on game?

 

[6.5PRC123]

I have been using 168 grain Barnes ttsx in my 300 WSM for years and they are deadly. I also just started reloading with 124 grain Hammer Hunters but have not shot any thing with them yet but the shoot very well on paper.

 

[PronePanda]

Loaded some 62 grain TSX in .223 AR-15. Shot a few on paper to see if they printed; roughly the same as 69 grain SMK at 100 yd.

Finally shot two hogs - only non-paper I've shot them at. One dropped and did not get up; one dropped, got up, ran about 30 yards and dropped for good. Probably poor bullet placement.

Not much data but I like them.

 

[ballisticxlr]

They work well enough. I'm not personally a big fan but that's just opinion and taste not an assessment of worth or functionality. There's a good number of idiosyncrasies with monometal that are different to lead core. Probably the biggest actual difference from the handloader's standpoint is that you end up using loads that are similar to loads for heavier bullets than you're actually using unless the bullet in question uses driving bands because solid copper/brass/etc... are so much less dense than lead that a bullet of a given weight is smaller when it's lead core than it is if it's monometal copper, so more bearing surface = more friction = more pressure so you essentially drop your charge weight like you might when going to a heavier bullet. I hope that makes sense. It did in my head.

An example (and one not to be taken too literally) would be, say in a .270win if you usually load 130gr bullets when using lead core and you pick up a set of 130gr copper monometal bullets you'll end up with a charge weight more like it would be if you'd used 140gr lead core copper jacketed bullet.

When they first came out in the form of Barnes they were pretty heavily in the 'delivers over-penetration' category. I did some testing back in the day that really showed that tendency off. It seems a lot of that has been alleviated with better alloys according to talk on the forums but I just don't use monometal bullets enough to actually know anymore. I've killed quite a few very large animals with monometals from Peregrine Bullets in South Africa in the last few years and been really impressed with their ability to not over-penetrate but I haven't used any others on game in a coon's age. I'll let others provide their experiences with on-game performance and hope one or more addresses the penetration issue.

 

[1bamashooter]

Barnes 130gr TTSX 3600fps out of my 270stw exit wound from 350yd shot

 

[RegionRat]

I was forced to start using the Barnes TTSX many years ago on wild pigs when they started a lead bullet ban in the Condor Zone. But I only used them up north of Paso Robles and King City on those pigs. Then....

Just a few years ago, they expanded that lead ban state wide so now any/all hunting uses non-lead so I have had to play with even more of them for varmints for example.

Like the others, I found a way to make them work just fine. I try not to shoot big pigs and I try not to shoot them far away since there isn't a need for that here. At the point blank to 300 yard ranges I have used them on pigs that are about 200 pounds or less, they tend to penetrate and exit. No issues with stopping them very quickly even with lung shots, and certainly not with head/neck shots.

I find they like to be seated deep, so don't be afraid to try big jumps.

 

[Jacks Grampa]

Thanks all. Any recipes from Alliant or Hodgdon?

 

[RegionRat]

Thanks all. Any recipes from Alliant or Hodgdon?

Try and use the Barnes data for those bullets. Not that you can't use Alliant or Hodgdon just fine.

https://www.barnesbullets.com/load-data/

With the 165 TTSX, the only real key was to clean really well before using them, and then to search for the seating depth. If you use that same rig to go back to regular bullets, I would clean really well again. Something about the differences that made it take longer to settle if I ran them over each other without cleaning. YMMV.

 

[6.5PRC123]

Thanks all. Any recipes from Alliant or Hodgdon?

Grampa what gun and caliber are you shooting?

 

[FeMan]

I have shot them for about 20 years and piled up probably 100 animals with them (hogs, deer, elk & antelope). They have worked extremely well for me. Almost all have been Barnes TSX and TTSX in 270 and 7mm. They are looong and penetrate well so don't select too high of a weight without looking at twist rates. They like to jump. My loads are between 0.060" and 0.120"

 

[1K6BRA]

I have shot 14 deer with Barnes TTSX bullets in my 6.5 x 2 84 , 25- 06, 250 Savage. Shots have ranged from 30 yards to a bit over 100 yards deer have weighed between 100 and maybe 140 pounds. Bullet diameter hole in, jelly in the middle, 50 Cent piece size hole on the other side with a blood trail that anybody could follow. After being hit some have dropped in their tracks a couple have made it 20 paces or so. They have been very accurate in the guns I have shot them in and I’ve come to the conclusion I really don’t need to look any further for the perfect bullet.

 

[1bamashooter]

I've found that most copper solid bullets like Barnes like a ton of jump and like to be pushed fast. I tell people that ask about them to drop down in weight and get as high a velocity out of them as you can but still group good

 

[Jacks Grampa]

Grampa what gun and caliber are you shooting?

30.06 and 7mm. Rem Mag

 

[Doug Beach]

For deer and pigs with the 06, try the Barnes 130gr. You’ll be impressed.

 

[okie]

What do they do that a traditional bullet wont do?

 

[Northridge]

What do they do that a traditional bullet wont do?

nothing

 

[divingin]

What do they do that a traditional bullet wont do?

They allow you to hunt in areas that have banned lead in hunting bullets (California, statewide; may be other places as well.) They also help by lightening your wallet quicker so you don't get back pain.

 

[CharlieNC]

EVERY bullet design has an impact velocity range that is necessary for proper expansion performance. Too slow, or too fast, and you risk undesirable results. As long as you research, understand, and operate within this range then you will have done your due diligence.

 

[okie]

They allow you to hunt in areas that have banned lead in hunting bullets (California, statewide; may be other places as well.) They also help by lightening your wallet quicker so you don't get back pain.

yeah i forgot about calif....yeah they are expensive.

 

[wedgy]

I'm in CA and been shooting monos for years, I have a couple dozen of the perfect mushroom shaped barnes bullets in .30 caliber, with ~100% weight retention, but I never recovered a single 6.5 bullet from 3 dozen deer and pigs and even from two cows that were shot diagonally thru the shoulder/ribs. The animals died from shots to the vitals but had caliber sized exit wounds and no blood trail. So I searched for other bullets and ended up shooting both Hammer Bullets and Cutting Edge bullets. They are a much softer copper alloy that acts more like lead, having less engraving pressure and give more velocity per same weight bullet. Both are lathe turned and the Hammers have bands cut into the bearing surface to reduce the engraving pressure even further. Hammers are a hybrid type ogive and are almost insensitive to seating depth. Hammer and CEB are designed to expand at much lower velocities than hard alloy and use a totally different mechanism where the entire tip of the bullets comes apart and the petals radiate forwards and outwards while the shank penetrates thru and exits. Barrel twist is much more important as the copper bullets are longer for weight than lead and need to be spun faster so it will perform once it hits the animal, it needs to keep going straight and expand and the faster twist accomplishes this so pick a bullet that matches your twist. All my hunting rifles are custom fast twist barrels. Hammer has a unique line call Absolute Hammer where no ogive touches the rifling, they found that the rifling engraving was affecting the BC differently in different barrels so they designed something different and the unintended consequence was a huge boost in velocity over the conventional design. Examples are a 123 grain at 3,100 fps from a 6.5 creed, 3,325 with a 123 grain from a 6.5x284, and over 3,000 fps from a 178 grain in a 30-06. An entirely different powder selection is used for the weight of these bullets, conventional loading data does not apply.
The picture is the exit on a cow I took at 987 yards slightly quartering to me and uphill with a 227 grain Hammer hunter from a 7 twist 300 RUM. The other picture is a 275 grain super bulldozer( a very hard alloy) that hit an elk in the neck at 882 yards at ~2,100 fps from a 9 twist 338 NM, it hit the neck broadside then went 12" up and left into the back strap. It did not break the vertebrae and I have no explanation as to how it could hit an elk with ~2,800 ft/lbs and go only 12" but I saw it happen. But that is why I won't shoot hard alloy monos.
I have had great success with Cutting Edge also, their data lines up with conventional lead bullet data and the have a higher BC than Hammers. Lots of choices but that's what I've settled on after shooting lots and lots of copper. The Hammers are by far the easiest bullets to work up a load for.

Cutting Edge Bullets

Solid copper, lathe turned projectiles for hunting, match shooting, and home defense. CNC Swiss style lathes make these bullets extremely accurate.

cuttingedgebullets.com

Patented Custom Bullets | Hammer Bullets

Hammer Bullets are custom designed bullets offering superior accuracy and ensuring minimal game waste. Our bullets have higher velocity and are lead free.

hammerbullets.com

file:///C:/Users/chris/Downloads/Absolute%20Hammer%20Load%20Data%20Post%20(7-11).docx.pdf