I realize I'm kidding myself, hoping for any new products when manufactures can't even fill current order these days...
BUT, I sure wish somebody would come out with high BC, plastic tipped, varmint bullets. Seems Hornady could do that quite easily, and seems they had that with the old A-Max...only apparent deficit with those was bullet profile/ogive had low BC relative to weight class. Gosh...throw a thinner jacket the ELD lineup, and some of that old-school plastic that softened in route to target, and we'd have Vmax-ELD! Maybe little bigger meplat/plastic tip too by way of slightly shorter jacket.
Wishful thinking I suppose...
RAG -
Howdy !
I have sometimes wondered whether a long-for-its-weight explosive varmint bullet might be do-able, via use of perhaps a sintered metal or powdered metal " core " ?
Some random comments:
Whatever the bullet design / construction / calibre / wt, I suspect bullet makers will want to manufacture bullets that will sell well. This means bullets that would have to shoot successfully and shoot accurately enough to become great sellers ( customer acceptance )
In consideration of the above, one major question about a new explosive varmint bullet designs would be whether they would stabilize in existing rifles and their associated twist rates ?
Customer outcry / demand for the new bullet and both bullet and rifle manufacturer" resolve to fill the " need " made " VLDs" viable; These type of circumstances would
need to also be present; for the lighter / higher BC / explosive varmint bullet to be brought out. This has not happened, as yet. IMHO - softening of a polymer bullet tip due to aerodynamic heating would only serve to negatively impact bullet BC. Hornady has said as much, in their written reasons for the development of their newer heat resistant bullet tips.
I found the comment amount 1st generation polymer tips on bullets as being "old school "
to be somewhat humorous. Prior to the introduction of those types of bullets, varmint bullets famous for being " explosive " were Sierra's .224" call 55 " Blitz ", and Hornady's
.224" cal 55gr SX ( examples ). Both the original 55 Blitz and the Hornady's current
55 SX feature exposed lead tips. I'd think those qualify as " old school ", fer sher.
I should think the exposed lead tip on a varmint bullet shot from a high-intensity varmint cartridge would ablate on its way out to the target. That sort of tip deformation would
( again ) result in some level of negative impact on the bullet's BC ( IMHO ).
Having said that, I'll offer this....
The .224" cal 50gr and 55gr SX bullets from Hornady are made using a 009" thick jacket.
This is a key feature of the bullet's design, that help to make them " explosive ".
Hornady used to include a slip of paper in every box of SX bullets, that warned shooters not to exceed 3,400fps with these bullets. This was at a time when the prevailing .224" cal varmint rifle twist was 1-14 " ( .222, .222Mag. .223, .224 Weatherby, .225 Winchester,
.22-250; and .220 Swift as examples ). Now, I will tell you that I successfully shot the 55SX @ 3,690 fps with great terminal effects on groundhogs. And... I believe it could be successfully propelled even faster, given a dedicated rifle featuring a " slow enough " twist.
I once talked with Steve Hornady about the need for long-er range / explosive varmint bullets, specifically in .224" calibre. I was getting ready to try for a 500yd groundhogs kill, and felt using the 55SX shot from my 24" Hart SS 1-14 5-groove would be a " press ".
Steve offered that.... asking a .224" cal 55gr varmint bullet to make reliable kills @ 500yd
was asking a lot; and .22-250s and .220 Swifts were the dominate larger capacity factory chambering extant. Steve sent me small clutch of their then prototype 55 "V"-Max.
These featured a longer boat tail than the production version of the bullet they ultimately settled on. This was ostensibly because accuracy obtainable w/ the shorter BT bullet was better, and this was in-part due to the center of gravity on the bullet. And I suppose, a little more bullet wt in the jacket in the longer BT bullet had also corresponded to a slight necessary reduction in the bullet's lead core wt; which had an effect on its CG location ?? Hmmm.....
My point:
Besides bullet' cal / design / construction / wt and such, bullet lethality also includes factors like the velocity imparted to it, spin rate RPM, remaining energy @ distance; and so forth.
My thought is to impart a whole bunch of velocity to the chosen bullet, using that approach to help offset any less than stellar BC the selected bullet might have. This does not in anyway mean that useful accuracy cannot also be obtained. I used this approach with the 55SX for over 20 yr, and my rifle went 3,420 end before it keyholes it's first bullet.
And, I betcha the tips ablated on the way out; as vapor trails could often be seen in the warm/humid Indiana " blue haze " of Summer.
YRMV...
With regards,
357Mag
