Cutting Edge Bullets

[MO00]

Does anyone have much experience shooting Cutting Edge Bullets for hunting? I’m thinking about loading some Raptors. Just curious what terminal performance is like with them, I would like to go the lead free route and these have intrigued me but can’t seem to find a ton about them. Any experiences would be appreciated!

 

[Chris in TN]

I shot some raptors in the kids’ .350 Legend.

Very accurate. Ended up going with a different bullet (Hornady 165 ftx) to get better retained velocity downrange. That caliber needs all the help it can get there. But they shot very well, albeit a bit slow as I was afraid to simply swap them with conventional bullet load data in the straight wall case.

 

[Bluefish]

I have used the 160g ER raptor in 35 cal. Have taken a total of 5 deer. Seem to work well. I have used them from 35 whelen down to a 357 max pistol. All resulted in dead deer.

They do fracture and shed petals like they claim. I didn’t find BC to be as good as published, but not bad compared to cup/core options. No real difference to the hammers that I had used previously. I hope to have some comparison data in a few weeks.

 

[MO00]

Thanks guys, I was curious about the fracturing. Seems like they’re a lot closer to cup and core terminally than most other lead free alternatives

 

[Zork]

I've shot two deer and a cow elk with 165gr lasers out of a 308. Bullets shed their petals as advertised and performed well as far as I'm concerned. No complaints.

 

[Smokey12]

I have killed two animals with 180 Maximus and one with a 160 lazer. Both have performed as advertised. They fracture and cause damage almost like a Berger with a base that will penetrate. They are my favorite non lead bullets.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I shot 2 deer with the 160gr 7mm lazer this year, one was off hand and I spined it so not the greatest for reviewing terminal performance. The other was slight quartering away, so it entered behind the shoulder thru lungs and left out the other shoulder meat (not the blade). I found the deer <100yd away without tracking it (walked over to where the other deer that was with it was standing when I came over the ridge they crested). I went back to grab my buddy and pack and when walking back over on the route the deer ran there was a steady trail of small sized but high quantity blood droplets that I had my buddy track since he didn't know where the deer was and he easily followed it. An obvious 1-1.5" sized wound through the lungs. So typical "high speed broadhead" type wound path but not absolutely shredded lungs like some explosive fragmenting bullets do.

As usual shot placement matters with monos as there is less wounding margin.

I need to play with the load a bit more to track the true 10rd cone of fire better but one of the reasons I am liking the 160lazer is I have it loaded to a similar velocity as the 162eldm and their point of impact at 100yd are also very close (lazer is .1mil higher and .2mil left), their BC numbers are the same or within .1mil for a long ways out. So if the situation has me wanting to pivot to the 162eldm instead I can basically inter change for hunting using the same dope on the fly. Longer shots I'd be dialing in the dope to the conditions more accurately anyways for either.

 

[z987k]

I've used the Handgun raptors in 44 mag. They do exactly what they claim to do.
Of all the copper handgun bullets, the raptors IMO are the best.