Damaged Polymer Tips

[JohnyRingo]

I just recently purchased a Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker in a 300 H&H Mag. After going through a box of ammo, I've noticed that the recoil from this gun is damaging the polymer tips on my Accubond bullets. I don't feel like the recoil is that much, but I can't be shooting damaged tips on bullets. Is this the result of a faulty removable magazine or is this common for this rifle in a magnum round?

 

[huntsman22]

welcome to magnums......

 

[camping1601]

I noticed this for the first time this past season with my Tikka 300 wsm shooting 165 Accubonds. Looking forward to hearing from others on this.

 

[GKPrice]

ballistic tips do the same thing and it doesn't take a magnum to cause it, my '06 T3 does it all the time - the farthest I shoot is 500'ish and I've seen no difference in hits, I also pulled some out and shot a 5 shot group to satisfy my curiosity (only at 100 yds) no difference in groups - I doubt you'd really ever notice anything adverse to at least 350 or so for accuracy but I'm in the dark on expansion without that tip - a little curling of the tip doesn't worry me though - I would not be surprised if the ELD X bullets do the same but maybe not, we'll have to see

 

[elkguide]

I'm with GK on this. I've tried shooting "deformed" polymer tipped bullets at 100 yards and have been able to detect no difference in POI. I've even had deformities with polymer tipped bullets in a 7mm08.

 

[JohnyRingo]

A buddy of mine who shoots a 300 RUM says he seats his bullets long to fill up the magazine as much as possible so that the bullets can't come slamming forward on the recoil. He shoots ELD-X's.

I will experiment on P.O.I. with damaged and undamaged tips to see the difference. It's all about having confidence in your setup.

I guess I can also look into a muzzle brake even though I don't mind the recoil. My Tikka T3 243 doesn't damage the tips.

 

[GKPrice]

A buddy of mine who shoots a 300 RUM says he seats his bullets long to fill up the magazine as much as possible so that the bullets can't come slamming forward on the recoil. He shoots ELD-X's.

I will experiment on P.O.I. with damaged and undamaged tips to see the difference. It's all about having confidence in your setup.

I guess I can also look into a muzzle brake even though I don't mind the recoil. My Tikka T3 243 doesn't damage the tips.

Gawd, not that ! Actually though, my T3 '06 AI rounds pretty much fill up the magazine making tips slamming against the front minimal at best - maybe a bumper of some form at the shoulder is the answer ? I'll have to admit that even though I've no functional reason to worry about it, it still bugs me

 

[rayporter]

you can deform lead or polymer tips and not tell the difference at close range. you can even shoot bullets that weigh a grain or three different and get one hole groups.

 

[JohnyRingo]

My understanding is that under 300 yards, there will be no noticeable change in P.O.I. My only issue with that is that if I need to shoot further than that, on a follow-up shot, my damaged bullet isn't going to perform at its best. That doesn't create a lot of confidence in that shot. Granted, I have only shot one animal greater than 300 yards out of 35-40 animals taken, but I recreationally shoot out to 800 yards with confidence. I want to know that if I needed to, I can pull that long shot with my second and third bullets.

 

[GKPrice]

My understanding is that under 300 yards, there will be no noticeable change in P.O.I. My only issue with that is that if I need to shoot further than that, on a follow-up shot, my damaged bullet isn't going to perform at its best. That doesn't create a lot of confidence in that shot. Granted, I have only shot one animal greater than 300 yards out of 35-40 animals taken, but I recreationally shoot out to 800 yards with confidence. I want to know that if I needed to, I can pull that long shot with my second and third bullets.

test loads out to 800 yards for grouping

 

[thopkins22]

Well what kind of deformity? As Hornady determined using work similar to what Bryan Litz had already done years earlier, there is plastic deformation with most tips in flight anyway. A whole lot of world records have been set at various long distances with SMK's, which tend to have minor variances at the tips.

At the extreme end, there's a company(I forget who) tipping bullets with milled aluminum to prevent any deformation in flight at all while allowing super pointy shapes.

My money sits comfortably on
"you'll never be able to definitively determine that it harms practical accuracy in a tangible and quantifiable way."

ETA:I want to clarify that it would annoy me, and if I could determine on the range that subsequent rounds were always going to be less accurate, I'd be in search of different bullets or another solution. BUT at realistic and ethical killing distances, I sincerely doubt it matters an iota.

 

[Brodie]

Tip deformation as others have said generally has little effect. Deformation of the base on the other hand considerably effects accuracy


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[JohnyRingo]

My plan is to shoot my rifle with undamaged tips and compare those groups to damaged tips first at 100 yards and then out to longer distances. I am also going to start reloading some bullets and seat them a little longer to see if removing the extra room in the magazine helps. As a last resort, I may also put a muzzle brake on the rifle to reduce the recoil and see if that helps. My problem is that I am too anal about some things and shooting bullets with jacked-up tips really irritates me. I don't want that in my head when I am taking a shot at a buck or bull of a lifetime.

 

[16Bore]

I've seen with Barnes TTSX in my 260. Nothing will make your ass pucker like taking a round out of the chamber and the tip is hanging on by a thread.

 

[JohnyRingo]

I fixed the problem. I seated the bullets 1/10" longer so that they completely filled the magazine and the tips couldn't get slammed forward on the recoil.