May have just witnessed my first copper bullet failure…

[ArmedInMD]

The bullet that the OP was using was particularly light for caliber. 7mm 120 grain bullet. So pretty dang low sectional density. That’s why they didn’t get an exit. With an exit, and two holes to drain air pressure and blood that elk would have went down sooner. With a Barnes type bullet you need enough speed to get full opening of the pedals but also enough weight to poke two holes.

I shot a big bodied old mule deer at 540 yards with a 168 grain Barnes .30 cal bullet. Quartering away and it exited through the shoulder. Animal expired within 20 yards. They can definitely work but for example the 25-06 is an amazing deer round but I don’t think I’d have had the same outcome had I been using the 90 grain 25-06 load. That said with a hammer, cutting edge, etc… type design I’d go back to having no problem with the 25-06 for that application.

Thank you for complete breakdown. I never gave much thought to bullet selection always just used the same thing but times change and the Barnes had some positives I was hoping to take advantage of. I also realize Im using a factory loaded round and looks like LRX not the TTSX.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

i have a theory on that. I’ve seen hollow point failures with a Berger too. Passed straight through. I think that with open small hollow points if they get filled with dirt, liquid, etc… they don’t have the air cavitation to expand.

Sure. My main point is just generically saying "use hammers" as if that will definitely shed petals is the part I was cautioning about. Not all their offerings are the same.

 

[PLhunter]

Ok

Sure. My main point is just generically saying "use hammers" as if that will definitely shed petals is the part I was cautioning about. Not all their offerings are the same.

no and they even vary wildly within the same bullet lineup. With my 25-06 with the 121’s HH it’d keep a large shank and just shed the nose cone even at very high impact velocities. With the 6.5 124 HH which is what I used until switching the badlands and then hbc’s we’d commonly find fragments with th drive bands in them. Demonstrating much greater fragmentation and that was at lower impact velocities. I never had a hammer fail personally but I’ve heard of it and was just theorizing that plugged hollow points might play a role. The hbc lineup has a huge hollow point and I’ve seen two animals harvested with that design. Both were on the explosive end of the spectrum.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I never had a hammer fail personally but I’ve heard of it and was just theorizing that plugged hollow points might play a role.

Some recovered bullets from 'a bad batch of material'. The recovered ones aren't complete failures but absolutely not shedding petals as intended causing tumbling which allowed these ones to be caught where the others zipped through recreating rodeos. Impact velocities were well over their minimums.

 

[Ryan Avery]

It's funny, this is still a surprise on here. Non-CNS shots on animals with copper or hard-bonded bullets will generally stay on their feet longer than animals shot with a good match bullet. And sometimes they stay on their feet for a long time.

 

[NDHUNTER24]

I've shot a fair amount of deer with various bullets and a couple elk. Barnes shot well in my rifles, and they were consistent. But, the performance wasn't what i was looking for. Match type bullets get the nod for me anymore.