Calvin45
Well-Known Member
I've had lots of food for thought over the last few weeks in other threads I've started or participated in.
I'm wanting to start a conversation about the merits of tipped projectiles and open tip match/match hollowpoint projectiles, pros and cons, which do you prefer to use, etc. All opinions, experiences and stories, explanations for preference welcome.
I realize its a very broad and possibly unanswerable question to just say "which bullet is better?" so to narrow things down a bit here's a few of the questions I'd like to hear you chime in on
1. accuracy potential. In theory the OTM bullets are simpler therefore less easy to screw up therefore potentially more consistently accurate, however theory and reality often don't line up. Which do you find groups tightest at distance and experiences less vertical stringing due to small deviations in BC from one bullet to the next?
2. Consistency - have you observed any advantage in lot to lot and even bullet to bullet consistency between tipped projectiles and conventional hpbt match bullets? weight, overall length, base to ogive measure, bearing surface distance, meplat uniformity, concentricity, etc...
3. Sensitivity - have you observed in your rifles any increase in "finickiness" in one or the other bullet styles, as in unforgiving of seating depth, changes in other components, even neck tension etc. I realize that in theory the tip in no way affects interior ballistics but...if enough people report a phenomena it must be looked into.
4 Terminal performance - no need to discuss this if it's not what you're shooting them for, but for those who have used both on game at any distance, do you have a preference for tipped or non-tipped high BC projectiles, and why? What have you observed? In theory the tipped bullets should open up more reliably at low impact velocity as the tip is covering a much larger hollowpoint than what is found in an OTM bullet, but again...well I've already stated my awareness of the discrepancy between theory and observation that sometimes shows up.
If there's anything else you'd like to chime in with pertinent to this comparison, feel free!
I'm wanting to start a conversation about the merits of tipped projectiles and open tip match/match hollowpoint projectiles, pros and cons, which do you prefer to use, etc. All opinions, experiences and stories, explanations for preference welcome.
I realize its a very broad and possibly unanswerable question to just say "which bullet is better?" so to narrow things down a bit here's a few of the questions I'd like to hear you chime in on
1. accuracy potential. In theory the OTM bullets are simpler therefore less easy to screw up therefore potentially more consistently accurate, however theory and reality often don't line up. Which do you find groups tightest at distance and experiences less vertical stringing due to small deviations in BC from one bullet to the next?
2. Consistency - have you observed any advantage in lot to lot and even bullet to bullet consistency between tipped projectiles and conventional hpbt match bullets? weight, overall length, base to ogive measure, bearing surface distance, meplat uniformity, concentricity, etc...
3. Sensitivity - have you observed in your rifles any increase in "finickiness" in one or the other bullet styles, as in unforgiving of seating depth, changes in other components, even neck tension etc. I realize that in theory the tip in no way affects interior ballistics but...if enough people report a phenomena it must be looked into.
4 Terminal performance - no need to discuss this if it's not what you're shooting them for, but for those who have used both on game at any distance, do you have a preference for tipped or non-tipped high BC projectiles, and why? What have you observed? In theory the tipped bullets should open up more reliably at low impact velocity as the tip is covering a much larger hollowpoint than what is found in an OTM bullet, but again...well I've already stated my awareness of the discrepancy between theory and observation that sometimes shows up.
If there's anything else you'd like to chime in with pertinent to this comparison, feel free!