Copper Bullets

California requires hunting bullets to be lead-free. Is there a cheat sheet of manufacturers that make lead-free bullets? What are some lead-free bullets that you've used with great success?
Barnes TTSX's, I've gotten 4 animals with ttsx dropped in 1 shot, my buddy and son around 30 animals that have been taken with ttsx's, 99% dropped where they stood with 1st shot. Never had a hard time finding a good load for with the ttsx's.
 
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The amount of bullying that goes on here blows my mind. It's really sad. You know who you are and you should be ashamed of yourself.


I think you need to decide what you want out of a copper. Maybe we can have conversations about the pros and cons of monos and which application certain monos are better than others, rather than the typical X bullet is the best and if you disagree you get ganged up on and bullied.

Barnes, big mushroom, doesn't lose petals, very high weight retention, decent BCs. At times, especially with lower velocities you don't get much mushroom.

Hammer, lose all their petals, creating mini wound channels. The shank will continue on, most likely penetrating out the other side with a caliber diameter hole. The seem to be very accurate and easy to load in my experience. The BC are some of the lowest of all monos and seem to be overstated. Weight retention not good

CEB, similar to hammer, lose petals, caliber size exit, much better BCs, I've only loaded the 145 lazers and they were very accurate. They're rated to expand down to 1200fps in the lazers I was shooting. Weight retention not good.

Bulldozer, good bc, no experience.

And unlike some on here, I am open minded. Here's my daughter today with the results of her 6.5cm shooting 85gr hammers. She loves them! Recoil is much lighter than the 147 eld-m I shoot out of that same rifle in tiny little groups! 6 shots in a sub 1.5 moa group at 100. Shes 11 and has 2 big game tags this year. Max range is 200, I think the deer and antelope are in trouble!

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The amount of bullying that goes on here blows my mind. It's really sad. You know who you are and you should be ashamed of yourself.


I think you need to decide what you want out of a copper. Maybe we can have conversations about the pros and cons of monos and which application certain monos are better than others, rather than the typical X bullet is the best and if you disagree you get ganged up on and bullied.

Barnes, big mushroom, doesn't lose petals, very high weight retention, decent BCs. At times, especially with lower velocities you don't get much mushroom.

Hammer, lose all their petals, creating mini wound channels. The shank will continue on, most likely penetrating out the other side with a caliber diameter hole. The seem to be very accurate and easy to load in my experience. The BC are some of the lowest of all monos and seem to be overstated. Weight retention not good

CEB, similar to hammer, lose petals, caliber size exit, much better BCs, I've only loaded the 145 lazers and they were very accurate. They're rated to expand down to 1200fps in the lazers I was shooting. Weight retention not good.

Bulldozer, good bc, no experience.

And unlike some on here, I am open minded. Here's my daughter today with the results of her 6.5cm shooting 85gr hammers. She loves them! Recoil is much lighter than the 147 eld-m I shoot out of that same rifle in tiny little groups! 6 shots in a sub 1.5 moa group at 100. Shes 11 and has 2 big game tags this year. Max range is 200, I think the deer and antelope are in trouble!

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Well said 👍👍
 
The amount of bullying that goes on here blows my mind. It's really sad. You know who you are and you should be ashamed of yourself.


I think you need to decide what you want out of a copper. Maybe we can have conversations about the pros and cons of monos and which application certain monos are better than others, rather than the typical X bullet is the best and if you disagree you get ganged up on and bullied.

Barnes, big mushroom, doesn't lose petals, very high weight retention, decent BCs. At times, especially with lower velocities you don't get much mushroom.

Hammer, lose all their petals, creating mini wound channels. The shank will continue on, most likely penetrating out the other side with a caliber diameter hole. The seem to be very accurate and easy to load in my experience. The BC are some of the lowest of all monos and seem to be overstated. Weight retention not good

CEB, similar to hammer, lose petals, caliber size exit, much better BCs, I've only loaded the 145 lazers and they were very accurate. They're rated to expand down to 1200fps in the lazers I was shooting. Weight retention not good.

Bulldozer, good bc, no experience.

And unlike some on here, I am open minded. Here's my daughter today with the results of her 6.5cm shooting 85gr hammers. She loves them! Recoil is much lighter than the 147 eld-m I shoot out of that same rifle in tiny little groups! 6 shots in a sub 1.5 moa group at 100. Shes 11 and has 2 big game tags this year. Max range is 200, I think the deer and antelope are in trouble!

View attachment 484237
It is always nice to see young ladies taking up hunting/shooting. You have done well passing on the tradition to the next generation—happy, safe hunting with her; looking forward to a successful hunt report. Cheers!
 
It is always nice to see young ladies taking up hunting/shooting. You have done well passing on the tradition to the next generation—happy, safe hunting with her; looking forward to a successful hunt report. Cheers!
Thanks. It was a proud dad moment for sure. With 3 younger ones it's hard to get away just one on one. It was a lot of fun and not a day I'll soon forget. Let's hope when she's 13 she still wants to hang out with her dad!!
 
It is always nice to see young ladies taking up hunting/shooting. You have done well passing on the tradition to the next generation—happy, safe hunting with her; looking forward to a successful hunt report. Cheers!
Yes it's nice to see them shooting…but it sucks to see them shooting better than me! 🤣
 
The amount of bullying that goes on here blows my mind. It's really sad. You know who you are and you should be ashamed of yourself.


I think you need to decide what you want out of a copper. Maybe we can have conversations about the pros and cons of monos and which application certain monos are better than others, rather than the typical X bullet is the best and if you disagree you get ganged up on and bullied.

Barnes, big mushroom, doesn't lose petals, very high weight retention, decent BCs. At times, especially with lower velocities you don't get much mushroom.

Hammer, lose all their petals, creating mini wound channels. The shank will continue on, most likely penetrating out the other side with a caliber diameter hole. The seem to be very accurate and easy to load in my experience. The BC are some of the lowest of all monos and seem to be overstated. Weight retention not good

CEB, similar to hammer, lose petals, caliber size exit, much better BCs, I've only loaded the 145 lazers and they were very accurate. They're rated to expand down to 1200fps in the lazers I was shooting. Weight retention not good.

Bulldozer, good bc, no experience.

And unlike some on here, I am open minded. Here's my daughter today with the results of her 6.5cm shooting 85gr hammers. She loves them! Recoil is much lighter than the 147 eld-m I shoot out of that same rifle in tiny little groups! 6 shots in a sub 1.5 moa group at 100. Shes 11 and has 2 big game tags this year. Max range is 200, I think the deer and antelope are in trouble!

View attachment 484237
Great job dad. Keep it going!
 
Cutting Edge Bullets have the trophies to prove they are the "Apex" with long range copper. To dispute that with stories is, well, expected. They expand at lower velocities than most which extends hunting ranges. At shorter ranges several will fulfill your needs.
Bad arse bullets; I have some .27 and .28 cals in different weights, but I want to try the .33 cals - 260 Maximus and 275 MTH.
 
I've found although Hammers are expensive they still save me money with load development. I've thrown away a lot of money in components to get other bullets to shoot as good as Hammers shoot right out the gate!
I guess you've had better luck than me. It took me about 85 out of 100 bullets to figure them out in my 25-06. I'm shooting the 116 grain, and as a final attempt out of frustration, I tried seating them .010 off the lands with 52 grains of Reloader 26. Should've tried that first. Duh! I got 1 1/4" groups at 200 with that attempt. I ran another group and it was 1 3/8" at 200, and considering I'm not the deadeye I was 30 some years ago, I'm plenty happy. I was beginning to think I spent 3k building that rifle for nothing.
 
I guess you've had better luck than me. It took me about 85 out of 100 bullets to figure them out in my 25-06. I'm shooting the 116 grain, and as a final attempt out of frustration, I tried seating them .010 off the lands with 52 grains of Reloader 26. Should've tried that first. Duh! I got 1 1/4" groups at 200 with that attempt. I ran another group and it was 1 3/8" at 200, and considering I'm not the deadeye I was 30 some years ago, I'm plenty happy. I was beginning to think I spent 3k building that rifle for nothing.
They just needed to find their tune in your tuning fork! Glad murphy finally got off your back and you got some great results after your hard efforts! I've been so lucky with Hammers in my rigs that the seating is either case mouth crimped in the first or second PDR groove from the tip.
 
California requires hunting bullets to be lead-free. Is there a cheat sheet of manufacturers that make lead-free bullets? What are some lead-free bullets that you've used with great success?
Employ the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) theory of bullet selection and go with Hammers. Excellent results for accuracy, velocity, terminal performance on game.
 
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