To hunt with Standards or Monos...that is the question.

adam32+P said:
You don't know that since you didn't find the animal. Could've been a poorly placed shot and the bullet wouldn't have mattered one way or another.
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I know 100% that it wasn't a poorly placed shot. Cheap or poor quality bullets have a greater tendency to fail since they are typically a simple cup and core bullet will low to no quality controls. You get what you pay for. It's as simple as that. This happened 20 plus years ago, and Ive literally taken 100s of animals since. High quality bullets = found dead animals. Usually within 10 feet of where they were shot
 
So much of this depends on each person's choices that I don't think it will ever be laid to rest.

Cartridge choice, or more correctly velocity has the greatest impact (pun intended) on bullet performance. Choosing the wrong bullet for the velocity will always result in less than optimal performance. This is a long range forum so bullet performance at long range should be the vast majority of discussions. In theory anyway.

Considering the velocity of your bullet at the distance you expect to use them at is the key.

I find mono bullets leave a narrow wound channel when velocity drops off too much. Yes they penetrate but don't cause as much trauma. Is it enough for your taste? If you rarely shoot animals at longer distance don't set yourself up for long shots. It's literally creating a negative result in waiting.
 
As creatures of habit and curiosity sometimes we over complicate the simplicity of what we do and what has been proven. In 1963 I shot my first deer, I was 8 years old, the bullet used was a Remington Core-lokt bullet. In 2025 I shot another deer the bullet used was a Remington Core-lokt bullet. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.
 
I can say that I rarely go by other peoples opinions. Have been burned doing so because I listened to very poor advice.
I test my own bullets, I never look at ads or marketing when I make my choice to use said bullet.
When the Barnes TSX first came out, in it's infancy, I took the advice of a mate that was getting TSX bullets at wholesale prices, he was getting 25cal 115g, 30cal 180g and 33cal 225g for so cheap, I had to try them.
At the time, I had 5 25-06 rifles, not one of them would shoot below 2MoA with them, all were 10" twist.
In 30cal, I tried the 180g TSX in both a 300WM and 300Bee, 1.5MoA is best I could do.
The 338cal in 338WM and 340WM were both plagued with good .75 MoA groups one day, and 2MoA groups the next.
Gave up on them, gave what bullets were left to my mate with no hard feelings…
After 2020, I started using Barnes factory 300RUM ammo with both 165g TTSX and 180g TTSX.
What a game changer, either loads print between .5MoA to .75MoA @ 100 easily, my handloads with the 180g TTSX hover around .5MoA and hold that for at least 20 rounds.
I am now using both TTSX and LRX in several cartridges ranging from 25cal to 375cal with exceptional results, couldn't be happier.
I still use Accubonds and ABLR in the same calibres, but, this is mostly due to the ranges I am hunting, although, I could happily swap to LRX to do the same job.
I find my Cutting Edge mono's to be the most accurate ELR bullet I have used to date, superbly accurate and stable right out to 2000 metres.

This does not mean I will switch exclusively to mono's, but, it does mean in several cartridges of mine, they have already become the ONLY bullet used in them for hunting.

Cheers.
 
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I started using monos over 20 years ago and have never had a bad experience with them. Calif passed a law requiring non lead and that sealed the deal. I find that the monos are typically the most accurate in my guns and I attribute that to a homogenous bullet and not a mixture of lead and copper. full penetration is the norm, even with large animals like elk and the loss of meat is reduced significantly. I have even had two partitions grenade inside small animals and when I contacted Nosler they admitted an issue with a particular lot of 7MM bullets. Even Barnes had issues with the olgive being inconsistent with their bullets, but that was also corrected promptly. I have used the Barnes TSX, TTSX and LRX bullets on all forms of elk and deer and none have escaped and also like the Hammer lineup as well. Never had a problem with any of these bullets.
 
If you switch from bonded controlled expansion bullets to monos, you need to understand that you need to drive monos faster to get the terminal performance you want. So cartridge capability does come into play.
Whatever you use, you need to research it's terminal performance at the velocity from your rifle. You shouldn't expect good killing performance at speeds less than the velocity range they were designed for.
Of course some bullets are more forgiving in that regard and perform well at a wide range of velocity. Those are often the bullets hunters rave about because they get the job done far and near and bring them down in variety of cartridges.
That being said, more velocity is always your friend because it is true--speed kills!
 
Roughrice said:
For the most part... yes.

"Bullet Construction" is the key.

"Poor quality" claim could merely be a specific bullet design used in the wrong scenario.

Example: Thin walled LR match bullet at high velocity on quartering elk shoulder at 50 yards or solid copper on Elk soft tissue at 600 yards... They may both fail and the elk survive even though they could be high quality bullets.

Kinda like "Use the right tool for the Job".
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Both. Neither is perfect for all situations. The first priority for me is a combination that gets me to around 1/2 MOA. These days, if a rifle can't do that, I'm not interested. I have a couple rifles that don't shoot Barnes well. For them, I'm mostly using Bergers or Nosler BTs.

Once that is sorted out, it depends on what you're doing. For long-range, most of my rifles are shooting Bergers, either VLD hunting bullets or classic hybrid hunter bullets. I have a .300 Wby that loves TTSX and it's just fine to 800 yards or so.

For anything tough like eland, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, elk, bison (?), bears (?), I prefer Barnes TSX/TTSX for reliable penetration. For true buffalo, TSX is where it's at. For deer and smaller it probably doesn't matter much. Accuracy becomes even more important as the vital zone is smaller. Most of the reason moose are easy to kill is that the vital zone is enormous.

People that hate monos are probably using them in slower-velocity rifles. They're not a perfect choice in .30-30, .308 Win or .257 Roberts. They're outstanding in RUM and Wby calibers. I tried Accubonds in my .257 Wby. They were accurate, but the cape and 1/2 of the meat of a pronghorn was destroyed. 100 grain TTSX in that rifle makes a nice little hole going in, a bit bigger hole going out, and consistently dead animals on the ground.

For cats, rapidly expanding bullets at high velocity are better. Nosler partitions, Accubonds, even BTs are good.
 
adam32+P said:
You don't know that since you didn't find the animal. Could've been a poorly placed shot and the bullet wouldn't have mattered one way or another.
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True.

Flip side is time to tip over is important. Tracking dogs are available most states, and they routinely find dead critters, farther than the average persona ability to follow.

Been on a couple of those that were not bad hits. As well as other game I was content with placement, but went farther than I thought necessary.
 
Hugnot said:
Using my small bore .224's & 6mm's anything over 100 pounds gets a mono bullet. The monos kill deers real good and penetrate thru 2 or more feet of the deer's body. For the 6.5's anything over 300 pounds, big beasts, gets a mono.

Solid copper Barnes bullets with the peal back petals inflict max trauma thru deep penetration.
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This is my opinion as well. Just as with most things technical "It depends" on several variables. Monos shine for me in smaller calibers or light for caliber projectile applications to obtain increased penetration.
 
Reverend Mr. Black said:
Before you remind me, yes, I know, this has been discussed a few thousand times, minimum. Truth is, I've read those posts. Countless good, solid answers. Advantages and disadvantages of each. Pros and cons. So why do I still not know the "best" answer?

Very likely that answer "will depend." Game animal, cartridge, distance, bullet fps & weight & the list goes on. Over the decades I've been partial to Accubonds & Partitions. Over the last year or so, I keep seeing positive reports on Barnes & other monos. Tempting.

So, why am I asking? Because I'd very much like to decrease and simplify my bullet inventory for each of my 3 rifles / cartridges. Will be making a few bullet purchases this coming week.

You may not have THE answer but your opinion will be given serious consideration.

TIA.

Cheers!
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It took me a long time and many animals to find a similar wound path and result to my old 180gr Partition with a muzzle velocity of 2950fps. The ELD-X 143 in my 6.5 SAUM was a bit smaller but very similar on mule deer. For my big 300 I started with the Hammer Hunter 180 and on elk it performed great. Some bloodshot on the entrance side. Pretty much destroys heart and lungs to unrecognizable jello, and a 2" to 3" exit with a massive blood trail. Last year I took a whitetail at 300 yards with a Hammer Hunter 143 in my 7 SAUM. Identical performs just a little scaled down. Pretty ideal. I know there's been a lot of hate thrown at Hammer recently, but the two sizes and multiple animals I've used them on, they have been great. I've also never found any shrapnel anywhere in my meat. If I did, it would just be copper. I in my search for replacing the Partition, i tried several higher BC bullets and every one i found bits of lead far away from the main wound track, with Bergers being the worst! They explode and sling lead everywhere.

That's just been my experiences. Yours may be different.
 
Reverend Mr. Black said:
Before you remind me, yes, I know, this has been discussed a few thousand times, minimum. Truth is, I've read those posts. Countless good, solid answers. Advantages and disadvantages of each. Pros and cons. So why do I still not know the "best" answer?

Very likely that answer "will depend." Game animal, cartridge, distance, bullet fps & weight & the list goes on. Over the decades I've been partial to Accubonds & Partitions. Over the last year or so, I keep seeing positive reports on Barnes & other monos. Tempting.

So, why am I asking? Because I'd very much like to decrease and simplify my bullet inventory for each of my 3 rifles / cartridges. Will be making a few bullet purchases this coming week.

You may not have THE answer but your opinion will be given serious consideration.

TIA.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

I only use monos when I want the option of deep penetration, as in when hunting elk. I just don't see much need in them for deer, etc.

.358" 225 gr. TSX that penetrated a bull elk from stem to stern.

tsrAZP9l.jpg
 
Lots of good bullets out there that will do the job. But I am firmly on the mono side of the fence. To date, sons and I have used them in 222, 22-250, 270 WCF, 300 H&H, 338-06, 375 H&H, and 404 J. Never kept track but probably close to 100 animals. From here to Africa, hogs to cape buffalo.

I like them because I have been able to get them to shoot, penetration, and not as much meat loss.
 

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