Badlands Precision Bullets thread - From BC to terminal ballistics

[Huntnful]

I have to respectfully disagree on the smaller game performance. From what I have personally seen on a lot of pronghorn (our family and friends we hunt with harvests around 20-30 a year), I am actually liking these monos better on pronghorn too. Here is the shoulder of a doe pronghorn hit with a 270 grain .338 that was going around 2900 fps, this is the exit side. Far less meat damage than we see with Bergers, and they kill them just as quickly. The 6.5 156 Berger, .30 cal 208 lrht, .270 170, 7mm 180 vld, and many other bullets we have used, while they still put the animals down as good, they cause way more meat damage, and that matters when you only get 35-45 lbs of meat off the animal in the first place. I still use the bergers in some of my guns because they are cheaper, however I try to put my hits behind the shoulder.

Square through the shoulder with a big .338, at 180 yards, and still good meat right up to the massive exit hole.
View attachment 415348

On the contrary, exit hole from a .308 208 LRHT at 90 yards, even though it hit this far forward (entrance was same place on the other side) it was so violent that it ruptured the diaphragm and blew guts out the exit hole, as you can see along her side, and throughout the shoulder, along with heavy blood shot, and I lost almost the entire shoulder. Both very similar impacts, both very quick kills, one I lost maybe a couple lbs of meat, the other I lost almost the entire shoulder. As I stated, we harvest 20-30 pronghorn a year, and these results are consistent, from the 140 .270 mono up to the 270 .338. I like the price and how effective the Bergers kill these smaller game, but shoulder impacts are very often ugly.
View attachment 415349

Great terminal photos! And that mono still punch a good sized hole in her too!

 

[codyadams]

Great terminal photos! And that mono still punch a good sized hole in her too!

That is what I have been surprised with! When I first started testing these monos on pronghorn, I was nervous about getting enough expansion, a lower behind the shoulder broadside hit on a doe might only have a total of 4" depth of penetration to do it's damage, and I have seen quite a few bullets pencil through, but when I started using these I realized that they expand just as good but damage meat less. Eventually I may make a heavy weight screaming 6mm of some kind, like a 6 sst, 6mm Sherman, 6 PRC or something similar specifically for pronghorn and launch the 100 gr SBDII really fast, I think it would be perfect pronghorn medicine

 

[Huntnful]

That is what I have been surprised with! When I first started testing these monos on pronghorn, I was nervous about getting enough expansion, a lower behind the shoulder broadside hit on a doe might only have a total of 4" depth of penetration to do it's damage, and I have seen quite a few bullets pencil through, but when I started using these I realized that they expand just as good but damage meat less. Eventually I may make a heavy weight screaming 6mm of some kind, like a 6 sst, 6mm Sherman, 6 PRC or something similar specifically for pronghorn and launch the 100 gr SBDII really fast, I think it would be perfect pronghorn medicine

Hell yeah dude. I'm waiting for the page to start working so I can check out the specs on those 195 dozers. I've mostly shot hammers because I like the fragmenting tip. But your terminal pictures sure look excellent.

 

[nralifer]

I am looking to build a 270 WSM with a 20" barrel as I will hunt with it suppressed. My 300 PRC does that no problem, but the recoil is not trivial. I also really love the nostalgia of the 277 bullet as my family has been shooting 270's since at least as far back as 1954. Using my personal N570 powder profile, the 270 WSM looks to be capable of producing around 3,100fps in the 140gr and around 3,020fps for the 150 gr. If someone were willing to go with a 26" barrel those velocities would increase to 3,350fps for the 140gr and 3,260fps for the 150gr.
Not having either the 140gr or 150gr in my hands, I had to make some assumptions about the dimensions of the boat tail, but set up both loads to be seated 0.020" above the neck/shoulder junction in the case. That being said, these 270 WSM are at a COAL of 3.12" and 3.20" for the 140gr and 150gr, respectively. For that reason this will definitely be going in a long action.

With that 20" barrel the recoil is calculated to be 20ft#-21ft# for the 140gr and 150gr. That is a big recoil reduction from my current 300 PRC load which is at 34ft# of recoil.

I will be picking up some other powders at the local gun show next weekend and hope to profile N565, N560, N555, and N550. I would also like to profile Retumbo and Magnum.

 

[cbuck516]

That is what I have been surprised with! When I first started testing these monos on pronghorn, I was nervous about getting enough expansion, a lower behind the shoulder broadside hit on a doe might only have a total of 4" depth of penetration to do it's damage, and I have seen quite a few bullets pencil through, but when I started using these I realized that they expand just as good but damage meat less. Eventually I may make a heavy weight screaming 6mm of some kind, like a 6 sst, 6mm Sherman, 6 PRC or something similar specifically for pronghorn and launch the 100 gr SBDII really fast, I think it would be perfect pronghorn medicine

I got an very respectable wound channel on a groundhog this fall with the 95gr. 257 BD2 at a MV of 3550fps. I have no way of saying with 100% confidence that the bullet indeed expanded, but the exit wound was 1.5-2" so even if it didn't expand, it still created a great wound channel. Shot an antelope a month later with the same load and equally deadly results. I will be rebarreling to shoot the 110gr sometime in the future and hope to see that bullet at a MV of 3600. That should be some pretty awesome terminal performance.

 

[nralifer]

That is what I have been surprised with! When I first started testing these monos on pronghorn, I was nervous about getting enough expansion, a lower behind the shoulder broadside hit on a doe might only have a total of 4" depth of penetration to do it's damage, and I have seen quite a few bullets pencil through, but when I started using these I realized that they expand just as good but damage meat less. Eventually I may make a heavy weight screaming 6mm of some kind, like a 6 sst, 6mm Sherman, 6 PRC or something similar specifically for pronghorn and launch the 100 gr SBDII really fast, I think it would be perfect pronghorn medicine

I am looking to build a 270 WSM with a 20" barrel as I will hunt with it suppressed. My 300 PRC does that no problem, but the recoil is not trivial. I also really love the nostalgia of the 277 bullet as my family has been shooting 270's since at least as far back as 1954. Using my personal N570 powder profile, the 270 WSM looks to be capable of producing around 3,100fps in the 140gr and around 3,020fps for the 150 gr. If someone were willing to go with a 26" barrel those velocities would increase to 3,350fps for the 140gr and 3,260fps for the 150gr.
Not having either the 140gr or 150gr in my hands, I had to make some assumptions about the dimensions of the boat tail, but set up both loads to be seated 0.020" above the neck/shoulder junction in the case. That being said, these 270 WSM are at a COAL of 3.12" and 3.20" for the 140gr and 150gr, respectively. For that reason this will definitely be going in a long action.

With that 20" barrel the recoil is calculated to be 20ft#-21ft# for the 140gr and 150gr. That is a big recoil reduction from my current 300 PRC load which is at 34ft# of recoil.

I will be picking up some other powders at the local gun show next weekend and hope to profile N565, N560, N555, and N550. I would also like to profile Retumbo and Magnum.

You might consider StaBall6.5. The 2015 Hodgdon Annual Manual listed a load for a 150 gr bullet in the 7WSM using H100v which is a littoral faster burning than StaBall so you could start at some middle charge weight for H100v and go up until you start seeing pressure signs. SB works really well in the 300WSM.

 

[coyotezapper]

You might consider StaBall6.5. The 2015 Hodgdon Annual Manual listed a load for a 150 gr bullet in the 7WSM using H100v which is a littoral faster burning than StaBall so you could start at some middle charge weight for H100v and go up until you start seeing pressure signs. SB works really well in the 300WSM.

QL shows 65SB to be a very good combo with a 20" bbl in the 270 wsm running a 150 LRAB at 2900 fps.

 

[nralifer]

Awesome thread. Definitely has me considering the 125 BD2 for my 21" barreled 7.5 twist 6.5x55 Improved. It is shooting 156 Bergers at 2820 with RL 26, but if I could get these to 3100 or so, they would win in every metric save energy. I'm thinking I might like the extra velocity in this shorter barreled gun. I am at Sea level so I think the 135s are out with my twist.

Could Someone measure the Base to ogive of the 125 6.5mm bullet? Preferably with a Hornady comparator. Also what is the length of the boattail? This gun is thoated for the 156s so just trying to figure out if I'll have enough shank in the neck with these 125's seated close to the lands. On a Tikka LA so mag length is not a concern. Thanks

The base of the ogive to the start of the boat tail is 0.593" and from the base of the band to the start of the boat shank junction is 0.342"

 

[akmtnhnt]

That is what I have been surprised with! When I first started testing these monos on pronghorn, I was nervous about getting enough expansion, a lower behind the shoulder broadside hit on a doe might only have a total of 4" depth of penetration to do it's damage, and I have seen quite a few bullets pencil through, but when I started using these I realized that they expand just as good but damage meat less. Eventually I may make a heavy weight screaming 6mm of some kind, like a 6 sst, 6mm Sherman, 6 PRC or something similar specifically for pronghorn and launch the 100 gr SBDII really fast, I think it would be perfect pronghorn medicine

The 240wby or a 6mm-06 always seemed like they'd be about as fast as you'd get a 243 moving without a lot of work, but a 6PRC would be smoking. I bet you could push some 55's well past 4000.

 

[nralifer]

The 240wby or a 6mm-06 always seemed like they'd be about as fast as you'd get a 243 moving without a lot of work, but a 6PRC would be smoking. I bet you could push some 55's well past 4000.

With the right powder that would be SMOKING! I have gotten our 80 gr BD2 6 mm bullet from a 22" barrel to 3800 in a 243Win, but there is pressure seen beyond that. Used small rifle primer Peterson brass, CCI SRP Mag primer and StaBall6.5 powder. From a 6PRC wildcat necked down from a 6.5 PRC and a 24" barrel 4000 fps using that bullet may be possible. Tried to show some pics but they would not download to server

 

[264MHC]

The base of the ogive to the start of the boat tail is 0.593" and from the base of the band to the start of the boat shank junction is 0.342"

Appreciate that. Sounds like the should fit nicely in my chamber. Only 3 weeks left in my season but may try these out after the season to get a load for next year.

 

[akmtnhnt]

With the right powder that would be SMOKING! I have gotten our 80 gr BD2 6 mm bullet from a 22" barrel to 3800 in a 243Win, but there is pressure seen beyond that. Used small rifle primer Peterson brass, CCI SRP Mag primer and StaBall6.5 powder. From a 6PRC wildcat necked down from a 6.5 PRC and a 24" barrel 4000 fps using that bullet may be possible. Tried to show some pics but they would not download to server

Looks like one of the guys building them is getting ~4400fps from a 55gr varmagedon.

 

[Mtcountry]

195 grain bulldozer in action out of my 300 PRC.

I saw that video just the other day beautiful bull! That video also got me excited for my 300wsm running the 175gr bulldozer

 

[Mtcountry]

You might consider StaBall6.5. The 2015 Hodgdon Annual Manual listed a load for a 150 gr bullet in the 7WSM using H100v which is a littoral faster burning than StaBall so you could start at some middle charge weight for H100v and go up until you start seeing pressure signs. SB works really well in the 300WSM.

how temp stable is the StaBall? I'm in montana so temps are nuts lol. I have heard multiple people say to use it in the 300wsm even the owner of badlands precision.