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Best ALL AROUND bullet all time

elkaholic

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Dec 4, 2008
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hauser, id.
I've noticed a lot of discussion lately on what the best bullet is. Unless you know the application, I don't think there is one! Having said that, as a bullet maker myself, I would like to throw out a candidate for best in most applications. What I've learned from making and testing bullets is that you want the bullet to open fairly quickly, even at lower velocities, and then slam the door. You want to cause maximum tissue damage but be able to hold together thru heavy tissue and bone if necessary to get to the vitals. Having hunted for nearly 50 years and having tried about every bullet made in various cartridges, the Nosler partition comes as close as anything I know of........STILL! The biggest down side is that at the extreme ranges that we talk about on this forum, the B.C. is a little lacking and some rifles won't shoot them quite as accurately as some others, although I have had rifles that shoot them very well. What say you guys that have had a few years of experience?????........Rich
P.S. how about a ballistic tip partition with an 8S or higher B.C. `design??lightbulb
 
I have shot quite a few different bullets and I have three that I am very happy with for all around performance. GS Custom, Nosler E-Tip, and Swift Scirrocco ( if your rifle will shoot them well). I should be able to give a report on the GS Custom in a couple of weeks for on elk performance. It is elk hunting, so there are no guarantees, but odds are good.

Steve
 
My 2 cents:

Best killing bullet: Nosler Partition.

Best flying bullet: Nosler Balistic Tip.

Best all around bullet: Hornady Accubond.
 
Doug, did you mean Nosler Accubond or Hornady (something else)? (Not trying to correct you, just curious what you consider the best all-around). Thanks.
 
I've noticed a lot of discussion lately on what the best bullet is. Unless you know the application, I don't think there is one! Having said that, as a bullet maker myself, I would like to throw out a candidate for best in most applications.
...the Nosler partition comes as close as anything I know ...

You did not mean the Nosler Accubond did you? :)
 
"Doug, did you mean Nosler Accubond or Hornady (something else)? (Not trying to correct you, just curious what you consider the best all-around). Thanks. "


I meant Hornady Interbond...sorry.

They fly well (they shoot 1 MOA flatter @ 600 than the Bal. Tip in 2 rifles), and do not come apart like a Bal. Tip either.

But they do not penatrate as deep as a Partition because they end up with a much larger expanded frontal area.
 
I've noticed a lot of discussion lately on what the best bullet is. Unless you know the application, I don't think there is one! Having said that, as a bullet maker myself, I would like to throw out a candidate for best in most applications. What I've learned from making and testing bullets is that you want the bullet to open fairly quickly, even at lower velocities, and then slam the door. You want to cause maximum tissue damage but be able to hold together thru heavy tissue and bone if necessary to get to the vitals. Having hunted for nearly 50 years and having tried about every bullet made in various cartridges, the Nosler partition comes as close as anything I know of........STILL! The biggest down side is that at the extreme ranges that we talk about on this forum, the B.C. is a little lacking and some rifles won't shoot them quite as accurately as some others, although I have had rifles that shoot them very well. What say you guys that have had a few years of experience?????........Rich
P.S. how about a ballistic tip partition with an 8S or higher B.C. `design??lightbulb

+1

Until the Accubond came out My bullets of choice were the Partition under 400 yards and the
ballistic tips 400+ yards. Not just because of accuracy but the Partition held up at the higher
velocities of the big magnums and the ballistic tips opened well at extended distances(600
to 1000 yards on game.

I don't think that there is one perfect bullet because I look for the bullet that performs best
in the rifle and these categories = accuracy, performance on the game to be hunted at the
normal distance of the shot.

And if my rifle likes my favorite bullet "Great" . But if it doesn't then I will try something
else .

So I think the "perfect" bullet would be the one that does all that you ask of it in your rifle
with all of the attributes mentioned above.

Currently I am using a wide variety of bullets because of overall performance. Accubonds,
Inter bonds,Partitions,A Frames,Burgers,Ballistic Tips,Barnes Xs And combined technology
for hunting. For paper the Sierra MKs are hard to beat.

J E CUSTOM
 
+1 on J E Customs comments. I like to match the bullet for the intended use. I do for the most part favor the Accubond, it seems to shoot well in most guns.

300 WM 180 Accubond.
308 Win 175 SMK
270 WSM 140 Accubond and 150 Partition. Depends on specific hunt.
280 Rem 154 Hornady Spire Point.
270 Win 140 Accubond.

I also have had great performance on elk with the 180 Scirroco II but have also had a real hard time getting it to shoot in most guns.
 
When I was testing bullets, the Scirroco was one that performed very well in my bullet box. It opened at lower velocity than the accubond and held together well. As a couple of you have already mentioned, however; I could only get 2 min. groups with a sub min. rifle. I would like to retest some now that I've learned the Bergers only shoot well in my rifle when they are seated about .020" into the lands and the scirroco has a somewhat similar ogive.....Rich
 
Not trying to highjack but??

Elkaholic, it sounds like you've done quite a bit of bullet testing over the years. Why do you think the Scirroco is so temperamental? I've gone through boxes of the 150 in a 280 Rem and could never get a group. I had a little luck with it in my 300 WM until it was accurized, then it wouldn't shoot it half as good. ????
 
Moman.....not sure why but I think one likely possibility is seating depth as is the case with bergers I've shot. As mentioned previously, the bergers wouldn't shoot for me until I jammed them into the lands. It could also be that swift uses a pretty thick jacket to control expansion. Sometimes the bullet won't obturate in the barrel when that's the case. A case in point might be part of the reason barnes cuts grooves in there monolithics? It could simply be that the bullet isn't well balanced?? If were going to shoot any more, I would first try seating into the lands at various depths. With a secant ogive, you can get away with jamming deeper because of the more acute angle than a spitzer. If you try that, be aware that "sometimes" you might get a pressure increase! Let me know what you find if you try it.........Good Luck....Rich
 
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