Bullets flat from the side.

[justgoto]

The last time I dug out my hill to check out the bullets, I found something strange. The bullets out of the 30-30 seemed fine, the ones from the 30-06 were flat, sideways.

Here are some pics. The three to the right are the flat ones.

So I decided to shoot them into water to see what the bullets looked like straight out of the barrel. Here is what they looked like.

30-06

30-30

Question 1:
When I shoot those types of bullets into water and they don't hit the edges of the container, the bullet should look just as it did when leaving the barrel, right?

I was wondering about these bullets when I saw the video I took of one of them. I was also wondering about them when they were not hitting the target as consistent as the others were.

YouTube - Cold Bore 150gr FMJ-BT, (no copper back.)

Question 2:
Has anyone seen anything like this before?

 

[AJ Peacock]

It looks like the lead is running out the back of the jacket. It looks like it is trying to with the 30-30, but not enough heat/pressure. I think the flattened jackets on the 30-06 is just from the core comming out the back.

I haven't seen that before, but that's what it looks like to me.

AJ

 

[300ECHO]

aaaaa

 

[AJ Peacock]

they are tumbling on impact its just the 30-30 doesnt have the velocity to give the same effect, happened with those out of my 06 too -some split in half at cannelure

I would think that if it was due to tumbling, some would hit on the front some on the back and some on the side.

AJ

 

[300ECHO]

aaaaa

 

[CapDog]

See this a lot with FMJ type or non-expanding pointed bullets like the scenars. The added speed of the 30-06 over the 30-30 just makes it more pronounced. Essentially the bullets begins to slow down and goes into yaw (the front end is slowing faster than the back end....think of a vehicle skidding out of control). Stress against the bullet is now moved to the sides. Since they are not a lockbase type bullet the lead is able to squish out the back. Sometimes you get the jacket failing and you see it breaking like you have in your last pics.

I have some 170gr Lapua Lockbase and Scenars that we did testing on out of .308's and they were recovered intact, but in a vert flat "L" shape. The nose had bent almost completely over to 90 degrees about 1/3 - 1/2 way back and the bullet had flattened.

 

[royinidaho]

The bullets are junk.

Shoot at paper target only. I'm guessin' they are tumbling all the way out.

Penetrations in the paper will tell the story.

Betting you'll see penetrations shaped pretty much like a cashew nut.

Your velocities aren't enough to get a great tumbling affect, thus you are able to hit the target at 300.

 

[steve smith]

Bullets are tumbling upon impact! I've seen this many times with different calibers at different velocities. The primary cause is the fact that the bullets are nice and pointy, the round nose of the 30-30 allows it to penetrate without tumbling. when they turn to the side just after impact they will flatten out every time.

 

[justgoto]

I have shot them into boards and the holes appear normal.

Looking back, I think they are flying pretty good actually... I only had the A-Max to compare accuracy with, so that is kinda like comparing apples to oranges.
...
And seeing that I still don't have a functional scope, I can't really trust any of my comparisons.

 

[Bravo 4]

I think Capdog had it right, long FMJ bullets tend to "yaw" on inpact. For this reason the Russians came up with a longer 5.45X39 round for their AK74 rifles. It has a hollow cavity that makes it have better terminal performance and larger wound channels.