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Long Range Hunting & Shooting
Cold temp affecting terminal performance of plastic tipped bullets
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<blockquote data-quote="WildRose" data-source="post: 1364822" data-attributes="member: 30902"><p>Lead melts at about 620, zinc around 790 so even if we're talking about a lead/zinc alloy the tips will most certainly be exposed to enough heat in flight to melt.</p><p></p><p>The plastics that have traditionally been used for ballistic tips melt at about half of that.</p><p></p><p>Hornady did extensive research to see why the BC's of the ELD's were dropping faster than predicted and determined it was the tips heating up to the point that they were quickly eroding in flight. They also followed the same process with lead tipped bullets and of course got the same results only to a lesser degree.</p><p></p><p>It should be no surprise to anyone that high temps and extreme friction will quickly erode away and/or melt away soft metals like lead and plastics not specifically formulated to withstand temp's in excess of 800 degrees.</p><p></p><p>Note, while I've been a lifelong fan of Hornady I was terribly disappointed in the ELD-X when I learned they chose not to make it as a bonded bullet and quit shooting them pretty quickly after first trying them due to bullet separations.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WildRose, post: 1364822, member: 30902"] Lead melts at about 620, zinc around 790 so even if we're talking about a lead/zinc alloy the tips will most certainly be exposed to enough heat in flight to melt. The plastics that have traditionally been used for ballistic tips melt at about half of that. Hornady did extensive research to see why the BC's of the ELD's were dropping faster than predicted and determined it was the tips heating up to the point that they were quickly eroding in flight. They also followed the same process with lead tipped bullets and of course got the same results only to a lesser degree. It should be no surprise to anyone that high temps and extreme friction will quickly erode away and/or melt away soft metals like lead and plastics not specifically formulated to withstand temp's in excess of 800 degrees. Note, while I've been a lifelong fan of Hornady I was terribly disappointed in the ELD-X when I learned they chose not to make it as a bonded bullet and quit shooting them pretty quickly after first trying them due to bullet separations. [/QUOTE]
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Cold temp affecting terminal performance of plastic tipped bullets
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