Johnny Boy
Well-Known Member
California requires hunting bullets to be lead-free. Is there a cheat sheet of manufacturers that make lead-free bullets? What are some lead-free bullets that you've used with great success?
Copper Bullets
- Thread starter Johnny Boy
- Start date
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Here's your cheat sheet:
1- Hammers
Your welcome.
1- Hammers
Your welcome.
Rick Richard
Well-Known Member
Hammer Hunter
Brad Quarnberg
Well-Known Member
Hornady GMX
Barnes TSX/XBT
Nosler E-Tip
Used all of these in various rifles and they performed good for me. Can't speak to the Hammers but have heard good things about them.
Barnes TSX/XBT
Nosler E-Tip
Used all of these in various rifles and they performed good for me. Can't speak to the Hammers but have heard good things about them.
QuietTexan
Well-Known Member
X3 on Hammers. I'm 5-for-5 in a row stacking up dead whitetails that haven't moved after being shot. People call it a cult, I call it using what works for me.
I'll add Cutting Edge, but only because Hammer doesn't make saboted muzzleloader bullets. Badlands Precision and Maker Bullets also specialize in copper monos. I have a bunch of Badlands to try. Makers are my go-to in subsonic loads.
Black Butterfly sells pre-loaded Maker Bullets ammunition that is kind of the opposite of Hammer and CE - instead of fracturing these bullets open significantly more than a regular mushroom and cut more like an arrow broadhead.
www.shopblackbutterflyammo.com
Most manufacturers offer some kind of drawn wire copper bullet - Barnes, Hornady, Nosler, etc. (like he listed there ^) but they tend to be designed to mushroom similar to a CoreLokt or other traditional cup and core bullet. I don't want that, I want either the petals to shear off, or the bullet to expand significantly more. Making monos act like old bullets is shortsighted to me.
Make sure you know your barrel twist rate, depending on what chambering/caliber you're shooting you might be surprised at how fast it needs to be. But a big upshot is you can run the bullet significantly faster. Part of the "Hammer Cult" is shooting light for caliber bullets significantly faster than normal. I used a more traditional weight of180gn Hammer Hunters in my 30-06, but in 6.5 Creed I use 85gn bullets that run several hundred FPS faster than 120-140gn lead bullets, and they hit HARD.
I'll add Cutting Edge, but only because Hammer doesn't make saboted muzzleloader bullets. Badlands Precision and Maker Bullets also specialize in copper monos. I have a bunch of Badlands to try. Makers are my go-to in subsonic loads.
Black Butterfly sells pre-loaded Maker Bullets ammunition that is kind of the opposite of Hammer and CE - instead of fracturing these bullets open significantly more than a regular mushroom and cut more like an arrow broadhead.
shopblackbutterflyammunition.com
www.shopblackbutterflyammo.com
Most manufacturers offer some kind of drawn wire copper bullet - Barnes, Hornady, Nosler, etc. (like he listed there ^) but they tend to be designed to mushroom similar to a CoreLokt or other traditional cup and core bullet. I don't want that, I want either the petals to shear off, or the bullet to expand significantly more. Making monos act like old bullets is shortsighted to me.
Make sure you know your barrel twist rate, depending on what chambering/caliber you're shooting you might be surprised at how fast it needs to be. But a big upshot is you can run the bullet significantly faster. Part of the "Hammer Cult" is shooting light for caliber bullets significantly faster than normal. I used a more traditional weight of180gn Hammer Hunters in my 30-06, but in 6.5 Creed I use 85gn bullets that run several hundred FPS faster than 120-140gn lead bullets, and they hit HARD.
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Brad Quarnberg
Well-Known Member
Should have added the Barnes LRX as well. Just started working up a load for them in 6.5 Creedmoor, 127gr.
QuietTexan
Well-Known Member
I forgot about Lehigh Defense. Never used them but they exist and are popular.
muleystalker
Well-Known Member
If you go to the CF&G website they have a list of the manufactures that have submitted samples and CF&G have approved. The bullet has to have been approved by CF&G and be on their list.
Bghunter338
Well-Known Member
Badlands bulldozers and Marker bullets!
Johnny Boy
Well-Known Member
Thanks. I didn't even think about that. I was able to find the list.
Yes, it was locked but you can still use the information I compiled.
https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/lead-free-bullet-compilation.290864/
There are a ton of good to great options for copper bullets nowadays.
Hornady - CX, NTX
Nosler - E-tip, BT lead-free
Barnes - TSX, LRX, T-TSX...
Hammer - they are all copper, HH, AH, HHT
Badlands - I don't know much about these but they come up on here, I'm pretty sure they're a full line of copper.
I'm sure there are more, those are just the ones off the top of my head. I've shot a few of the Hammer Hunters and they do well for groups. I'd give them a look without hesitation. They're also very close to me, so I've stopped by and chatted with them about bullets a few times. I have a bunch for a variety of cartridges and calibers. What cartridge(s) are you shooting, what's your twist rate(s), and what's your intended range?
Hornady - CX, NTX
Nosler - E-tip, BT lead-free
Barnes - TSX, LRX, T-TSX...
Hammer - they are all copper, HH, AH, HHT
Badlands - I don't know much about these but they come up on here, I'm pretty sure they're a full line of copper.
I'm sure there are more, those are just the ones off the top of my head. I've shot a few of the Hammer Hunters and they do well for groups. I'd give them a look without hesitation. They're also very close to me, so I've stopped by and chatted with them about bullets a few times. I have a bunch for a variety of cartridges and calibers. What cartridge(s) are you shooting, what's your twist rate(s), and what's your intended range?
I've used Barnes and Hammers in CA with success. I prefer the Hammers. They seemed easier to find a load and had excellent results on game.
