Cutting Edge Bullets

[Tikkamike]

I am thinking about trying the Cutting Edge 252's in my 338 Lapua. I see on the D59 the STB is moved up slightly to accomodate use of a magazine. I would like to use those. However the D64 has the STB further back and will require single shotting, which I am ok with also if need be. My first choice is the D59 as long as it doesnt use up a bunch of my case capacity. Can anyone tell me the overall length of the D59 or D64? then I can do the math from there and decide what I want to do.

 

[midwesthunter]

Hopefully long time ranger comes across this post. I know he is switching to these bullets in his rifles. If i remember right he used one of those two this fall so he should be able to tell you. I will be trying there 6.5 130's this spring at 3550 fps and will see if there 140's that aren't out yet will stabilize with a 1-8 twist. I also thought that I read one of the bullets is seated .120 deeper then the other. Not sure what that will equal in powder gain or loss in the Lapua.

 

[BountyHunter]

Call them, this summer they were saying that they were putting a "try" pack together of the more popular models for a caliber to let you try 10 of each instead of having to buy whole boxes.

 

[RDM416]

Tikkamike,

Give them a call or an e-mail. I e-mailed a comment to them a few months ago and was very surprised to see it promptly responded to the next morning.

I don't have the D59s or D64s. I do have some D65s and they measure 1.810". I also have some 225 grain D62s, which measure 1.635.

I shot the 225s some this past season hunting. I am running them at about 3500 out of my 338Khan. They shoot very well and with the BC and higher velocity I am getting out to 1000 with a full 5 moa less dial-up compared to the 300 grain bergers. 50" less drop at 1000 is enough to get my attention.

I shot two critters with them, a whitetail doe at around 300 yards and a whitetail buck at about 450. Both were good hits tight behind the shoulder. The doe ran about 150 yards, the buck made it about 50. Wound channels were impressive and overall I cannot complain. However, I have been used to shooting 250 or 300 SMKs or 300 Bergers for the last several years. Both of those shots would have rolled the deer up right on the spot rather than the short run they both made. I think is fairly typical of the solid type bullets as I have had similar experience with Barnes in the past. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the terminal performance of the CE bullets, just don't expect them to deliver the same energy to the critters as the more fragile bullets like the SMKs or Berger.

 

[Derek M.]

After reviewing their website, my concern would be the very small meplat hole and the introduction to open.

The smaller TSX bullets were thought to be closing the hollow point on impact instead of opening which comes from several hunters describing "penciling" through.

While the CE bullets appear to be a good concept, that small hollow point is my only concern.

I'd be interested in someone's report on how they do on regular deer (150 pounds) in the smaller calibers such as .277 and 6.5mm.

Heck, I'd even dedicate my entire firearms season this coming fall in KY and SC to using them if they want to send me some bullets to test!

 

[Tikkamike]

Regular deer are 150 lbs?? We call those yearlings

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I just put a mic on a D64 and it was 1.778". RDM is right about the effect on game. These bullets will not blow up and give you a softball size+ hole on the back side. They may run a little ways pouring blood out both sides but the insides will be mush. You will not get as much meat damage or ruin the hides with huge exit wounds.

If you are down in Thermopolis sometime let me know and you can stop by and see the ones I have. I have some 225 grain and the D64, D65 252 grain. Back in the summer I was putting three shot groups through an elk sillouette at 1600 yards with these bullets. I have shot the 300 SMK's since I was testing them before they were released back in the 90's. These bullets are as accurate with similar bc.s however with much less recoil and flatter trajectory. The velocity difference with the 225 grain bullet overcomes the higher bc of the 300 smk to virtually equalize a 10 mph wind to 1200 yards and I don't hunt further than that. I shoot the 225 CE at 3510 fps and the 300 smk at 3060 fps out of my 338-378 wby. Run that on JBM and you see why I changed to the 225. My rifles only weigh around 10 pounds scoped and the 300's were rocking me pretty good. The 225's I do not notice. The 252's have about the same bc as the 300 smk but faster and less recoil.

Also I have some 30 caliber CE bullets here. Yesterday I was shooting the 180 grain c21 .6 bc or so bullet over 3500 fps out of my 28" 300 RUM. Run that on JBM and you see why I shoot it instead of the 210 berger now. My accuracy loads with the 210 berger and 208 amax were mostly in the high 3100's fps. At the ranges I hunt the 180 wins. If I were shooting targets at a mile I would shoot the 210 berger. I am testing actual bc's with 1000 yard drops over the next week with several bullets out of my 300 RUM's and the Mcmillan EOL Outdoorsman rifle. I am weather dependent right now getting out to my long range shooting spot but by spring should have some actual bc's on several bullets.

 

[RDM416]

LTLR makes a good point on the reduced recoil when using the CE 225s. Recoil is significantly reduced from the 300 Bergers. With the high velocity and high bc (.67 works for my program to match range results) the 225 outperforms the Berger or 300 SMK in drop and wind drift out to 1000 yards. It is still the winner in drop on out to over 1500 yards and only marginally worse for drift. You do give up some energy and "knock down" of the fragile Bergers and SMKs but all in all a pretty impressive bullet. I can't wait to get my 338 AM in (in the next month or so I hope) and see just how much over 4000 fps I can push the 225s. Should be fun! gun)

 

[Rocky Mountain]

I'm just about to do some testing with the cuttng edge in a big 375 imp so will keep you posted on how they go, I will be testing there hunting line.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

I have been shooting several rifles the past week and just got off the range today. I am in the process of switching several of my rifles over to the Cutting Edge bullets after shooting them quite a bit at targets and seeing a few animals shot with them. So I thought I would add an update here.

I have been focusing on three bullets so far in the rifles I am switching. My 300 winchester loves the c21 180 grain and will hold under .5 moa to 800 yards with it. I have some excellent loads in my 338-300 RUM, 338 Lapua, 338-378 wby and 338 SIN with the 225 grain D62 bullet. The 338-378 is my favorite long range rifle and over the past week it is holding 6"- 8" three shot groups at 1000 yards. I dropped the velocity down from 3510 fps to 3460 fps to save brass and hit a consistent load with extremely low velocity spreads. All of these have 28" barrels except for the sin with a 24". My accuracy loads this week are 3235 fps with the 338-300 RUM, 3320 fps with the 338 Lapua and 3065 fps with the 338 SIN. These velocities may help some of you to know what you can expect with these cartridges shooting the 225 grain so you can run it on JBM and see if it is something you are interested in. These are not max velocity but where the bullets shoot good in my guns.

This morning I got my 300 RUM dialed in with the c32 180 grain CE bullet. It has a 28" 1-10 twist. Yesterday I shot several groups all good ones averaging 3510-3530 fps varying seating depths, and retumbo charges from 98-99 grains. My seating depth I feel I have right on now for best accuracy and today dropped the powder charges to 97-98 grains. I hit the jackpot at 97.5 grains Retumbo and a coal of 3.785". I hit my best group of 1.72" at 500 yards with this load. The velocity spread was 3462-3468 fps. This rifle is ready to hunt.

The best load in my 300 winchester, is with the bullet seated exactly to the depth recomended on the website for the c21 bullet. The 300 RUM and 338-378 wby best accuracy is with the bullets seated deaper into the case. I have never got better accuracy seating longer than recomended. So if you try these start out at the recomended depth and seat deeper if needed from my limited experience. These three I have nailed and am working on some others.

 

[bigngreen]

Looking forward to see what you think of them Mike! I've got some D60's coming, it looked like they would give me the most seating depth options before cramming the band into the case.

 

[Sako7STW]

Anyone flinging some of these in a 7mm of any breed?

 

[JPhelps]

How much quicker will these bullets burn up barrels?

Wanting to shoot the 215 bergers out of my 300 RUM, but these have me curious. How much faster will the 180's at 3450 burn up my barrel compared to the 215's at 3150?