Lead vs lead free - what did you use last?

What did you most recently hunt big game with, lead or lead free bullets?


  • Total voters
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Just curious for no good reason. What did you most recently hunt big game with (and if you feel like sharing, how did it go?) - a lead free bullet or a lead core bullet of some kind? This isn't a "if you had to choose" thread…this is a "what are people actually doing right now" thread! God bless!
Barnes lead free. Have killed 2 Elk and a couple of deer with them. Got tired of wasting good meat.
 
I'd WORRY more about,.. WHITE Flour, products !
IT's making, some of, our grand Kids,. Fat and Sickly
I dunno…I'm sure processed foods in general are behind a great deal of our health problems but I was raised on more white flour than what probably was good for me…but
i never had video games and was made to play outside pretty much every day. That's part of it too I think.
 
Oh me too, no worries man. Just out of curiosity, what'd ya use most recently?
Both. I took two rifles with two loads and used either depending on the area and ranges hunted. The shorter range areas were hunted with mono's, but the longer ranges were hunted with lower vel expanding lead core-copper.
 
This year lead free only because I used a broadhead. Unfortunately archery tags are harder to get then rifle tags, so last year and probably next year it's a bullet with lead.
 
We
Just curious for no good reason. What did you most recently hunt big game with (and if you feel like sharing, how did it go?) - a lead free bullet or a lead core bullet of some kind? This isn't a "if you had to choose" thread…this is a "what are people actually doing right now" thread! God bless
We're still fueling our shooting irons with leaded fuel!!! Then again I hunt deer with a 22 creedmoor so what would I know. 77grain Berger's seem to work great.
 
I switched to Barnes all copper in 1999 after many lead core jacket separations on game. 300 Weatherby velocities were too much for the thin jackets. Recovered bullets were half the weight they started out and sometimes multiple pieces. Even my 270 Winchester was separating 130 grain jackets and cores at 3100 fps.These early Barnes were the blue coated ones before the grooves. Took the 180 grain Barnes TSX (blue coated no grooves) to Africa in 2002. Harvested many plains game including Kudu, Oryx, Blue Wildebeest and numerous springbok. They worked wonderfully great expansion, weight retention and penetration. After I came back from Africa Barnes came up with the groove idea. Tried these and WOW!
 
Lead-free for me this year and last, and before that, back to the 90's when I switched from loading lead bullets for Barnes TSX and then TTSX. Their initial X bullet did not do well, but the TSX and TTSX are excellent having more accuracy and velocity. Before going to all copper, I was a fan of the Nosler Partition. It was a very dependable, deep penetrating bullet.

The all-copper Barnes have been pass-through shots with less meat damage, although the heart and lungs look like they were mixed in a blender. I've read about how good some newer bullets are, but I've got a ****-load of Barnes all loaded up in 7 different calibers, so I have no reason to switch for a long time, if ever.

Photos of my little meat buck this year showing entrance and exit holes, and insides (and exit hole). It was a 90 yard shot out of a Japanese 26" bbl Weatherby Mark V chambered in 30-'06. Muzzle velocity is 3210fps with 168gr TTSX and H414.
 

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