jdvangeystel
Member
I want to start by saying that I have never been a copper bullet guy, I have always shot cup and core lead bullets and never really had any intentions of going away from that. Recently I came across these McGuire Ballistics Copper Rose bullets and I saw the great BC and they caught my attention. I just recently built a 7 SAUM on a long action with a 24' Proof Carbon Sendero 1:8 twist, and dropped it in a Mesa Precision carbon fiber stock. I was putting this build together for a light weight all around hunting rifle, and had intended to shoot 190 Berger Hybrids. I put 150 rounds through it and started working on load development, it was during this time that I found the Copper Rose bullets.
I contacted Sam at McGuire Ballistics and after a few messages back and forth I gave him a call and he gave me the run down on the bullets he was building. Just from talking to him and His attention to detail and quality control that he guaranteed made me feel good enough to want to give them a try.
Once I got them in the mail Sam gave me an idea of where to start at load development wise and I took off from there. The first thing I noticed was these bullets were extremely easy to be a load together for. Right outta the gate I was shooting Sub MOA and it only got better from there. I found a good node around 2955 fps MV and from that point on I loaded up 25 more of them and set out to validate the BC. I started with 3 shots at 500 yards and shot a 2.5" group, at first I thought the BC might be slightly off and closer to .750, but then I realized I hadnt set my 100 yard zero offset in my ballistics calc. After setting that I jumped out to 800 yards shooting at paper and not steel because I wanted to get the most accurate depiction as I could as to what these bullets were doing. I set the G1 to .800 and ran a 5 shot group at 800 yards and had a 4" 1/2 MOA group right on the money as far as elevation goes, the .800 BC was true and accurate. After shooting at 800 I stepped out to 1,000 again on paper, and shot another 5 shot group with essentially the exact same results. Nearly 1/2 MOA at 1,000 yards with 100% bullet stabilization, and I was getting to 1,000 with only 6.4 mils of correction with a 100 yard zero. This was much better than the 190 Bergers or the 180 Hornadys that I had shot prior.
I was very happy with the results in the 7 SAUM and during this time I also finished up at 7 PRC, again Proof carbon barrel, 1:8 twist. I did some quick load work up again with the 168's, running the same .800 BC and I had the exact same results outta both rifles that I ran them through. These bullets fly great and there is no BS in the advertised BC.
Something else that really impresses me maybe even more than how well they fly is how great they function on impact at 1,800 FPS. I have attached a pic of the results of an impact test at over 1,000 yards shooting into bags of water to simulate a soft tissue impact on game. Even without a hard bone impact these bullets entirely do their job. After shooting these in the .284 Cal stuff I put in another order for .277's as well as .264's and I am going to try them in a few more rifles. If cost is a concern a guy could certainly do his load development with these bullets and shoot something different for a practice round to spend time on the range. With as much money as we put into our long range guns, and tags, fuel, gear, everything it takes to put a hunt together, in my opinion spending money on good quality projectiles should be the least of your concern, because when the time comes to fill a tag that you may or may not have thousands of dollars into, I would like to give myself the biggest advantage possible and know without a doubt my bullet is going to perform when it counts. If you look at it from this view point, paying a little bit more money for a good bullet you know is going to be lethal should be entirely worth the time and money spent to put a load together to hunt with. Along with there is a lot to be said about supporting a small business and a good honest dude who you know is gonna stand behind his product. I couldnt be happier with my experience so far with the McGuire Ballistics Copper Rose Bullets.
I contacted Sam at McGuire Ballistics and after a few messages back and forth I gave him a call and he gave me the run down on the bullets he was building. Just from talking to him and His attention to detail and quality control that he guaranteed made me feel good enough to want to give them a try.
Once I got them in the mail Sam gave me an idea of where to start at load development wise and I took off from there. The first thing I noticed was these bullets were extremely easy to be a load together for. Right outta the gate I was shooting Sub MOA and it only got better from there. I found a good node around 2955 fps MV and from that point on I loaded up 25 more of them and set out to validate the BC. I started with 3 shots at 500 yards and shot a 2.5" group, at first I thought the BC might be slightly off and closer to .750, but then I realized I hadnt set my 100 yard zero offset in my ballistics calc. After setting that I jumped out to 800 yards shooting at paper and not steel because I wanted to get the most accurate depiction as I could as to what these bullets were doing. I set the G1 to .800 and ran a 5 shot group at 800 yards and had a 4" 1/2 MOA group right on the money as far as elevation goes, the .800 BC was true and accurate. After shooting at 800 I stepped out to 1,000 again on paper, and shot another 5 shot group with essentially the exact same results. Nearly 1/2 MOA at 1,000 yards with 100% bullet stabilization, and I was getting to 1,000 with only 6.4 mils of correction with a 100 yard zero. This was much better than the 190 Bergers or the 180 Hornadys that I had shot prior.
I was very happy with the results in the 7 SAUM and during this time I also finished up at 7 PRC, again Proof carbon barrel, 1:8 twist. I did some quick load work up again with the 168's, running the same .800 BC and I had the exact same results outta both rifles that I ran them through. These bullets fly great and there is no BS in the advertised BC.
Something else that really impresses me maybe even more than how well they fly is how great they function on impact at 1,800 FPS. I have attached a pic of the results of an impact test at over 1,000 yards shooting into bags of water to simulate a soft tissue impact on game. Even without a hard bone impact these bullets entirely do their job. After shooting these in the .284 Cal stuff I put in another order for .277's as well as .264's and I am going to try them in a few more rifles. If cost is a concern a guy could certainly do his load development with these bullets and shoot something different for a practice round to spend time on the range. With as much money as we put into our long range guns, and tags, fuel, gear, everything it takes to put a hunt together, in my opinion spending money on good quality projectiles should be the least of your concern, because when the time comes to fill a tag that you may or may not have thousands of dollars into, I would like to give myself the biggest advantage possible and know without a doubt my bullet is going to perform when it counts. If you look at it from this view point, paying a little bit more money for a good bullet you know is going to be lethal should be entirely worth the time and money spent to put a load together to hunt with. Along with there is a lot to be said about supporting a small business and a good honest dude who you know is gonna stand behind his product. I couldnt be happier with my experience so far with the McGuire Ballistics Copper Rose Bullets.
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