Mono metals minimum expansion comparison

[Calvin45]

just out of curiosity, what have been your findings on which monometal bullets give the most expansion/terminal effectiveness at low velocity impacts? High velocity is moot point, no such thing as too fast with any of them. Comparing the commonly available expanding solids

Nosler e tip
Barnes tsx
Barnes lrx
Barnes ttsx/tac-tx
Hornady gmx

I understand there's others too, but not that I could find in just about any gun store. Nonetheless if hammer Bullets, cutting edge, cavity back, gs custom, peregrine, or any of the many smaller companies making homogenous hunting bullets are turning out products that in your experience perform better than mainstream, id love to hear them.

 

[Calvin45]

I'll add, I have no experience with monometals hunting, and have only even shot them out of my old savage 99 243. I will say they were very accurate. The Barnes 85 tsx handloaded...the federal 85 trophy copper (forgot about that option in my original post) is the most accurate factory round I've shot out of that rifle.

 

[HARPERC]

1) Rare to find complete selections of weights and calibers in "any gun store" any more just too many for even the big chains to have them all. At least that's my experience here. Plenty of holes in the shelf, usually right where I'm looking. Just read another of your posts regarding availability of product where you are.
2) It's not uncommon for a bullet to be marketed by major manufacturers to be out of stock in stores or on the net waiting next years runs.
3) As actual "gun stores" have closed up, the internet is generally where I get components.

I had sworn off the mono's until the Hammer's became available. They're user friendly not requiring any special seating advice. Focussed on terminal performance over BC. They understand the importance of material being consistently soft enough to expand. Hollow points are of sufficient size to reliably aid expansion. Dimensionally consistent box to box, bullet to bullet. Developed in plain sight, changes made, product replaced when changes implemented.

Easy to order, good service, guaranteed, and accessible.

 

[Calvin45]

Thanks for the report. Seating depth insensitivity is a good thing indeed. Don't even know if I'm planning on running any monos any time soon, but should I decide to I'd like to hear of others experiences. I too buy a lot online compared to in person, but in Canada we don't have nearly as many options for online vendors either. I relate with what you're saying about the "hole in the shelf" being right where you're looking though it's much much better than it was 5 years ago. Still took me awhile to find a place that had my 225 elds in stock. Main reason to go lead free would be concerns about lead in meat, not for me but when my boys get a bit older and (hopefully) start eating more meat or my wife gets pregnant again, we are planning to try for a third in the next year or two and I've been reading that the amount of lead that typically finds its way into game meat is fine for adults but the jury's still out regarding kids and unborn babies as their nervous systems are much more sensitive while still developing. I'll take a closer look at hammer bullets at your recommendation.

 

[BEEMAN]

I believe Hammer recommends a 1800 fps minimum for expansion.

 

[codyadams]

It wasn't mentioned, but Badlands Precision states that their bullets expend down to at least 1900 fps. I believe 1800ish fps is wjat your going to find for most of these monos, its a safe bet to stay above that.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

We advertise 1800 fps because it is our opinion that it is a good minimum for good terminal performance from the standard high vel cartridges. All of our bullets test below this threshold. We recommend to those who are comfortable with impacts below 1800 fps That they do their own testing to determine how low they are willing to go.

This is the only place that we let our personal opinions (ethics) determine our marketing.

 

[cohunt]

So I read a test where a guy shot these same bullets in wet media.
Most expansion to least was
Lrx, etip, gmx, tsx, ttsx- but its gonna depend on caliber, cartridge and speed

For the tac-tx some are exactly the same as the ttsx, some are not-- the 110 tac-tx (30321) in 300bo is softer and has a larger expansion cavity than the # 30358 due to it being specifically for 300bo

BUT
Very few etips were accurate, barnes seems to foul more than hornady and other manufactures make monos with different lower expansion thresholds just for certain cartridges such as maker bullets and cavity back bullets.

Hammers are very easy to find accurate loads for and seem to run faster than like weight lead bullets

Some monos run slower than like weight lead core bullets others run faster due to the driving band design

Some are made to mushroom , some are made to shed petals

Not all monos are made equally ( just like lead core bullets)

All of them will retain weight better than a like weight lead core counterpart.

But one thing that they seem to all have in common is they like speed to perform better......1st type of speed is pure fps, more of it tends to cause a larger wound cavity with quicker knock down --- 2nd is twist rate, when the same .277 caliber monolithic bullet is shot at the same mv, the faster twist rate will induce more/quicker expansion of the bullet

For extreme long range hunting I feel lead core bullets may perform better with a higher bc due to their low expansion thresholds (I've seen as low as 1200fps advertised) but for most common hunting distances the monos work great

If you are looking for low velocity expanding monolithics you should look for ones designed for subsonic speeds ( there are some designed to open as low as 600fps--- but at those speeds you loose your energy so you must rely on expanded diameter to cut permanant wound cavities (like arrows do) rather than the "shock" of temporary wound channels like standard centerfire ammo does.

 

[Alibiiv]

just out of curiosity, what have been your findings on which monometal bullets give the most expansion/terminal effectiveness at low velocity impacts? High velocity is moot point, no such thing as too fast with any of them. Comparing the commonly available expanding solids

Nosler e tip
Barnes tsx
Barnes lrx
Barnes ttsx/tac-tx
Hornady gmx

I understand there's others too, but not that I could find in just about any gun store. Nonetheless if hammer Bullets, cutting edge, cavity back, gs custom, peregrine, or any of the many smaller companies making homogenous hunting bullets are turning out products that in your experience perform better than mainstream, id love to hear them.

What caliber are you asking about?​

 

[Alibiiv]

I black bear hunt with the 35 Whelen and the 358 Winchester. I use the Barnes 225gr TSX in the Whelen and the Barnes 200gr TTSX in the .358 Win, both bullets enter big and exit a whole lot larger; like fist sized. The Whelen about 2400-2500fps and the 358 Win around 2200fps. I really like that Barnes line of bullets, but.....will be looking to try the Hammer bullets this year, only.........because I've been reading good stuff about them. At the distances and velocities that I am shooting from, my interest is about terminal performance/expansion, and not so interested in BC. If you have a market void, RockyMtnMt on this forum ought to be able to hook you up, try to PM him.