Not so scientific look at how bullets perform.

[barnesuser28]

Hey guys, today I went to the berm of the shooting range and dug around for an hour or so and picked up some bullets. I got home and washed them up and I noticed a lot of them looked kinda like the pieces of bullets I use, I measured diameter, boattail length, groove width, and number of grooves and compared them to samples of bullets I know where fired from my guns with my reloads, so I matched them all up and weighed them and took a look at how they performed in soft dirt, after passing through 1/4 of ply wood at 100 yards. the 22 cal bullets were fired from my 223, the 257 were from a 257 Roberts +p, the .264 was from a 6.5x284, the 140 TTSX and Gamekings were fired from a 7mm-08, the 162 grain amax and 168 grain LRX were fired from my 284 win, the 30 cal SXR and 215 bergers were fired from a 30/375 SI, the 30 cal 180 grain TTSX was from a 300 RUM, and the 338 cal bullets were fired from a 338 Lapua. Notice on the heaviest 215 berger fragment, that is the tip of the bullet, this closely matches the performance elkaholic had when testing in water at around 2200 fps IIRC.

 

[elkaholic]

Hey guys, today I went to the berm of the shooting range and dug around for an hour or so and picked up some bullets. I got home and washed them up and I noticed a lot of them looked kinda like the pieces of bullets I use, I measured diameter, boattail length, groove width, and number of grooves and compared them to samples of bullets I know where fired from my guns with my reloads, so I matched them all up and weighed them and took a look at how they performed in soft dirt, after passing through 1/4 of ply wood at 100 yards. the 22 cal bullets were fired from my 223, the 257 were from a 257 Roberts +p, the .264 was from a 6.5x284, the 140 TTSX and Gamekings were fired from a 7mm-08, the 162 grain amax and 168 grain LRX were fired from my 284 win, the 30 cal SXR and 215 bergers were fired from a 30/375 SI, the 30 cal 180 grain TTSX was from a 300 RUM, and the 338 cal bullets were fired from a 338 Lapua. Notice on the heaviest 215 berger fragment, that is the tip of the bullet, this closely matches the performance elkaholic had when testing in water at around 2200 fps IIRC.

Geez Riley, you definitely could try forensics as a second job I have to say that I have never seen an SXR look like that! I think those were serrated, were they not? The plywood must have caused the jacket to sepparate before the bullet hit the berm. Yes, the 215 Berger tip is fairly typical, although this one broke off farther down than it normally does ......Rich

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Fantastic study.

Thank you.

 

[barnesuser28]

Also note that this is a private range so there are few other people shooting here.

 

[Broz]

Nice Riley!! Good job. Now go dig them at the 800 yard target.

Jeff

 

[barnesuser28]

Nice Riley!! Good job. Now go dig them at the 800 yard target.

Jeff

To be completely honest, there will be more bergers and amaxs than barnes in that berm.

 

[barnesuser28]

Just got back from the berm, i went to look for more 215 bergers as i have shot about 20-30 since the last time i checked. I found some fragments, a picture perfect expanded bullet, and a very interesting one. First bullet weighs 72 grains.

 

[barnesuser28]

205.6 grains of fragments.

 

[barnesuser28]

And 163.3 grains, i was very surprised to find this one.

 

[elkaholic]

Riley.....was in the 2000' range? What media?......Rich

 

[barnesuser28]

Anywhere from 2750-2900 fps through 1/4" of plywood and soft mud/dirt as the berm. About 20 yards from the target stand to berm.

 

[elkaholic]

Anywhere from 2750-2900 fps through 1/4" of plywood and soft mud/dirt as the berm. About 20 yards from the target stand to berm.

Ok, that makes sense. The plywood rips the hollow nose off then the bullet probably tumbles into the dirt. Bullets perform entirely different when resistance is constant after impact ......Rich

 

[doubleaclasper]

That is very interesting. I was shooting a 45-70 with hornady leverevolution factory loads at thick cardboard and the jacket never made it through. They would probably perform differently on an animal. Nevertheless it is interesting how they perform after going through something hard compared to an animals hide.

 

[Doublezranch]

Hey Rich, you think the 230 target will act the same way? Rip the nose off and tumble?

When Riley showed me this bullet this morning I told him he had to post it. Never have I seen the nose ripped off before. I also wonder if the OTM bullets with the thicker jackets will hold up or rip off? So interesting to me....