Suggestions, thoughts on rifle build

[lancetkenyon]

Bonded bullets are far less likely to separate.

Solid copper bullets can and do expand, I've proven that with every Peregrine VLR that I've recovered.

I think you misunderstood my post. Probably should have added some punctuation.

Copper bullets can "not expand" (as in can "fail to expand". Not "cannot expand" (as in unable to expand). Unless it is a monolithic solid without a means of hydrostatically opening with a hollow point like a Hammer, Barnes, Cutting Edge, etc.

I think we need to take "dangerous game" bullets out of this discussion. Solid, heavy, big bore, round nosed, non-expanding bullets are not what you are talking about here. Fast, lighter weight, expanding bullets are. I don't think any PH with a dangerous game backup rifle would be carrying a .264WM pushing a 127 LRX @ 3300fps or even a .300RUM pushing a 175 LRX @ 3400.

As I said, all bullet types and brands can and will fail on rare occasions. But it is on rare occasions if the bullet is put where it needs to go. I have heard horror stories on both sides. I continue to use what works for me and what I have verified first hand. As I am sure you do. That is what keeps bullet companies around.

 

[WildRose]

I think you misunderstood my post. Probably should have added some punctuation.

Copper bullets can "not expand" (as in can "fail to expand". Not "cannot expand" (as in unable to expand). Unless it is a monolithic solid without a means of hydrostatically opening with a hollow point like a Hammer, Barnes, Cutting Edge, etc.

As I said, all bullet types and brands can and will fail on rare occasions. But it is on rare occasions if the bullet is put where it needs to go. I have heard horror stories on both sides. I continue to use what works for me and what I have verified first hand. As I am sure you do. That is what keeps bullet companies around.

Fair enough and I've heard them too.

More often than not what my experience shows is that they chose the wrong bullet for the application or point of aim rather than the bullet failing to perform as designed or they flat out made a poor shot to start with.

If a bullet that is designed to expand fails to do so it's usually because of that and occasionally but rarely due to a manufacturing defect.

From what i've seen the rarest of all failures with either the mono's or bonded bullets are those in which there was a manufacturing defect.

The one exception to that I think is the Sirocco's because they seem to be very inconsistent which leads me to believe it's a problem with the consistency of their jacket material and lead alloys. One batch will perform great when the next is soo soft that they will flatten out like they've been hit perfectly with a large hammer flattening them out like a half dollar.

I think that is a real shame because they refuse to listen to customer feedback and keep turning out the same product year after year.

Hornady to their credit as well as Berger are both companies that are very responsive to customer feedback as is Peregrine. I won't shoot frangible bullets at game anymore so whenever I can I"ll stick with Peregrine Mono's and Hornady Interbonds. Every time I pull the trigger with them I know what the results will be.

 

[bigngreen]

More often than not what my experience shows is that they chose the wrong bullet for the application or point of aim rather than the bullet failing to perform as designed or they flat out made a poor shot to start with.

This goes for all bullets don't it, mono, frangible, bonded, if you know your bullet and use it accordingly it worked awesome!
I've blown 140 Accubonds down to the base, on a cow elk and the bullet didn't enter her chest. Ya, I blame myself cause I knew better but it's hard to fight against marketing. I had a guy smoke a cow in the shoulder with a 180 Accubond in a 300 at 85 yards after being to to absalutely not hit her in the shoulder, that one took me some time to get killed. The amount of bonded bullets that don't get through an elk shoulder is amazing.
What I've seen evidence of happening is these are bullets that open on contact and are heavy constructed like, accubonds or TSX, they are open before hitting bone so you have a half inch diameter or more to shove through an entire elk. I have not had a Berger or matrix stop on an elk shoulder, though I tend to shy away from that for first shots but do it more on covering someone's bad shot or trying to dump one where they stand, I think what happens since an open tip opens hydraulically is it actually in the shoulder before they start to open and when they do they don't open big but stay much narrower till out of the hard stuff. It's a balance between frontal area and momentum, your right that it is physics and it makes total sense when looking at it that way when you see the evidence.
I have a picture somewhere of a steel plate I was shooting with 140 Cutting edge and 140 Berger's, the cutting edge would not penetrate the plate even have one stuck half way through, the Berger's we're blowing through and skipping up the hill, one of the cutting edge bullets is stuck mid way through the plate, it's mushroomed to large for it's momentum to get it through.