Good Morning Phil......... Correct, Raptors do not like to hit brush, sticks or similar at all. BTW, there are very few bullets that do not have an adverse reaction to hitting brush, most do have some negative effect. But fact is, if a Raptor or other similar bullet like the Gen 1 CNC bullets do not hit front forward, then they cannot perform their magic. Raptors..... Avoid Brush, be patient with your first shot.
Raptors are what I call Generation II CNC Trauma Inflicting Bullets. Make no mistake they are the most devastating, tissue destroying, trauma inflicting bullet ever designed, and ever put to the field. Most are made from brass, CEB has several made in copper and they work the same way, but require some manipulation to work like Brass Raptors. Here is how a Raptor works in ANY aqueous Medium or tissue, and BTW, they do it 100% of the time, when impacting at what we call "Shear Velocity", most times above 1500 fps.
After 1.5-2 inches of penetration, all blades, most instances 6, SHEAR at the same moment. This Shearing effect is explosive in itself, The Center Remaining Bullet is at this point a broken beer bottle full caliber Solid, which continues to penetrate dead straight. The Blades continue to travel with the center bullet for 3-5 inches of penetration after the shear. As tissue expands, the Blades rip, tear, slice and dice that tissue during the passage of center projectile, this tissue is destroyed, it looses its elastic properties and cannot close back. After this point the Blades continue to move away from center and become secondary projectiles slicing and dicing blood vessels, organs, and any other tissue that they come in contact with. The Center Remaining bullet continues to penetrate straight and under most circumstances will exit far side.
They are Blades, they are NOT PETALS......... They slice their way through penetration, they do not push their way through. Some of these bigger bore "Blades", will penetrate deeper than most 38 Special bullets or most any conventional handgun bullets fired from 9mm or 45 ACP, Petals cannot do that..... The mechanism that allows this is sharp edges on the blades themselves.....
Smaller Caliber Raptors the Blades do not travel as far from the center bullet as some larger caliber Raptors can. For instance, a 458 Caliber Raptor, the blades will travel as far as 10-12 inches from center, animals weighing in at 200 lbs, the blades can even exit far side as well as the center bullet.....Of course larger animals like buffalo, the blades will be caught up in internal organs destroying all tissues they come in contact with.
No Conventional Premium Expanding Soft can come close to the Devastating Effect, Trauma Inflicted, Tissue Destruction that a Raptor inflicts. I know, been there, done it, both sides of the coin, MANY TIMES......... My Buddy Sam and I have a running joke, He has said this, I have said this, and to a man, everyone that has used a Raptor in the field, and then studied the effects after have this statement....... "I Have Never Seen Anything Like That"........... Referring to the tissue destruction inflicted, blood loss, and overall effect a Raptor can have....
Heavy/Light....??? No, you do not need or require heavy Raptors to get this performance. To give you some examples, lets say buffalo, my favorite buffalo bullet in .458 caliber is a 420 Raptor. This is devastating on buffalo, they will exit all broadside shots, so yes, watch the other side, be patient and hold on until you get a shot...... if your shot is frontal center, then look for the bullet far side of the stomach..... Yes, that is correct........ Oh, and the heart will have about a 3-4 inch hole clean through it on that shot..... A 420 Raptor outpenetrates a 500 Swift A from 458 Lott, does not matter if fired from 458 Winchester or 458 B&M. Most of the time you will find your 500 Swift or 500 Woodleigh or other conventional, but the Raptor has exited.......
I shot a lot of buffalo with .500 caliber, Buffalo Raptors in .500 (Not .510) are 410-450 Raptors mostly, but I have shot buffalo with 350 gr Raptors with devastating effects....
In .510 caliber the best Raptor is one that Sam requested, a 475 gr Raptor (Matching solid is 510 gr) both are very well proven...... Sam also is a big fan of 577 NE, he also requested a 650 Solid, and matching 600 Raptor..... both have proven over the years with buffalo, hippo and of course elephant.
You see me mention "Matching", the Solids were the first designed. Then the Raptors. I had a theory that if we used the Solid to make the Raptor, then the bullet length, bearing surface and everything would be the same as the solid, just minus the hollow cavity in weight. My theory was that they would shoot the same point of impact at 50 yards. Well, it is no longer theory, and if you load the matching solid and Raptor with the same load, they will be in the same hole at 50 yards. Regardless of the Raptors weighing less. Weight equal pressure, so Raptors can be pushed just a bit faster than the matching solids, most all cases this raises POI by 1/2 to 3/4 inch at 50, windage still good.....
Next post, to continue this discussion properly, we will talk about Generation I bullets.......
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