why do people not use premium bullets?

[mark-hunter]

No simpathy for non learners, me too.

 

[Hogpatrol]

@gizmo "Now there is one person that I have had the good privilege of hunting with that fits neither mold and that is our own AH'r @Hogpatrol. He's an old fart "


Hey, I resemble that statement.

Man, I have to get back down there and shoot some pigs. Just have to drag a couple procrastinating buddies with me.

 

[Deleted member 32621]

Actually the Danish lead ban is max. 1%, which makes it even more stupid.
We cannot use normal brass bullets for hunting anymore as ”turning quality” brass typically contains about 2% lead.
We have used pure lead for hundreds of years and reducing that to 2% is still not good enough.
My own government even exceeds the EU in stupidity.
I am speechless..

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[Rule 303]

Gizmo I think you would find, in regards to the self defence loads, the book would sell. A few of the Police Officers I know over here would read it and I think this would apply in most other areas. A lot has already been written in regards to handgun ammo for self defence. Yes some of that is from the manufactures and others from various Law Enforcement Agencies and those with an interest. Some can be found on UTube. The problem is that none of it is compiled into a book or a series of books/papers so one needs to hunt for the information.

Bloody good idea though

 

[steve white]

"Why do people not use premium bullets?" Because...they have a death wish?

 

[Velo Dog]

Using premium bonded or worse yet, mono metal bullets (super hard metal) on caribou is like using a broad sword to fend off mosquitoes.
I saw a friend of mine (born and raised in Alaska here) shoot a mature caribou bull with a Barnes mono metal bullet.
He is one of those fellows who prefers to ignore what has worked for 100+ years and instead falls for everything new.

The animal was standing broadside.
His hip-trendy bullet striking the animal properly, just behind the shoulder.
That Barnes 180 grain .30-06 bullet failed to expand whatsoever, zipping through, like a military spitzer.
It left a through and through tiny wound, as if his critter had been run through with an ice pick.
It ran off and by the time we found it, it was bloated and somewhat spoiled.
Not my idea of the right choice for such a soft animal.

I expect such a poor choice in bullet would risk similar failure on similar critters such as impala, reedbuck, blesbok and the like.
Soft bullet for soft animals and heavy for caliber round nose bullets for somewhat larger animals has always been my preference.

With dreaded “cup & core” bullets, the tried and true cartridges such as .30-06 - 150 gr, 8x57 Mauser - 150 gr, 7x57, 140 gr, .270 Winchester - 130 gr, 6.5x55 - 140 gr, etc, are IMO near perfect cartridges for hunting in open geography/ sparse foliage against such soft animals.
And definitely worth mentioning is the .300 H&H with 180 gr “cup & core” bullets is my favorite for soft skin game IF the shots are likely to be past about 300 paces.
Another fantastic one for longer shots at soft animals is the otherwise misunderstood 7mm Remington Magnum, with 160 to 175 gr cup & core bullets.

That said, all of the above only need light for caliber, soft spitzers beyond about 300 paces.
Under that distance, all the above will generally crumple soft animals faster with round nose softs.
At least that has been my experience anyway.

Having said all that, if some dark day I decided to start taking LSD and thereby choose a varmint cartridge for larger hooved game such as elk, moose, waterbuck, zebra, nilgai, etc., with a .243, .25-06 and such likes and similar, I’d want a super tough bullet, such as the Swift A-Frame, Barnes X family of projectiles (not forgetting that I distrust hollow pointed bullets with a passion).
However, hold your breath until I choose a small bore for large animals. LoL

Rifle Grump rant over.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Using premium bonded or worse yet, mono metal bullets (super hard metal) on caribou is like using a broad sword to fend off mosquitoes.
I saw a friend of mine (born and raised in Alaska here) shoot a mature caribou bull with a Barnes mono metal bullet.
He is one of those fellows who prefers to ignore what has worked for 100+ years and instead falls for everything new.

The animal was standing broadside.
His hip-trendy bullet striking the animal properly, just behind the shoulder.
That Barnes 180 grain .30-06 bullet failed to expand whatsoever, zipping through, like a military spitzer.
It left a through and through tiny wound, as if his critter had been run through with an ice pick.
It ran off and by the time we found it, it was bloated and somewhat spoiled.
Not my idea of the right choice for such a soft animal.

I expect such a poor choice in bullet would risk similar failure on similar critters such as impala, reedbuck, blesbok and the like.
Soft bullet for soft animals and heavy for caliber round nose bullets for somewhat larger animals has always been my preference.

With dreaded “cup & core” bullets, the tried and true cartridges such as .30-06 - 150 gr, 8x57 Mauser - 150 gr, 7x57, 140 gr, .270 Winchester - 130 gr, 6.5x55 - 140 gr, etc, are IMO near perfect cartridges for hunting in open geography/ sparse foliage against such soft animals.
And definitely worth mentioning is the .300 H&H with 180 gr “cup & core” bullets is my favorite for soft skin game IF the shots are likely to be past about 300 paces.
Another fantastic one for longer shots at soft animals is the otherwise misunderstood 7mm Remington Magnum, with 160 to 175 gr cup & core bullets.

That said, all of the above only need light for caliber, soft spitzers beyond about 300 paces.
Under that distance, all the above will generally crumple soft animals faster with round nose softs.
At least that has been my experience anyway.

Having said all that, if some dark day I decided to start taking LSD and thereby choose a varmint cartridge for larger hooved game such as elk, moose, waterbuck, zebra, nilgai, etc., with a .243, .25-06 and such likes and similar, I’d want a super tough bullet, such as the Swift A-Frame, Barnes X family of projectiles (not forgetting that I distrust hollow pointed bullets with a passion).
However, hold your breath until I choose a small bore for large animals. LoL

Rifle Grump rant over.

I'm not a huge fan of the mono's myself. The chief reason being that every so often I read about a result like this where they fail to open. I don't think that's a very high occurrence but it does happen. They also tend to copper foul my rifles fairly quickly and lose accuracy, at least that's been my experience.

That said I would never lump a North Fork Bonded Core or Swift A-Frame into the same bucket as the mono's. Those two bullets are essentially the next step of improvement on the Nosler Partition. Necessary for a caribou, elk or deer? Perhaps not. Worth the minor extra investment for an overseas hunt? No question about it for me, an absolute yes.

 

[Velo Dog]

When hunting such as African buffaloes, Australian water buffaloes and similar ones with cartridges such as the .375 and 9.3x62, etc., I always recommend the Swift A-Frame and with that, heavy for caliber = 300 gr .375 and 286 gr, 9.3, etc.

 

[Tbitty]

@S-3 Ranch
Sound like the way I did things back in my younger days. I would go thru a brick (500 rounds) of 22lr most weekends practising.22lr back then was 50 cents /50 box. Some times I would have a mate though cans and I would try and hit them before the hit the ground and again as soon as they hit the ground. That was back when we were still allowed to have semi autos back in the mid to late 70s. Some said I was wasting time and money but to me it was having fun and improving my skills. Ah the good ol days when ammo was cheap.
Bob

I went through too many bricks of .22 LR to count in my youth, both pistols and rifles. One of my favorite exercises was to throw a small stick in the river, and see how many pieces I could break it into as it floated down past me. Got pretty good at judging lead and predicting movement patterns.