Woodleigh Bullets

[Dr Ray]

Experiment a little! I I like the heavy Bullets for caliber Bullets.
I used to be a medium weight bullet at max velocity reloader. As I have aged I tend to look at the intended target and what would be the best Bullet for them.
I was a reloading “fiend” and experimented literally weekly.
These days I think more about the penetration and energy etc rather than driving medium/light Bullets at the speed of light.
So, for heavy duty animals I’m going for the great penetrating -hold together and mushroom Bullets that just get through the opposite skin.
I personally like to see the blood trail.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Big and slower is the way to go but I couldn't justify the expense of the woodleigh 275gn protected point our the 300gn woodleigh RN,or solid. I imagine these would give great penetration with the 275 @ 2,450 and the 300 @ around 2,300 ( loads worked out on load from a disc). The 300gn solid would perform well. If you wanted supreme penetration I would go for woodleigh hydrostatic bullet. Don't need that much though unless my tomatoes are ravaged by a brontosaurus. Until then I'll stick with the 225s

 

[CBH Australia]

Experiment a little! I I like the heavy Bullets for caliber Bullets.
I used to be a medium weight bullet at max velocity reloader. As I have aged I tend to look at the intended target and what would be the best Bullet for them.
I was a reloading “fiend” and experimented literally weekly.
These days I think more about the penetration and energy etc rather than driving medium/light Bullets at the speed of light.
So, for heavy duty animals I’m going for the great penetrating -hold together and mushroom Bullets that just get through the opposite skin.
I personally like to see the blood trail.

Dr, (or anyone) can you explain why Bullets stop under the opposite side skin?
I’ve read it a bit but I usually shoot straight Brough a fox or maybe take a pic of a pig if it’s worthy. I don’t have reason to skin pests.
@Bob Nelson 35 Whelen chime in if you know if not it’s something we can chat about later.

 

[Dr Ray]

Dr, (or anyone) can you explain why Bullets stop under the opposite side skin?
I’ve read it a bit but I usually shoot straight Brough a fox or maybe take a pic of a pig if it’s worthy. I don’t have reason to skin pests.
@Bob Nelson 35 Whelen chime in if you know if not it’s something we can chat about later.

I guess it’s because the energy has largely been expended and this is partially because of the mushrooming effect.
The bullet has just not enough energy left to penetrate the skin.
But, I personally like the bullet to exit to produce a good blood trail. However I don’t mean that the billet drills through and expends most it its energy in the grass.
Difficult to achieve that I believe. The billet must be suited to the target in that the bullet is sufficiently “tough” yet expands to stay inside the target thus expending all of its energy.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

CBH
The skin is elastic and if the projectiles don't have enough momentum and mass ( velocity and weight) the skin will stretch without tearing and arrest the bullet travel. The bullet is then just under the skin. It can also be stopped inside the body due to disintegrating or parachute effect of expansion.
Finally if the bullet has the right construction, mass and velocity it will penetrate completely thru the animal.
Hope that helps mate Doc may be able to explain it a lot better than me

 

[Dr Ray]

Further to this I did competition shooting and on one occasion I used a 243 with 85 grain TARGET Bullets. Unfortunately I also decided to take these cartridges pig hunting.
Omg what a disaster. The Bullets blew up on the pigs and I ended up having to use my 222 which, believe it or not, did a far better job on the ferals.
Lesson to be learned is that the Bullet has to match the requirements of the game.

 

[crs]

"The Bullets blew up on the pigs "
I saw that happen with a deer; same rifle, same bullet.
My friend had his daughter shooting (light) loads and they just blew the hair from the skin- the deer ran away.

 

[CBH Australia]

Mmm a .222 the Dr is showing his age. Everyone In Australia went to ..223 years ago
Bob Nelson also spoke about .243 Bullets not being good on game that was a hunting projectile he mentioned.
I had a .308 round blow up on a pig, I had shot one across the creek at 100 yards no problem. Hit one at 50m but needed to hit it again so at 20-30m it blew up upon the shoulder. Those were the ZMax 168gn Hornady. Presumably a varmint bullet that went ok on previous pig after it washed off some speed and that was a head shot I believe.
The moral of the story is we all know better, we just need to think before we go in the field.
That’s where discussion here does help to learn what works for others.

 

[Dr Ray]

Mmm a .222 the Dr is showing his age. Everyone In Australia went to ..223 years ago
Bob Nelson also spoke about .243 Bullets not being good on game that was a hunting projectile he mentioned.
I had a .308 round blow up on a pig, I had shot one across the creek at 100 yards no problem. Hit one at 50m but needed to hit it again so at 20-30m it blew up upon the shoulder. Those were the ZMax 168gn Hornady. Presumably a varmint bullet that went ok on previous pig after it washed off some speed and that was a head shot I believe.
The moral of the story is we all know better, we just need to think before we go in the field.
That’s where discussion here does help to learn what works for others.

Showing my age - yes
That was over 40 years ago.
Went by the 22/250 many years ago.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

CBH and doc
I to have a 222 788 rem. Great rifle on smaller pigs bigger ones need to be head shot.
Target bullets are a no no for hunting, to fragile except for the Berger target/hunting that is designed to get into the game and explode.
Some people I know use 87 vmax in the 243. These are fine for smaller pigs and goats but for game bigger than a sabre tooth field mouse I would go to the 95gn sst. For big pigs the 100gn round nose is very effective, also both great bullets for fallow deer.
It's a matter of horses for courses.
In the 308 my go to bullet is the 150gn sst, but in Namibia we used 140grain outer edge and 150 grain accubonds, tougher game tougher bullet
As you know CBH I have a severe aversion to the 243. If anyone gave me one the barrel would be used as a tomato stake and I would put a barrel on it in a real caliber like the 358 win or 338 federal seen to much game wounded by the 243.
The 338 or 358 would make a great plains game rifle as most game is shot a less than 200yards with 250 yards being a long shot.
Hope this helps

 

[Rule 303]

CBH
The skin is elastic and if the projectiles don't have enough momentum and mass ( velocity and weight) the skin will stretch without tearing and arrest the bullet travel. The bullet is then just under the skin. It can also be stopped inside the body due to disintegrating or parachute effect of expansion.
Finally if the bullet has the right construction, mass and velocity it will penetrate completely thru the animal.
Hope that helps mate Doc may be able to explain it a lot better than me

This^. Likewise ballistic vests have a fair bit of give, so, yes if you are wearing one and get hit you will know about it.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Long time fan of Woodleigh here. I've used the Weldcore version in many cals on almost everything in Australia and a good bag of Namibian plains game. They work best when driven at moderate velocities or when used on the heavy for calibre side. There's no point trying to wring extra velocity out of them. The RN version will open slightly faster then the PP version and the latter feed better from many magazines. I've found them super reliable with deep penetration (mostly exits on medium game) good expansion and 90% plus weight retention as the norm. I can't argue with that.The Hydros however I have little experience with.

I use/d

6.5x55 140gn PP
7x57 & 7 RM 140 & 160gn PP
.30/06 150 & 180gn PP
.350 Rem Mag 225 & 250gn PP
.375 H&H 270gn PP & RN
.458 Win Mag 480gn RN

@Dr Ray one thing I will add though, from your earlier post. Regardless of the bullet used, I wouldn't go to the NT expecting your buffalo to fall over after one shot. Even if the first shot is perfect and ultimately fatal, they'll often take a while to go down and multiple quick follow-ups are the norm. As they say, bullets are cheap and there's no point dying wondering

Cheers
Tim

Blacks
The load I used in Namibia for some of my hunting pushed the .358 225grain woodleigh PPSN beyond normal limits.
The load I used in my 35 Whelan
64grains of cfe223
MV 2,950fps chronoed
ME calculated 4,347 fps
The zebra I shot was hit at around 100yards broadside smashed both shoulders and lodged under the skin on the offside.
Impact velocity 2,600fps
100 yards energy over 3,600fpe
Retained weight 176grain
Not bad considering it hit at max recommended velocity.
I will try and post pictures of the projectile.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

recovered 225grain woodleigh PPSN impact velocity 2,600fps ,woodleigh recommend max velocity. The Australian 10 cent coin is 25 mms for comparison.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Sorry about the stuff up with photos but not shabby performance for max velocity impact 2,600 fps, and smashing major bones such as femur and off side leg as well as destroying heart and lungs. 10 cent Australian coin is 25 mm

 

[Dr Ray]

View attachment 321384
View attachment 321385 View attachment 321386
Sorry about the stuff up with photos but not shabby performance for max velocity impact 2,600 fps, and smashing major bones such as femur and off side leg as well as destroying heart and lungs. 10 cent Australian coin is 25 mm

Excellent and thanks for posting