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just wondering if anyone has tried any of the solid copper bullets available

acudaowner

acudaowner

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I was looking for bullets and while I have found some it's been mostly misses which is ok it happens but i came across a couple companies selling solid copper and though I am learning to reload why not try a few as no one at the ranges I visit have tried them I was wondering if any of you had and how it compared good or bad was it the same load you would use of regular rifle bullets or did you work up a special load for them ? I had noticed the twist rates were a little different so far I was able to grab a few 133 say with a 1/8 twist and some 143 Yea that say they should work best with a 1/7.5 twist while my usual 130 - 147 lead bullets all shoot fine with my 1/8 twist , I doubt it will make me forget about burger bullets or hornady anytime soon but they do seem neat for what they are I was looking for others results and opinions on the thanks.
 
acudaowner said:
I was looking for bullets and while I have found some it's been mostly misses which is ok it happens but i came across a couple companies selling solid copper and though I am learning to reload why not try a few as no one at the ranges I visit have tried them I was wondering if any of you had and how it compared good or bad was it the same load you would use of regular rifle bullets or did you work up a special load for them ? I had noticed the twist rates were a little different so far I was able to grab a few 133 say with a 1/8 twist and some 143 Yea that say they should work best with a 1/7.5 twist while my usual 130 - 147 lead bullets all shoot fine with my 1/8 twist , I doubt it will make me forget about burger bullets or hornady anytime soon but they do seem neat for what they are I was looking for others results and opinions on the thanks.
Click to expand...
I have not but my good friend @GBMaryland loves the Warner Flatline bullets.

Perhaps he will come and and give you some input.

I'm guessing this is 6.5mm?
 
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I have used hammer bullets and I have to say, its way better than anything else I've used and it's not even close. Better than lead and other copper bullets. These are mostly geared for hunting though. But they do carry a few calibers for target shooting as well. Its not cheap, but you'd be hard pressed to find bullets that will shoot better.
 
I use the barnes tsx bullets in my model 70 .243 there is a trade off. You can push them faster and they will not break apart, but at longer ranges once they lose some speed they have a tendancy to not fully expand. So they are great if you know how far and fast you are shooting. Ive also used the hornady gmx bullets but prefer the barnes.
 
As stated above these are really geared towards hunting and usually run about 35 bucks for 50 of the barnes.
 
A0116217-72E6-426F-8F17-6F27A7042095.jpeg

I’m sitting on a few hundred badlands solids.
That’s a 190 a tip for size comparison.
hope to be shooting to shooting them in a week or two.
Barrel for them showed up today :)
 
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I've been shooting the PVA solids for a while now, both the 6mm seneca and the 5,6 cayugas. I did ground up load development, referencing similar weight conventional bullet data, as PVA suggests.

I've found the consistency to be top notch, even across orders/lots. Accuracy has been very good, and I'm also able to push them a smidgeon faster than I could a regular bullet without pressure. I'm doing slightly better on BC than advertised with the 6mm, using the 95gn out of a 1-7,5.

I have tried the Barnes TTSX and LRX in 6,5 and 8mm, but they did not group as well as the PVA options, in any calibre or load variation I tried. I have some 8mm lapua solids to try next.
 
TheOfficeT-Rex said:
I've been shooting the PVA solids for a while now, both the 6mm seneca and the 5,6 cayugas. I did ground up load development, referencing similar weight conventional bullet data, as PVA suggests.

I've found the consistency to be top notch, even across orders/lots. Accuracy has been very good, and I'm also able to push them a smidgeon faster than I could a regular bullet without pressure. I'm doing slightly better on BC than advertised with the 6mm, using the 95gn out of a 1-7,5.

I have tried the Barnes TTSX and LRX in 6,5 and 8mm, but they did not group as well as the PVA options, in any calibre or load variation I tried. I have some 8mm lapua solids to try next.
Click to expand...
I had some trouble getting the tsx barnes to group. I wonder if it has to do with the copper extraction grooves the brag about... i still like them but they dont group the best. Great hunting rounds though.
 
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TheOfficeT-Rex said:
I've been shooting the PVA solids for a while now, both the 6mm seneca and the 5,6 cayugas. I did ground up load development, referencing similar weight conventional bullet data, as PVA suggests.

I've found the consistency to be top notch, even across orders/lots. Accuracy has been very good, and I'm also able to push them a smidgeon faster than I could a regular bullet without pressure. I'm doing slightly better on BC than advertised with the 6mm, using the 95gn out of a 1-7,5.

I have tried the Barnes TTSX and LRX in 6,5 and 8mm, but they did not group as well as the PVA options, in any calibre or load variation I tried. I have some 8mm lapua solids to try next.
Click to expand...
Since you are getting close to the sa velocity what kind of drop/ wind advantage are you getting from cup core?

thanks

edit..asking for pva solids not run of the mill Barnes/hunting etc
 
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All the Barnes I've tried have been above my expectations. I know some folks who work there and even the "blem" bullets have out shot everything else I've tried- especially in rifles with barrel twist rates not optimal for their bore.
My recommendation would be don't try them. Unless you're ready to switch over for good and have your final expense per round forever be higher.
 
brianf said:
Since you are getting close to the sa velocity what kind of drop/ wind advantage are you getting from cup core?

thanks

edit..asking for pva solids not run of the mill Barnes/hunting etc
Click to expand...

Depends what your baseline is. The BC is the same as a 109 Hybrid, but I could drive the 95 way faster if I cared to. I'm usually one weight class heavier with traditional bullets, so I'm not sure it's a fair comparison. I've just noticed I'm getting as advertised, or better, BCs from the PVA when I'm truing data. I'm actually running the BRA way slower than I could, and the 6,5CM way faster with a 122 (2950) than I could with a 130 (2800). The hornady book says I should get 2950 with the 123 class, so I'm not sure there is too big a speed advantage over traditional, but you do pick up quite a bit of BC.

I have some 105 match burners to try in the next few weeks, but again theyre 10gn heavier.
 
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Texasflyer said:
I had some trouble getting the tsx barnes to group. I wonder if it has to do with the copper extraction grooves the brag about... i still like them but they dont group the best. Great hunting rounds though.
Click to expand...

Barnes do like to jump, 50 thou or more for best results according to them. Factory rounds are loaded to the first groove.

Never shot any monos but I bought a nice selection of mono bullets to test, hopefully this summer I can start collecting data and buy a small quantity of the best performers. Will be using fast for caliber powders to try and get speed up.

I bought them out of curiosity and a hunch there might be some type of lead ammo restrictions for hunting in the future possibly federal but certainly state level based on how WA follows CA on everything. Would pay to be ahead of the curve here, possibly for myself but definitely for my kids.

I’ll be loading for 6.5 CM, 6.5/7 SAUM, 30-06, and 300 PRC with PVA Cayuga, CE Lazer, and Barnes TTSX/LRX. Would like to also pick up some HH since I hear they are very easy to load for.

In all honesty though the heaviest Barnes LRX for caliber would probably be more than sufficient with good availability (in normal times).
 
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wasn't sure where else to post this quickly , but
www.midsouthshooterssupply.com

6.5mm .264 Diameter 140 Grain Boat Tail Hollow Point Match 100 Count

6.5mm .264 Diameter 140 Grain Boat Tail Hollow Point Match 100 Count by HORNADY AMMUNITION AND BULLETS Hornady's AMP Bullet Jackets (Advanced Manufacturing Process) offer the best ballistic coefficient possible. Profile delivers low drag and flat trajectories and swaged lead core provides...
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www.lg-outdoors.com

Hornady 6.5mm .264 Diameter 140 Grain Boat Tail Hollow Point Match 100 Count

6.5mm .264 Diameter 140 Grain Boat Tail Hollow Point Match 100 Count by HORNADY AMMUNITION AND BULLETS Hornady's AMP Bullet Jackets (Advanced Manufacturing Process) offer the best ballistic coefficient possible. Profile delivers low drag and flat trajectories and swaged lead core provides...
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still in stock as of 1:37 am on 3/6/2021 if it interest anyone .
 
ive shot a few flat lines but didnt chase them because they didnt show much promise and most likely because they had to jump so far.

ive also just recently bought and shot a few of the 122g 6.5 solids from PVA and these show great promise in a tikka T3X lite...5 charge weights seated .070 off shot 1" or under at 100yds...ill get back to testing them when i get time.
 
Just built a lightweight .300 WSM for my son, he's using solids for load development.
One thing to keep in mind is solids will generate higher pressures than jacketed bullets.

I also noticed that there appeared to be much more copper in the barrel than I typically see after just a couple dozen rounds down the tube on the first day of shooting. I use Wipe-Out products, and it took several "soaks" before the patches stopped coming out purple. Easily visible with the borescope before cleaning as well.

I suspect this because there isn't a thin jacket that just deforms and presses into the lead as a jacketed bullet would do. It's gonna "scrape" the copper off; I'm hopeful that this will improve as any sharper edges on the lands wear a bit with round count- same as would happen with tooling marks from chambering if present.

Wondering if anyone else running solids in a new barrel has experienced this?
 
I've seen a little more copper, but not an excessive amount, or anything that has made me change how I clean. That's for both a new barrel that I went straight to solids on, and on a barrel that I started with conventional jackets.
 
About to try the 241 Seneca in a 7 twist 300 WSM. I have read that you should not mix lead core and mono bullets in the same barrel. Is actually true?
 
About to start shooting 241 Seneca bullets once the new barrel arrives. Have been told that you cannot shoot lead core and copper monolithic bullets through the same barrel. Is that correct? Is the reason that long heavy mono bullets (the high BC options) require such a fast twist rate that lead core bullets would/could blow up?

Or is the reason that the composition of jacket material is very different from mono bullets, and copper equilibrium gets disturbed?

Or is there some other reason to avoid doing this?
 
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So I’ve been shooting the solids for a bit now.
Can’t say I’m disappointed
A g1 of 1.01 at 3000 fps makes for some impressive performance.
Getting them to shoot was no tougher than Berger’s or SMK’s.
Started at my standard 20 thou jump and that shot plenty well for me.

Spotting has been better than expected but you definitely notice less splash when hitting steel.

That barrel is solids only so I have no clue about mixing bullet types

I generally clean every 50-100 rounds just using wipe out and give it a few hours to work.
Ten or so patches and I’m done.

This thing spanks my friends 338 Norma and lapua.
My 338 Norma buddy quickly got a fast twist barrel for solids out of jealousy but then found he doesn’t the case capacity to really pile in N570 and catch up to me.
Lol
A friendly arms race.
832B9D41-7FB0-45B1-9D35-CC6726A06B76.jpeg
 
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