Best lead free bullet?

[Andy S]

[Southpaw45]

I cant comment on the question your asking because I have never loaded or shot full copper bullets before. All I want to say is that from what I hear, full copper bullets give great accuracy because of the fact that since they dont have a lead core, they are made longer to make up for weight compared to a lead core bullet. This longer bullet give you more contact with the rifling giving greater accuracy. The down side I hear is that chamber pressures rise because of this so they must me down loaded compared to a conventional bullet.

[trautert]

I've taken three pigs and a bear in the last three years with copper bullets. Federal and Winchester commercial loads. Accuracy is as good as expected.

I was a little worried about bullet performance. Three pigs were taken with 150 grain .30/06 loads, ranges varied from 125 to 175 yards. All three were hit behind the left front shoulder. Bullets all exited near the front of the right shoulder. The interesting thing is that the entry wounds and the exit wounds were nearly identical; roughly 3/4 inch round hole going in and coming out. The insides looked like someone drove a 3/4" pipe straight through the pig, just basically pulverizing organs, and blowing a red mist out the exit wound side onto the ground.

The bear was taken with a 180 grain Federal from a tree about 120' in the air, and about 50 feet away from the base of the tree. The bear was laid out on a limb looking down at me. He took the shot just inside the right front shoulder (front of the chest.) He was blown up and back, clearing the tree by at least 12 feet out and up several feet from where he was laying. No exit wound this time. This was a 6' bear going about 275 lbs.

Long way of saying, while the requirement for lead free ammo has no basis in science, the terminal ballistics are just fine by my experience.

[Munk]

I've yet to get any experience with them. I hear good things about the Tipped TSX (It's exactly as it sounds, the regular TSX but with a plastic insert. it helps), and the Nosler E-Tips.

Cost is more than double the cost of conventional hunting rounds. Box of 100 165grn Hornadys is about 26-35$, cost of 50 165grn lead free hornadys, is about 30-36. half the amount for a little over the same cost... I don't know if I'd ever shoot the entire box, just for the sake of conserving money. If I did, the fur I took would more than offset the cost of ammo.

[choprzrul]

I have had outstanding performance with the original Barnes X on mule deer from 2 different 308 rifles. Those bullets are no longer available, so I had to go looking for a replacement. I found that I couldn't get the same group sizes with the TSXs, despite 100s of rounds of testing with different powders, charge weights, and seating depths. I eventually gave up on Barnes and tried the GMXs from Hornady. In my case, I found that my rifles really liked a very heavy load of Winchester 748 with a bit of crimp. I am seeing 10 shot strings @ about an inch.

In general, I found that lead free projectiles like to be pushed pretty hard. The groups would always shrink as charge weights increased. As matter of fact, if I remember correctly, Compressed loads usually ended up being the best. I must caution you to be extremely careful and work up your loads slowly. Look @ each fired case for signs of preasure before putting it back in the case.

Have fun in your search for an optimal load, it's a great experience.

.

[Andy S]

[Andy S]

I did find out that what Munk was referring to. The WINCHESTER lead free E-tip is a bullet made in collaboration with Nosler. It only comes as a 180gr.

[prob]

I cant comment on the question your asking because I have never loaded or shot full copper bullets before. All I want to say is that from what I hear, full copper bullets give great accuracy because of the fact that since they dont have a lead core, they are made longer to make up for weight compared to a lead core bullet. This longer bullet give you more contact with the rifling giving greater accuracy. The down side I hear is that chamber pressures rise because of this so they must me down loaded compared to a conventional bullet.

Not necessarily. Depending on the twist of the rifling, accuracy could be severely degraded. For example, many bolt action .223 rifles have a twist of 1 in 12. Most long copper bullets will not stabilize with such a slow twist and you'll be lucky to get a pattern let alone a decent group. In fact, Barnes most emphatically suggests that a rifling twist no slower than 1 in 9 be used with their .224 copper bullets.

[Munk]

I did find out that what Munk was referring to. The WINCHESTER lead free E-tip is a bullet made in collaboration with Nosler. It only comes as a 180gr.

It seems that Winchester supreme is the brand that carries the E-tips in a commercial load. 36-55$ per 20 rd. box. (Reloading would significantly drop this price.)

Also, Nosler's website has for sale .30 cal in 150,168 and 180 grains if you feel like reloading.

Note: I'm not talking about how awesome they are... I don't know if they are or not. This is just an example of what's available. I'd love to find out which is best as well. I've got a remington 760 in .30-06 and an old marlin .30-30 that i'd like to have lead-free loads available for.

[Andy S]