Bill_Rights
Member
When thinking about .30 cal rifle ammo for defensive purposes, I wanted something cheap enough to practice with sometimes and with good stopping power/less over-penetration. I noticed that there are hundreds of pistol rounds with round nose soft point bullets, and pistols are all about defense (OK, there are a few pistol hunters). So I went looking for rifle ammunition with RNSP bullets. Dang few choices! But being a simple bullet type, the ammo is fairly cheap. I bought some and played at the range a bit. One thing I can say: The RNSP rounds make a way bigger "splash" of dirt when hitting the backstop mound than a spire point bullet does. I guess the RNSP has way faster bullet expansion or mushrooming - on the right track for stopping power. For reference, here's a photo comparing some typical factory-loaded .30 cal ammo with RNSP vs FMJ or similar spire-points:
As I said, it was pretty hard to find the blunt-nose soft points (RNSP). There are a lot more loadings with pointed soft points (PSP). The 7.62x39mm Russian RNSP is by Prvi Partizan (Serbia). The .308 RNSP is Remington Express 308 Winchester 180 Grain Core-Lokt Soft Point, though it's weird that Remington calls it "SP" and not "RNSP".
So, a few questions to think about or impart your answer:
- What other brands/models of RNSP rifle ammo are available that you know of? That you recommend?
- Why aren't these RNSP loadings more available?
- I guess it's because we don't buy much of this ammo - why don't we like RNSP?
- How much different is the terminal ballistics performance of the PSP bullets versus the RNSP?
- The soft, fat nose of the RNSP bullets get dented, apparently just from manufacturing (these were nicely isolated in their shipping/sales boxes). Not too sexy, eh? Does that make you not want to buy them? Does this affect accuracy and groupings much? [I don't much care, for short-range defensive loads.]
I saw some info and opinions slightly bearing on these questions in a recent thread here on THR.
As I said, it was pretty hard to find the blunt-nose soft points (RNSP). There are a lot more loadings with pointed soft points (PSP). The 7.62x39mm Russian RNSP is by Prvi Partizan (Serbia). The .308 RNSP is Remington Express 308 Winchester 180 Grain Core-Lokt Soft Point, though it's weird that Remington calls it "SP" and not "RNSP".
So, a few questions to think about or impart your answer:
- What other brands/models of RNSP rifle ammo are available that you know of? That you recommend?
- Why aren't these RNSP loadings more available?
- I guess it's because we don't buy much of this ammo - why don't we like RNSP?
- How much different is the terminal ballistics performance of the PSP bullets versus the RNSP?
- The soft, fat nose of the RNSP bullets get dented, apparently just from manufacturing (these were nicely isolated in their shipping/sales boxes). Not too sexy, eh? Does that make you not want to buy them? Does this affect accuracy and groupings much? [I don't much care, for short-range defensive loads.]
I saw some info and opinions slightly bearing on these questions in a recent thread here on THR.
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