brewer12345
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- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
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- 2,751
After shooting in the woods I poked along the surface of the berm as it is the first time this year I shot there and some more stuff evidently surfaced. We shoot a lot of cast there, a fair bit of muzzleloading round ball, and some centerfire jacketed rifle and handgun. Picking stuff off the berm it was interesting to see the deformation of bullets (or lack thereof):
- The muzzleloader balls that were fired from a rifle were just completely deformed. I assume faster speeds and soft lead was the right combination. The few round balls from cap and ball revolvers were largely undeformed aside from the mauling from the loading lever.
- Not surprisingly, jacketed centerfire rifle bullets were heavily deformed. Jacketed pistol bullets usually had the nose messed up, but were otherwise recognizable.
- Cast rifle bullets were generally mushroomed. Most were fired from my buddy's Garand, so were sort of middling power rifle loads. The cast pistol bullets were the biggest surprise. The smaller bullets were slightly deformed, presumably due to higher velocities. The bigger the pistol bullet, the less deformed. The 200 grain HG 68 clones shot out of my 45 with a lighter target load looked like they could be loaded and shot again despite going through a sheet of plywood and hitting the berm.
The coated bullets had been out in the elements since last summer and the colors were still bright enough that it was easy to spot them. I think I understand now why muzzleloader round balls kill deer so well despite the (on paper) poor ballistics. As for handguns, I think the biggest, heaviest bullet is probably the best for doing damage, as even the lighter, faster bullets don't seem to deform much and aren't big enough diameter to do much. Rifle loads expand regardless of whether they are cast or jacketed.
- The muzzleloader balls that were fired from a rifle were just completely deformed. I assume faster speeds and soft lead was the right combination. The few round balls from cap and ball revolvers were largely undeformed aside from the mauling from the loading lever.
- Not surprisingly, jacketed centerfire rifle bullets were heavily deformed. Jacketed pistol bullets usually had the nose messed up, but were otherwise recognizable.
- Cast rifle bullets were generally mushroomed. Most were fired from my buddy's Garand, so were sort of middling power rifle loads. The cast pistol bullets were the biggest surprise. The smaller bullets were slightly deformed, presumably due to higher velocities. The bigger the pistol bullet, the less deformed. The 200 grain HG 68 clones shot out of my 45 with a lighter target load looked like they could be loaded and shot again despite going through a sheet of plywood and hitting the berm.
The coated bullets had been out in the elements since last summer and the colors were still bright enough that it was easy to spot them. I think I understand now why muzzleloader round balls kill deer so well despite the (on paper) poor ballistics. As for handguns, I think the biggest, heaviest bullet is probably the best for doing damage, as even the lighter, faster bullets don't seem to deform much and aren't big enough diameter to do much. Rifle loads expand regardless of whether they are cast or jacketed.