I Like Crisp Round Holes In Targets

Yep, you're reading to much into it.

As long as it not an oval shape due to bullet tumbling. Cardbboard backing behind a regular paper target sometimes helps make cleaner holes. Hanging paper with no backing gives me weird shapes. Not only will the hole be ragged, but it tears in a random direction sometimes too. Can almost look like tumbling.

Wait till your vision starts going bad and all the holes look fuzzy around the edges.....


SWCs (and WC) bullets do tend to cut nicer holes than TC bullets.
Target backing can make a difference IMO.

You have a better chance for crisp holes if you choose a bullet with a pronounced shoulder and not a gradual taper like a TC or RN bullet. That's why wadcutters and semi wadcutters are so good for target shooting.

It may sound strange, but having the target lay flat and tight against a cardboard backing really helps too. Sometimes shooters come on these boards thinking their bullets are keyholing when in fact the bullets are simply ripping the target paper because it has no backing.

While these 45ACP bullets were fired from a muzzleloader at 1400 fps, they are pistol bullets and you can see some holes are fairly crips, while others are ragged. Notice that the ragged holes are where the target was not sitting flush with the cardboard backing (top holes) versus the nice crisp holes on the bottom left group where the target was flush against the cardboard. The other picture shows what the bullets that made the holes look like and the sabots I used in the ML rifle.

Hope that helps.

Paper weight and quality have a lot to do with it too. But the square shoulder is what give you nice clean holes.

Plus one for new cardboard backing (hint- those old waxed cardboard campaign signs that litter the roadside every so often make great backing and target holders) and shouldered bootlits, like Kieth style.
Catpop

The bullet profile is what give you the nice round clean holes in the target.

Wadcutters punch a clean crisp round hole like a hole-puncher would. Semi-Wadcutters will too but to a lesser extent. Round nose bullets push through the paper and leave ragged edges as will truncated bullets.

I use pizza boxes or the like For targets and stick on orange bullseyes. The cardboard is great for WC or SWC's Nice round holes

+10 on using any target (even printed on a home ink jet) backed by and firmly taped to any cardboard, event trash which is a great idea I hadnt really considered as a source.

I like to use a stash of thick 8x11 poster stock a buddy gave me and circle a 3 or 2.5 inch pvc coupling in black sharpie with an internal cross of red sharpie at all four corners, taped to cardboard. That will leave crisp holes with RN bullets it tell you.

Here is what happens when you use paper with no cardboard: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=770127