I want a bullet that expands, but less.

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Whiteknuckles84

Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2012
Messages
3
Location
Mountain Home, ID
Why can't I find any "handicapped" ammunition. I am looking for something like a solid copper, shallow cavity hollow point rifle bullet. I shoot a .270 win and can hit most anything inside of 500 yds with it, so I'm not looking to buy a new rifle. The problem is that the 130 grains i like to shoot have a tendency to blow out a good chunk of the far side of an animal. In deer season, I can live with this, but when I want a winter coyote pelt, it becomes a problem. I've come to using the 150 grains because they leave a smaller exit in the hide. Being that in many states it is not legal to hunt with fmj rounds (and I probably wouldn't want to use one for this purpose), why are there no semi-expanding, in between rounds for the flatter shooting big-game rifle calibers? It seems to me that it would not be difficult to manufacture one. Also, I do not currently reload, though it is somewhere on the (distant) horizon.
 
honestly, sounds like you want a wide meplat gas checked lead bullet if you don't push them too hard. the 270 can be a difficult beast to shoot lead out of- but any wide flat point with a bit of care should do what you are looking for
 
What are you using at the moment? Nosler makes an accubond for the 270 with a high B.C. and 130 grains. Maybe a bonded jacket material might be a good choice.
 
I've been using $15 a box Fed power shok to about the same affect as Fed prem & fusion and hornady interlock. My rifle does not like hornady, it punches right through the primer half of the time, resulting in flyers. I do get about 1 flyer out of 20 with the cheap federal, but I like it for the clover I can cut in the quarter of my choosing at 100 yds. I like the Idea of loading lead bullets, but I am not reloading at the moment. If you're aware of any factory loads akin to what you described, I'd be open-minded. By the way, my rifle is a $270 Savage 111.
 
I noticed on Hornady's ads for GMX bullets that they sure don't seem to open up very wide below 3000 fps.
 
I had the same issue with my .270. I switched to Nosler Partitions. The only expand so far and then stop. The .270 on deer at close range exploded and hardly penetrated. I destroyed an entire shoulder and had to shoot him again to kill it. Once I switched to the partition it hasn't been an issue. http://www.nosler.com/Bullets/Partition.aspx
I only found it to be a problem on close shots. About 30 yards and in showed real problems. It may still be an issue with soft nose bullets in the .270 out farther than that, but I don't have any experience from 30-100 yards. The partition has been my go to round since then.

These will work if you don't want to reload yet.
Federal Premium Vital-Shok 270 Win.
 
Last edited:
Three approaches to this.
1 You can use a super fast expanding varmint bullet that should leave no exit wound on a yote. in which case V-Max or Blitzking would be the way to go.
2 A non fragmenting controled expansion bullet will leave a smallish exit like your 150gr. TSX and Accubond being top choices.
3 A non-expanding bullet like the barnes solid, sounds crazy I know, but I have heard pelt hunters rave about them, dead yote and small clean exit wound. I don't hunt for pelts so I cannot vouch for that 1st hand.
 
I like the idea of the partition, and being that they are loaded in the vital shok by federal, with whom I've had good experience, I'll probably try it. Those barnes banded solids sound promising. The 6.5 looks pretty good. I've got an 1896 carl gustafs but its too heavy for more than a couple of trips to the field, but the matching numbers (including the cleaning rod) will be keeping me from lightening it up. The round would be better suited to coyotes than the 270 though. Thanks for the welcome Mr. Newman.
 
Simple answer: Barnes TSX.

.35 caliber, 225 gr.TSX before:

225TSX.jpg

.35 caliber, 225 gr.TSX after penetrating lengthwise through a bull elk:


Elkbullet1smallest.jpg

Not a huge frontal area, but massive penetration. Since this one, I've killed two bulls with this same bullet, both broadside shots which exited, and they have relatively small exit wounds.

35W
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top