effectiveness - testing bullets in a practical way

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effectiveness
by Paco

In the 1960's thru the 1980's the bullet manufacturing companies worked very hard to create effective rifle bullets that would be as effective at 30 feet as they were at 300 yards. That is not an easy thing to accomplish, considering the velocity at the muzzle compared to it at 300 plus yards. What was strong enough to withstand a pointblank shot and not come apart....was too stiff out where the velocity dropped considerably. And when the bullet was made thin enough to perform well at long range, it came apart at very short ranges and didn't penetrate.

The problems were finally solved and we have any number of fine rifle hunting bullets to choose from in all caliber's, for all kinds of game from varmints to polar bear and elephant. Handgun bullets had the same problems, but the answering developments were slower. For a number of years the cast semi-wadcutter bullet was the one of choice......especially for large game. Keith developed his line of Keith semi-wadcutters from .38 to .45 almost 70 years ago! And they still are today as effective on game as they were then.

But a whole new series of expanding handgun bullets have now been on the market for a few short years, and they are very good....as good as their rifle counterparts. One of my favorites is the .357/180 grain Hornady XTP......The whole line of XTP bullets perform very well, but this one in the .357 magnum is a big game bullets. Golden Saber....Gold Dot.....Power Jacket....and the Nosler handgun bullets are all effective at short handgun range to long handgun range.

PLAN YOUR AMMO

I find that hunting with handguns forces me to be a little more stringent in my planning. The game I am after very much determines the bullet that I load. Obviously the .45 caliber bullet I would use on an elephant is not one that I would want to use on a coyote. Deep penetration and no expansion is needed on the elephant. That kind of penetration on the coyote would punch right in and right out. The 'yote needs expansion ( I still want it to exit if possible ) but the expansion is necessary.

It is a given that the higher the velocity the more expansion we get from expanding bullets. Conversely, as expansion increases, penetration decreases. So as in many cases with ballistics we have to plan, experiment and find an acceptable tradeoff for the particular caliber and game-target needs.

Just because a .41 magnum load and .357 magnum load both give...say 900 ft. lbs. of muzzle energy...doesn't mean they are equally effective. If given the same bullet construction for both...say a deep-penetrating slow-expanding bullet....the .41 will give more shock value initially because of it's larger diameter. The .357 will give deeper penetration because of it's section density ( it is longer and narrower for the weight ) and a longer wound channel.

Hit a large deer behind the ribs with the .357/180 grain bullet, angling towards the off shoulder and it will break that shoulder as well as do fatal damage to the lungs. The .41 mag bullet (with the same energy and in the same spot) will stop in the off lung...the damage to the lungs will be extensive...the near lung will most likely be totally destroyed and the far lung will have a terrible wound channel. All else being equal the .41 mag shot deer will die much more quickly. This is hypothetical of course. The 180 gr. .41 mag bullets are for the most part not as stiff-jacketed as the .357's of that weight. The velocity of the 180 gr. .41 mag bullet will be very high because that weight in the .41 is light. The 180 gr. weight for the .357 is heavy and the bullet construction is gong to be very tough.

It is also a given that as the barrel length goes down velocity goes with it. The .357 handguns generally lose approximately 35 fps per inch. The large bores, because of the fast expansion ratio, lose less per in. For example the .45 is down around 20 fps per inch.

Just as obviously every gun is a science unto itself. These figures are very general and again, in my guns. The gap between the barrel and cylinder is all important. The general loss in velocity is around 100 fps for each one-thousandths opening. My S&W L-frame had a four-thousandths gap. By setting the barrel back three-thousandths I gained nearly 300 fps with some powders. Different powders lose differing amounts of velocity with long to short barrels. My S&W N-frame with a close gap and the 8-plus inch barrel gets 1224 fps with the Hornady 180 gr. XTP bullet. In the 4" S&W close gap handgun the same load gives 1151 fps. That's a 73 fps loss for four and 3/8 inch shorter barrel, giving on 17 fps per inch loss. In the same guns with 16 gr. Alliant 2400 under a 173 gr. cast bullet, the long S&W gives 1580 fps but the short S&W give 1401 fps. That is a 179 fps loss at 42 fps loss per inch.

Experiment

That is why much experimentation must be done to find the right bullet, powder, velocity and accuracy for your target, especially if it is living game. Don't be lulled into thinking (for example) that all hollow-point jacketed 158 gr. .357 bullets will react to the target the same if the velocity is the same. Or that any other weight and caliber bullets that are the same to each other will also react the same. Very rarely is it so.

One of the surprises is to find a handgun bullet substantially lighter than others in it's caliber that is much more strongly constructed than the rest. The biggest example of this is in the 265 gr. .44 magnum bullets. Many of the manufacturers build this bullet to be used in the .444 rifle. In a handgun it is slower to expand and will give deeper penetration in large game than some of the 300 gr. .44 mag bullets that are designed for handguns and not for rifles. An exception to that is the 300 gr. .45 caliber bullets made by Freedom Arms for the .454 Casull. They are very much stronger than the 400 gr. .45-70 rifle bullets. The .45-70 bullets are .458" diameter where the Freedom Arms bullets are .452" diameter. I often size down the .45-70 400 grainers to .452".......it's easy in your cast bullet sizer.

At a muzzle velocity of 1300 fps from the FA .454 Casull ....with these 400 gr. bullets, expansion in large deer, black bear and elk is impressive. The 300 gr. FA soft-nose bullets at 1600 fps will normally exit the same animals on side shots. Exit wounds are around the size of 50-cent piece. The .45-70 400 gr. slug usually stays in the animal. One recovered from the last elk shot with it expanded to over 70 caliber and was in a 4-inch hole in the off lung.....leaving a trail through the lungs a blind man could follow.

I will read about a certain bullet and gather as much facts about it as possible. But I always test them before I used them for the game I am going to hunt. And I test at various ranges out to the longest I think I would possibly shoot at that game animal. Testing is not hard, nor is find the medium that will tell you much about the bullet's performance, out to the longest possible shot.

Test Mediums and Techniques

The cheapest large cans of tomato sauces I can find are around 88 cents each at this writing. They are worth the price....I may use five or six in testing for a little over 5 bucks. You couldn't find a better testing box. I cut 1/2" plywood (cheap grade) into 6" diameter rounds. I tape the rounds over the face of the sealed cans. On wooden round per can. Firing the test cartridge into the face of the can through the wooden round at 25 yards usually bursts the can wide open. This is where critics of this kind of testing usually miss the point. We then inspect the remnants of the can closely. Did the bullet exit the back seal? If so, what is the size of the exit hole? Is the can exploded open or just split wide from the seams? What is the diameter of the splatter of the can's contents on the ground around it? Then we repeat the test at 50 yards....and at 100 yards...and then at 150 yards.

Then compare all the data. At long ranges we may even tape two cans together with a wooden round on the first can only. You can tell from close inspection which cans blow up from quick bullet expansion (from the jagged and ripped sides of the can) ...and which had controlled expansion (from the split and bulged sides of the can). Does the bullet completely blow the can up at 50 yards? Could be the bullet's expansion is to violent for large game. Not giving enough penetration for large animals but good for varmints. Does the bullet at 25 yards just split the seams and press open the sides of the can, exiting the bottom? Does the exit hole and entrance hole appear to be about the same size? Could be a very stiff bullet with little or no expansion. This would be good for large game but not for small varmints.

How can you be sure to hit the can center at long ranges? I use lever action rifles loaded to a muzzle velocity of what the handguns will be. A small scope on the rifle does wonders. Especially at 100 and 150 yards. Rifles today come in all handgun calibers, usually in leveractions...from .357 through .45 calibers. Just be sure the rifle is giving handgun velocities! This means the bullet has to be loaded down for the rifle. The rifles typically give 300 fps to 400 fps more from the same load as a handgun.

Tomato sauce is biodegradable....don't use paint. I collect up the cans when I am finished and dispose of them in my home garbage. Don't leave them out in the boonies. Cattle and other animals can get nasty cuts from them. Animals will come to the smell of the tomato sauce long after you are gone. A razor-sharp blown can is a trap to a slow death. Infection in animals rarely cures itself. The animals dies a long lingering and suffering death. Cleaning up after yourself is not just being neat, it's being humane.

To test quick-expanding bullets I use plastic gallon milk bottles filled with water and tightly capped. I glue the caps on so that it takes real pressure to pop them off. That way I know every bottle is the same toughness and has the same hydraulic pressure when the bullet strikes....giving the same resistance each time to each different load. Again the damage to the bottle will tell you how explosive the bullet is. Many bullets that are quick to destroy with spectacular results at 25 yards will just punch through at 100 plus yards.....you have to test at all ranges out to the furthest you take the game you are hunting.

Critters

I was hunting ugly ground rodents that dig nasty holes that trip and snap the legs of cattle, with a favorite .30 Carbine Ruger Single Action, seven and a half inch barrel. But I was playing with commercial ammo. Both Winchester and Federal. Both these brands of Carbine ammo gave me 2 inch groups off the bench at 100 yards. But when I got out into the field I found out quickly there are not small vermin bullets, especially past 50 yards. For a 110 gr. bullet I expected (but did not test - only assumed) quick and deadly expansion all the way out to Russia and back. But these bullets were designed for deer-sized game fired from 18 inch barreled Carbines. Those generate 2000 to 2200 fps muzzle velocity. The handgun was lucky to break 1600 fps at the muzzle. Still, the handgun on coyote-sized game with these bullets were very good to about 150 yards. But the little rats just didn't have the resistance to open the bullet at any range. Out to 50 yards or so they ripped the little rodent open, but that was because of higher velocity not expansion.

So, taking bullets like the .30 caliber "Plinker" or "Varminter"...they would expand and explode those very same little animals well past 100 yards at a muzzle velocity of 1600 fps. One jack rabbit I hit at twenty five yards or so with a "Plinker" had his whole side removed. I hit him in the south bound section of his departing form. The bullet just cleaved half a rabbit into it's basic parts......like amino acids and a fine red mist on the morning breeze. Fine bullets for disposing of vermin of every kind.

The .30 Carbine

The .30 Carbine-chambered Ruger is a quiet sleeper of a handgun and cartridge for varmint hunting and small game. It has been selling well enough for Ruger to keep it in it's inventory since late 1967. But you rarely hear of it. My best and first one, which I still have ( I have had three ) was manufactured in Jan. 1968. It has a four digit serial number in the 1000 series. It once put five Federal 100 gr. softnose bullets into the 10 ring of a 25 yard handgun target at 100 yards off the bench. late one afternoon 20 years ago at the Tucson Range...and can still do it after thousands of rounds. I will not use military ball ammo in this gun, or any other Carbine handgun. The folks that used to make the Hardballer .45 auto series made an autoloader for the .30 Carbine round with a six inch slide.

Please select the thumbnail for a larger view

Top - Ruger Blackhawk .32-20
Bottom - Ruger Blackhawk .30 Carbine

Military ammo is loaded to very high pressure, not that these guns won't take it....they will. But I can't see subjecting my good handguns to ammo that will only punch little holes and nothing else. The bullets in military ammo is full-patched and wouldn't expand if you hit them with a five pound hammer. When I was in the military I carried a little Carbine, an M2 .30 caliber, in combat. At the time I used to keep little Asian boys in candy and C-rations to cut the noses off the military .30 Carbine ammo, so they had a flat nose. The lead was exposed they still wouldn't expand against a brick wall. At the the flat nose doubled the shocking power. It also lowered the bullet weight to about 100 gr. and upped the velocity a little. Please don't bother writing me to inform me that the cutting of those bullet noses violated the Hague Convention ( "Hague" - not "Geneva" like many quote). Those individuals that made up those rules never faced the enemy in mortal combat. If you don't play the game you shouldn't make the rules. Especially serious games that can kill you.

The best game bullet I found for the .30 Carbine in a handgun or rifle is the 125 gr. flat tipped Sierra designed for lever action .30-30 rifles. In handguns these little bullets act like 130 gr. 270 bullets from a rifle. They expand to about .38 caliber to the cannulure and go very deep. They will expand and go through three tomato cans at 100 yards. Nice performance. It is the supreme coyote load out of .30 and .32 caliber handguns. I have a Ruger .32-20 that I load this bullet for to 1500 fps....same killing power and performance as the Carbine Ruger. Testing a bullets performance on the game you're hunting could prove very unacceptable....and lost game. Better to spend a few bucks on large cans filled with heavy density contents. As has been said too often..testing..is a dirty job. But someone has to do it. Do I hear laughter in distance?.......hmmm...

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