That's the headline for an article on bullets in the June issue of North American Hunter by Wayne van Zwoll.
It's an interesting article with lots of statements/opinions on various bullets, their performance and myths. Should be good for generating discussions with varying held beliefs.
First thing that backs up my own opinion on moly coated bullets is that they do nothing more than perhaps lay a coating inside the bore to make cleanup a little easier. They don't improve accuracy, extend bore life or other fanciful claims by the makers. That the coating on Barnes bullets probably provides the best coating and that the black oxide coating on Nosler/Winchester bullets is a cosmetic thing only, admitted to by a Winchester technican. My use of moly ended after several years of messing with the nasty stuff, having to increase powder charges to attain similar velocities as standard copper jacketed bullets, and noticing drag spots in the bores when running clean patches through them. Besides, had to wear disposable rubber gloves and still managed to have the equipment slowly turning smudged black!
Another point was the deformed points on spitzer bullets. His contentions is this has little effect on it's performance for normal hunting distances. That he even took ***** and snipped the points from soft points almost to the ogive and still had acceptable accuracy (3 MOA). The points don't matter near as much as damaged or deformed bases. This had another matter of contention - he states the boattail design is more for appearance than need for the again, normal hunting ranges (<300 yds). Flat base bullets are generally best for hunting purposes and target work at these ranges.
Bullet construction is to be considered for types of hunting desired. For most hunting, the plain old everyday soft point offered by Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Winchester, Remington, etc, are plenty good enough for all hunting. The premium bullets really don't offer that much more in the way of performance to warrant the extra cost. He feels the bullet that exits hasn't expended its total energy in shock value to the target, that the non-exiting soft points are best. Also, there's more shock to a lighter faster bullet than the slower heavier ones (there goes my myth of the 45-70 and .45 ACP!).
Anyway - what's your thoughts? I agreed about 70% with him. A few long held beliefs are just hard to part with!
It's an interesting article with lots of statements/opinions on various bullets, their performance and myths. Should be good for generating discussions with varying held beliefs.
First thing that backs up my own opinion on moly coated bullets is that they do nothing more than perhaps lay a coating inside the bore to make cleanup a little easier. They don't improve accuracy, extend bore life or other fanciful claims by the makers. That the coating on Barnes bullets probably provides the best coating and that the black oxide coating on Nosler/Winchester bullets is a cosmetic thing only, admitted to by a Winchester technican. My use of moly ended after several years of messing with the nasty stuff, having to increase powder charges to attain similar velocities as standard copper jacketed bullets, and noticing drag spots in the bores when running clean patches through them. Besides, had to wear disposable rubber gloves and still managed to have the equipment slowly turning smudged black!
Another point was the deformed points on spitzer bullets. His contentions is this has little effect on it's performance for normal hunting distances. That he even took ***** and snipped the points from soft points almost to the ogive and still had acceptable accuracy (3 MOA). The points don't matter near as much as damaged or deformed bases. This had another matter of contention - he states the boattail design is more for appearance than need for the again, normal hunting ranges (<300 yds). Flat base bullets are generally best for hunting purposes and target work at these ranges.
Bullet construction is to be considered for types of hunting desired. For most hunting, the plain old everyday soft point offered by Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Winchester, Remington, etc, are plenty good enough for all hunting. The premium bullets really don't offer that much more in the way of performance to warrant the extra cost. He feels the bullet that exits hasn't expended its total energy in shock value to the target, that the non-exiting soft points are best. Also, there's more shock to a lighter faster bullet than the slower heavier ones (there goes my myth of the 45-70 and .45 ACP!).
Anyway - what's your thoughts? I agreed about 70% with him. A few long held beliefs are just hard to part with!
!
