Are lead tipped bullets accurate at distance?

[TimberHunter]

My 270 win rifle seems to like lead tipped, convention style bullets like Winchester power point, Hornady interlock, federal fusion. I tried one box of Hornady superformace and reloaded some Nosler BT but they shot just about the same at 100 yards as the lead tip ammo (.75”-.1.25” at 100)

I’ve shot the lead tip ammo at 300,400,500 and they seem to still be fairly accurate but I’m curious if the small inconsistencies in the tip are keeping me from being as accurate as I can shoot. Is there any benefit to going to a polymer tip like Hornady SST/ELDX or Nosler accubond?

In case it matters, I hunt elk and deer with this rifle out to 500 yards


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cattleman99]

A bullet with a tight meplat will be a better shooting bullet, generally speaking. If I had to choose between lead tipped and polymer tipped, it would be polymer tipped. The ELDX will kill. It comes down to knowing your load though. If you can get it to shoot then become confident with it. Any error will likely be shooter error over bullet inconsistencies.

 

[WCB]

If you are shooting good groups with it at the distances you want then yes they are accurate. Small differences in tip at those distances isn't going to have much effect. In fact take a tip of an accubond or similar bullet and you probably wont notice the difference on zero.

 

[amassi]

10 shots ought to solve this
Shoot 5 with perfect tips, intentionally mangle 5 tips way worse than they get In the mag
Measure this 10 shot beaten zone at 500 yards
If this fits your requirement for minute of critter I'd shoot them happily

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Apollo117]

10 shots ought to solve this
Shoot 5 with perfect tips, intentionally mangle 5 tips way worse than they get In the mag
Measure this 10 shot beaten zone at 500 yards
If this fits your requirement for minute of critter I'd shoot them happily

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

I can save you some time with this experiment up to 200 yards. My old man and I did this already. We took a file and filed the tips on a few bullets. These were FMJ bullets and we filed until we hit lead. The angles were all a little different. The groups may have opened up a bit, but not noticably at 200 yards.

I've also shot bullets that were mangled by the bolt of an AR15 when they didn't load smoothly. I didn't notice any POI shift or a big impact on group size.

Granted, in both of these anecdotes, the bullet tips weren't sheared off drastically.

 

[gbflyer]

I can hit my 10” steel plate at 600 yards with my 140 Nosler Custom Comp load and 140 Nosler Partition load without moving the dial. I don’t think it matters at normal rifle hunting range.

 

[Indian Summer]

Polymer tip such as Accubonds fly better for me. I like the performance of the Nosler Partition better but the deformities common to lead tipped bullets seems to take away from accuracy in my .300 RUM. But we all know that your gun will let you know what it likes best. If your max range is 500 then shoot both at that and go with the better group keeping in mind that hunting isn’t bench rest competition.

 

[JG358]

We cut the tips off 556 FMJs with dykes and ring steel out to 500yds. If nasty, crooked cut bullets can get consistent hits, I don't see the need to worry about the slight differences in lead tipped bullets.

 

[ozyclint]

this thread contains lead, a substance known to the state of california............


sorry, couldn't help myself.