I've switched to shooting copper over the past few years for a bunch of reasons. As everyone knows, copper performs differently in the world of terminal ballistics than do lead cup-and-cores. So, with an upcoming Texas Nilgai hunt on the horizon, I decided to do some of my own ballistic testing to make sure things downrange were actually going the way I wanted. Basically, I lined up a bunch of water jugs and hit them from 100 yards with a few different calibers. I mentioned to a few other forum members that I'd share, so here are the results.
First up was a Hornady GMX 165 grain from a 20" Howa 1500 in .308 Win. Impact velocity around 2350.
Hornady GMX 80 grain out of a 20" Howa Alpine in .243 Winchester, impact velocity ~2900:
And, Barnes TSX 168 grain out of a 24" Winchester Model 70 in .30-06:
All three of the rounds tested retained over 95% of their weight. The TSX did lose one petal, but it was in the bottom of the 5th gallon jug, the far side of which stopped the projectile. It also showed the most aggressive expansion, and I recovered one more TSX from the backstop I was shooting against that looked virtually identical. The GMXs both produced mushrooms that looked like something out of a magazine. I don't know that there's much value to including pictures of the jugs themselves, but all of them were completely vaporized.
This test was a big confidence builder. In addition to being extremely accurate and consistent, all three of the rounds tested delivered excellent expansion, penetration and transfer of energy. I'll try to find time in the future to test a few more loads.
First up was a Hornady GMX 165 grain from a 20" Howa 1500 in .308 Win. Impact velocity around 2350.
Hornady GMX 80 grain out of a 20" Howa Alpine in .243 Winchester, impact velocity ~2900:
And, Barnes TSX 168 grain out of a 24" Winchester Model 70 in .30-06:
All three of the rounds tested retained over 95% of their weight. The TSX did lose one petal, but it was in the bottom of the 5th gallon jug, the far side of which stopped the projectile. It also showed the most aggressive expansion, and I recovered one more TSX from the backstop I was shooting against that looked virtually identical. The GMXs both produced mushrooms that looked like something out of a magazine. I don't know that there's much value to including pictures of the jugs themselves, but all of them were completely vaporized.
This test was a big confidence builder. In addition to being extremely accurate and consistent, all three of the rounds tested delivered excellent expansion, penetration and transfer of energy. I'll try to find time in the future to test a few more loads.
