Lead free bullets and steel

[brushape]

So with the new laws for ca this year I started building loads for my rifles with lead free projectiles.
My savage lwh was the first one up to bat and building a load was a breeze. It’s a mild load of reloader 17 behind a 120 hornady gmx I bought as a factory second through midway dirt cheap a few years ago. Accuracy is great and the drops line up perfect with the lr duplex in my leapold 2-7 and I was able to make consistent hits on 10” plates out to 400 yards.
This all seemed great and I was excited to use this light, compact little setup on some game until I went to repaint the steel and noticed that at 350 and especially 400 yards the lead free rounds were hardly making an indent in the mild steel plates I was shooting while the 130 Berger’s from my saum were nearly passing through.
What I’m wondering is this lack of on steel performance something to do with the metal These bullets are made of or are they really lacking that much or a punch? According to my ballistic app they have 1100 ft lbs of energy at 400 which would make that my max range


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[bhylton]

velocity kills not energy. especially important with mono metal bullets. better to stay around 2000fps impact velocity with that bullet i would guess.

 

[brushape]

It looks like it stays above 2000 to about 425 at my elevation here. Not horrible for a leadfree round in cheap gun that weighs 6 pounds scoped


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[Dinger]

I use 2500fps as a cut off for TTSX...below that whilst they still open you wont get a good mushroom unless you hit bone.

 

[brushape]

I use 2500fps as a cut off for TTSX...below that whilst they still open you wont get a good mushroom unless you hit bone.

That doesn’t leave much for max range in a 20” creedmoor


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[Sled]

i would think at the lower velocity the projectile would pencil through your steel. my 6.5 on .25" mild steel puts holes through the target at 900 yards with factory hornady 140elm projectiles.

 

[brushape]

i would think at the lower velocity the projectile would pencil through your steel. my 6.5 on .25" mild steel puts holes through the target at 900 yards with factory hornady 140elm projectiles.

It’s 1/2” but the 130 jlks from my 6.5saum we’re getting close to going through. I definitely expected more from the copper bullets at that range


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[Dinger]

That doesn’t leave much for max range in a 20” creedmoor

Doesn't leave much for any non-magnums....I run them in my 8x57 for all meat hunts and keep the shots under 150. I use them at longer ranges, but I find it better to high shoulder shot for an instant anchor. Very, very rarely will I want to shoot past 150 anyway.

 

[lyle_destroys]

I have read that GMXs are a little softer and tend to open up better than TTSXs do. I dont have any first hand experience with this though.

 

[bhylton]

might give hammer bullets a look. they are stated to perform (expand) equally from 1800fps to infinity. after talking to a few folks who have used them successfully, i believe it (i have no personal experience on game). load development i've done in 2 rifles has been stupid easy too. sub moa in 15rds or less.

 

[lcxctf2000]

How does the steel react on impact? Wondering if the energy is being transferred differently to the steel by the monolithic bullets than the lead core bullets.

 

[brushape]

How does the steel react on impact? Wondering if the energy is being transferred differently to the steel by the monolithic bullets than the lead core bullets.

It hit pretty hard so I was wondering the same thing I might setup a milk jug or wet phone book test


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[mcseal2]

I shoot 180gr Nosler E tips through my 300 win mag. My steel targets are the hard steel AR500 I think it's called. Anyway the Accubonds I used to use made a bigger splash and even slight dent in the targets than the E tips do. They just leave a little copper colored scuff but they swing the target fine. The E tips have worked great for us on game. We have taken 2 moose and 3 whitetail with them now and had no complaints. The only one I recovered was from a whitetail at 379 yards. It mushroomed well enough and retained 179 grains. Velocity should have been down around 2200fps at impact.

 

[brushape]

Interesting so it must just be something of the bullet design great to know


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