Bullet selection for hunters -III

LUTZ MOELLER

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Hollow point semi jacketed lead bullet

How differs the impact when a Hollow point semi jacketed lead bullet hits the skin, from a common semi jacketed lead bullet. Unbroken by sheer forces or lead viscosity dampened the built up jam pressure reaches deeper into the lead core. As the lead blasting pressure difference from the bow to the side reaches further below, more and bigger leaden daughter bullets are bread. Hollow pointed bullets loose more weight than those semi jacketed less a hollow point. In the end, the same lens shaped bow results in shoulder stabilized bullet flight through the target. Daughter weight maybe up to 100% of mothers mass for very fast soft hollow points like RWS Scheibengeschoß, Hornady V-Max or Sierra Blitzkings when shot at 1.150 m/s, which only very few rifles are able to deliver. In such case, the bullet fully blasts in the first 2 or so centimetres into leaden splinters. More common residual weights are around 50% original unfragmented bullets weight. Those off blast 10 to 90 mg lead daughter splinters are within 5 cm or so easily braked by flesh, they reach much further in the lung – some 20 cm may be travelled through. If a residual bullet still exists, it will be lens shaped shoulder stabilized fly further. But as the weight reduced mother has developed quite a cross sectional area, less much pushing mass behind, the leaden lens won't reach deep. Not to compare with a non hollow point same diameter same mass semi jacketed bullets penetration reach.

Rick Jamison/DWJ
.30-06 and .338 Lapua
4,48 cm³ and 7,53 cm³
case volume
picture:

picture: Rick Jamison/DWJ

Bullets for the .338 Lapua from left to right:

13g Nosler Ballistic Tip
14,6g Barnes XLC Monolithic
14,6g Speer thinwalled semi jacket
16,2 Hornady mediumwalled semijacket
16,2 Nosler Partition H-Frame
16,2 Speer Grand Slam strurdy semi jacket


above .338 Lapua bullets left to right
D46 Lockbase, Scenar, Forex, Mira

D46 Lockbase
Scenar
Forex

The Lapua Mira bullet is not current any more

GS Custom 7 mm 130 grain HV bullets. Left - Recovered from wetpack.
Middle - Unfired. Right - Recovered from game.
The HV concept of the bullet running on the lands of the bore
with only the driving bands filling the grooves can be seen clearly.
All Weight is retented.
These bullets were from a 7x57 rifle at 2950 fps fired. This illustrates before and after a 173 grain 30 caliber bullet
is fired from a 30-378 at 3650 fps, fully penetrated our 800 mm (32") wetpack,
recovered from the sand backstop.
All Weight is retented.

Full metal jacket lead bullets and other solids, because a FMJ lead bullet behaves up to 800 m/s like solid, differ from lead tipped bullets by having the stronger (see table above) jacketmetal, compared to lead, in front at the jam pressure. It needs about ten times pressure to rupture tombak compared to lead. So when a FMJ or solid is shot at moderate rifle speeds, it will not brake up or fragment (except the German 7,51x51 Nato cartridge with iron jacket and thin crimp, see right). As not lens shaped bow is formed, no shoulder exits to stabilize the bullet in flesh. The bullet enters through a narrow permanent wound funnel, then tilts after about 15 cm. The exposed area increases from the cross section to the full side area, that may be 3 to 4 time larger, than the calibre's cross section. The larger effective pushing area opens up a larger temporary wound cavity, until the bullet stabilized with its heaviest part, usually the back, in front. So all FMJ or solids fly rather uncontrolled through the target. As shoulder stabilization lacks on FMJ´s, the inner flight direction may angle quite a bit from the shots exterior path. When shooting big dangerous game (Hippopotamus, rhinoceros, buffalo) with rather small targets (heart), that imprecision can cost Your life. A sturdy semi jacketed bullet will shoulder stabilized fly inside the target in the same direction as before outside.