Are Hollow Points Best?

[10 Bears]

Shot Placement, REW.
Even a ball bearing, entering those vitals, would have done the job.
I don't launch improvised material from my rifled barrels, but in the smooth bores, anything goes.
I have quite a collection of square head drivers, around .30 diameter, been trying to figure a way to use them, in something besides the shotgun.
Have them from two inches to six inches.
A .357 Sabot would be "interesting" in my TC barrel!

[Rew]

Agreed a .30 round ball from my muzzle loader would have done that. But it would not have tumbled. I appreciate the shot placement comment but it was at 20 yards from a ground blind. I couldn't miss. When this big boy wonderd up, I pulled the scope and used the iron sites, he was to close for the 3x9.

[10 Bears]

Originally Posted by Rew

Agreed a .30 round ball from my muzzle loader would have done that. But it would not have tumbled. I appreciate the shot placement comment but it was at 20 yards from a ground blind. I couldn't miss. When this big boy wonderd up, I pulled the scope and used the iron sites, he was to close for the 3x9.

Isn't that the way though. You're all sighted in, for max range shots, and you could probably just hip shoot the critter, when it's that close!

[Rew]

I could have used my K-bar but the idea is how the bullet worked and it worked well.

[cdhknives]

Originally Posted by Desert Rat

I never heard that about them, 10B. All I've ever read yaks about how wonderfully aerodynamic, yadda, yadda they are and the wonderful things they supposedly do to trajectory, velocity and the warts on a shooter's nose.

But I've never seen or heard tell of them being recovered in game or spent bullet. So my question is where the hell do they fall off?

I have found smushed green bits of plastic from my Nosler 30 cal BT's in deer before. Not every time, but that kind of stuff is easy to lose! I've shot lots of BT's and they are very very accurate and the hammer of Thor on deer sized game (meat damage aside) when put into the vitals.

If they fell off in flight I would expect a serious loss of accuracy from the upset of the tip sliding off the side. Aerodynamic forces should act to keep it pressed into the HP of the bullet from shot to impact. Falling out in the mag or during chambering is another story.

To your original question...weight forward seems to be more inherently accurate...hence the hollow base target bullets for pistols...and arrows, spears, etc.

What I love about HP bullets is the jacket enclosing the full base...so no vaporized lead depositing on my bbl to be scrubbed out later.

[Desert Rat]

Good points CDH. I haven't shot enough ballistic tip bullets to know much about them beyond the hype.

I am inclined to question your notion that "weight forward" is inherently more accurate. And I'm not sure your examples "spears, etc" are a valid comparison. Why? You are talking about VERY long and VERY slow moving projectiles. Also they are very short range in the scheme of things. Ditto for wadcutters. Very slow and very short range. Quite frankly I've never noticed any dramatic difference between a HBWC and a well cast straight wadcutter bullet. On the other hand I have experienced some dramatic performance boosts from going HP although I've clearly not done enough research on this subject to imagine I have a definitive answer.

In my heart of hearts I don't think HPs are the best all around bullet.

One other good point about HPs that I don't think has been mentioned yet is that the HP design doesn't need polymer tips or to worry about tip deformation. HP bullets are good to go as is.

[Rew]

Hollow points are alright and can be deadly. If they have the penetration. I want to completely perpetrate the game end to end.