I have seen the fuss being made over the newish copper bullets you can get so I thought I'd do a little test because I wasn't sure. Then I figured I could share my results with you good people, some of which may be on the fence about copper bullets. After doing a ladder test for my rifle and settling on a pet load I wanted to run it through the chronograph. I test a 5 shot group of 168gr hollowpoint monolithic copper bullets at an average of 755 m/s (that's 2477 f/s if you prefer freedom units) which delivers about 3100 joules (2288 ft/lbs) of energy although that number doesn't actually mean a while lot for hunting, but you know - science. The bullet itself weighed 166.7gr when I retrieved it and had expanded to just over double it's original diameter from .30 to .67 at the widest point and .52 at its most narrow.
Suffice to say I will be sticking to the copper bullets from now on.
Good to hear. I've just settled on a decent (or good enough for now) load for my .30-06 for the upcoming deer season. I will be using the Barnes 168 gr TTSX. Hopefully I can put it to the test on a buck and get similar expansion and retention as you achieved.
I see you tested a .30 cal, but any other details you can provide?
Last edited by rf2; October 15th, 2021 at 01:32 PM.
Well like I said it was a 168gr, it's a Barnes bullet but not the one with the blue plastic tip. I used AR Comp for my powder, similar to varget but you can actually still find it on shelves.
Well like I said it was a 168gr, it's a Barnes bullet but not the one with the blue plastic tip. I used AR Comp for my powder, similar to varget but you can actually still find it on shelves.
as an aside..notice an appreciable effort required to clean the copper fouling from the barrel ?
I've only put about 60 rounds or so through the gun while developing the load for this bullet, but I haven't noticed anything different yet. I don't go crazy trying to scrub out every little sign of copper though. Anyway, I don't see why there would be any difference compared to a standard bullet.
I think they had fouling problems when they first came out. Barnes put grooves at the bottom to eliminate or reduce copper fouling.
I had great success on Deer with the TTX. I shot one quartering to me and bullet crossed front shoulder and out through rear quarter. Not pretty. But very dead Deer.
Very accurate in my rifles. I used Fed TTX.
I also had good accuracy with Fed Trophy Copper but never shot game with it yet.
"Only dead fish go with the flow."
Proud Member: CCFR, CSSA, OFAH, NFA.
I have seen the fuss being made over the newish copper bullets you can get so I thought I'd do a little test because I wasn't sure. Then I figured I could share my results with you good people, some of which may be on the fence about copper bullets. After doing a ladder test for my rifle and settling on a pet load I wanted to run it through the chronograph. I test a 5 shot group of 168gr hollowpoint monolithic copper bullets at an average of 755 m/s (that's 2477 f/s if you prefer freedom units) which delivers about 3100 joules (2288 ft/lbs) of energy although that number doesn't actually mean a while lot for hunting, but you know - science. The bullet itself weighed 166.7gr when I retrieved it and had expanded to just over double it's original diameter from .30 to .67 at the widest point and .52 at its most narrow.
Suffice to say I will be sticking to the copper bullets from now on.
Looking at the spent bullet what is all that gray around the copper? Are they actually pure copper or is there an alloyed core? If so what is its composition?
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Copper bullet report
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Originally Posted by Terrible_E
