Mushroom Expansion

[flyingstick]

So, do I understand this right? You can push Pure lead PP up to 2200 fps? after that the friction of the speed will deform the boolit mid air? and you can push coww about 2600? and wqww as fast as you want? Now, will the WQWW or COWW mushroom or expand on deer or is it too hard?

Don

[Nobade]

I don't know about deforming in the air, but COWW can be pushed quite fast and it expands spectacularly on impact. ACWW expands nicely as well, as long as the speed is up reasonably high. WQWW likes to shatter when it hits things.

-Nobade

[pdawg_shooter]

COWW air cooled will work fine at 2500/2550 and expand nicely without fragmenting.

[Bullshop]

I have used coww fired from 30/06 loaded in 22/30 sabot to 4300 fps without issue. 3900 fps was the best accuracy but I believe that to be just the quirk of the load and not that I was treading a line of boolit deformation due to velocity.
A sort of formula that I use to determin'' MINIMUM IMPACT "" velocity to begin expansion is, BHN x 100.
So for example coww at BHN-12 would require 1200 fps minimum impact velocity for any usable degree of expansion to begin. I emphasize IMPACT VELOCITY not muzzle velocity. So if your shooting a hand gun with coww at bhn-12 at a muzzle velocity of 1200 fps and your deer is 75 yards away I wouldnt expect any appreciable degree of expansion since the impact velocity will have fallen below the minimum. Yes if you hit a big bone the boolit may deform but I wouldnt consider that dependable expansion.
Higher than minimum impact velocity will of course yeald a higher degree of expansion. Shattering will depend not only on the alloy hardness but the alloy content. Some alloys may be of equal hardness to others but some may be brittle and shatter and some may be tough and expand while still holding together.

[flyingstick]

3900 fps!!!????? That's ....well....that's....fast.....isn't it? I hope to have the paper patching down by next season. I absolutely love my 303 and if I can push something that will expand out to 300 yards I'll just be tickled pink:mrgreen: or green!

[Nobade]

Well, it's no big trick to equal the ballistics of the standard military 303 ammo with paper patched cast boolits and since you can control the characteristics of the projectile far better than anyone who buys J-word things I don't think you'll have any problem meeting your goal.

Learning to paper patch was a long and sometimes frustrating road for me, but now that so much information has been gathered in one place (here) it hopefully will be a lot easier for you and those who follow.

-Nobade

[nanuk]

and we are forever grateful for your Efforts, Nobade and others.

this place is a wealth of data, and experience.