Naphtali
03-28-2018, 11:05 AM
For years I have believed, without proof, that a bullet with a flat nose of approximately 75 percent of bullet diameter will be significantly more likely to penetrate the flesh, bone, sinew, and so on of larger game animals - without changing its direction of penetration - than pointed and round-nose bullet shapes. My bullet testing on dry clay-backed paper and wet shows when bullets change shape during penetration, sometimes that shape change, aka mushrooming, unbalances the bullet which then changes its direction. But this is penetration of paper. I have no idea whether any testing for this facet of bullet penetration has occurred on animals.
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Interestingly, this research has been done for bow hunting by an American retired optometrist named Ashby. Doctor Ashby retired to Australia where he conducted (is still conducting??) research to identify shape and weight of broadheads that are most effective on extremely large game. "Extremely large game" in this case means Asian buffalo in Australia's Northern Territory. Although testing was oriented for traditional bows, compound users can use his data equally effectively.
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I have not shot a jacketed bullet in handgun or rifle in decades. While my query and paper testing has occurred only with cast bullets, I cannot identify a reason why if a pattern exists, the pattern will not include jacketed bullets. The only time a non-lead bullet was included in testing was to compare effect on paper of my .72-caliber conical load from my double rifle with a Barnes Triple Shock 150-grain .30-caliber bullet at chronographed 2900 ft/sec, a load that had killed more than ten elk.
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Interestingly, this research has been done for bow hunting by an American retired optometrist named Ashby. Doctor Ashby retired to Australia where he conducted (is still conducting??) research to identify shape and weight of broadheads that are most effective on extremely large game. "Extremely large game" in this case means Asian buffalo in Australia's Northern Territory. Although testing was oriented for traditional bows, compound users can use his data equally effectively.
***
I have not shot a jacketed bullet in handgun or rifle in decades. While my query and paper testing has occurred only with cast bullets, I cannot identify a reason why if a pattern exists, the pattern will not include jacketed bullets. The only time a non-lead bullet was included in testing was to compare effect on paper of my .72-caliber conical load from my double rifle with a Barnes Triple Shock 150-grain .30-caliber bullet at chronographed 2900 ft/sec, a load that had killed more than ten elk.