Bullet Performance Database

[Viral_SIGness]

What bullet company is this? Seconds from Midway USA left this gem behind today. Unknown .458 View attachment 347391 500 grain soft points.

That's GS Custom. Ironically I have their website open lol http://www.gscustomusa.com/

 

[Forrest Halley]

That's GS Custom. Ironically I have their website open lol http://www.gscustomusa.com/

It is a Speer Grand Slam. I was literally shooting those bullets the day before. It's a .375 285 grain. I was mistaken.

 

[Viral_SIGness]

It is a Speer Grand Slam. I was literally shooting those bullets the day before. It's a .375 285 grain. I was mistaken.

I thought you were asking what it was. I was just taking a guess. Sorry about that sir.

 

[Forrest Halley]

I thought you were asking what it was. I was just taking a guess. Sorry about that sir.

Nothing for you to be sorry about. I did not realize my mistake until well after my post. I was asking originally, but felt silly later when I realized that it was right there in front of me the whole time. GS Custom was my first guess, but I couldn't find where they made a cup and core bullet. Thanks for replying.

 

[Laurie Colgrave]

Hi all thought I would post a few pics of bullets recovered on a feral cull some years ago.

1. 410 grain Woodleigh bullet fired from .416 Taylor into 1500 pound Scrub Bull (high shoulder shot) at 30 yards, impact velocity about 2200fps, recovered in skin after full penetration through shoulders. Weight 398 grains 97.0% weight retention!

2. Same bullet different photo angle

3. 286 grain Woodleigh protected point bullet fired from 9.3x62 on shoulder of 1200 pound Scrub bull at 20 yards, impact velocity about 2350fps recovered in off side scapula after breaking both. Weight 246 grains 86.0% weight retention!

4. Same bullet different photo angle

5. 225 grain Woodleigh protected point bullet fired from .338 Win Mag fired through shoulder & chest cavity of 700 pound feral horse at 70 yards, 2650fps impact velocity. Weight 169 grains 75.0% weight retention!

6. 270 grain Speer hot cor fired from 9.3x62 through chest cavity (behind the shoulder) of 1000 pound scrub bull at 20 yards, 2400fps impact velocity. Weight 168 grains 62.0% weight retention!

 

[RayAtkinson]

I have shoeboxes full of recovered bullets and walnut plaques of glued on pretty mushroomed bullets, all nice to look at but give you less than a probably on the whole, as so many varibles determine bullet reaction to a kill...

 

[RayAtkinson]

Bullets get the blame as failures often because someone shoots the wrong bullet in the wrong gun..Case in question is shooting the Nosler that was manufactured for the 8x57 at 2400 or so FPS, in a 8mm magnum at 3000 FPS, Ive seen the same with Woodlighs, Barnes X and others..I have dozens of recovered Nosler partitions and Accubonds that are perfect mushrooms, they are the bullet by which all others have been judged by over the last decade or two...

 

[Laurie Colgrave]

Bullets get the blame as failures often because someone shoots the wrong bullet in the wrong gun..Case in question is shooting the Nosler that was manufactured for the 8x57 at 2400 or so FPS, in a 8mm magnum at 3000 FPS, Ive seen the same with Woodlighs, Barnes X and others..I have dozens of recovered Nosler partitions and Accubonds that are perfect mushrooms, they are the bullet by which all others have been judged by over the last decade or two...

Bullets often get the blame when other variables conspire to mess up clean kills. When I look in the mirror I see the face of the most common contributing factor to less than clean kills. Shooter error encompasses a big range of variables:
- poor shot placement due to shooter errors
- imperfect environmental anaysis (distance, wind drift etc)
- incorrect bullet selection for game hunted
- incorrect cartridge selection/rifle combination
- bad sights/ optics selection for game hunted
- untested loads
- not familiar with rifle combination

I think that if choose the wrong bullet for the game I hunt, this is more my error than the manufacturers! I posted an ugly pic of a 270gn Speer fired from a 9.3x62 into a tough scrub bull weighing approximately 1000lbs at 20 yards to highlight that with good shot selection a less than ideal bullet can be very effective. I have used this bullet for several hundred effective dispatches, because it wasthe best I could get at the time.

Do the research & do not get sidetracked by velocity or downrange energy figures!!! Choose your bullet to shoot straight & for its teminal capacity!!!

 

[limpopo]

Mauser M03 with my 375 H&H barrel, 24 inch. Handloads with Barnes 300 Grain TSX's over RL15, Fed 215M, R-P new brass, Lee Crimp. Chrono'd at 2475 FPS.

#1 -Cape Buffalo, frontal shot, 35 meters at base of neck, Recovered in stomach. 93% weight retention.(one petal broke off). Buff down after a ~75 meter run.
#2- Eland, 90 meters, shoulder quartering away. Recovered under skin on opposite side. 100% weight retention. Hip-hop and down.

These are the few projectiles I ever recovered during various adventures, most times they are pass throughs.

 

[Alchemist]

Blue Wildebeest at 214 m standing square. Double lung and heart shot. Bullet found trapped under skin on the exit side.
30-06 180gr Nosler AB @ 2685 f/s
Retained weight - 110.8gr
Bull ran about 60 m before going down.

 

[5shot]

Shawn54
Love the accubonds in my Whelen absolutely devastating with grey penetration. The woodleigh PPSP are just as good in 225grain.
The 250 grain Woodleigh PPSP is superb in my rifle @ 2,700 fps but I don't need that sort of penetration on the deer or pigs I hunt
Cheers mate Bob

Have you ever tried the 275 PPSP in your Whelen? I'll be running the 225 ABs in my Ackley Whelen this year, but I'd like to try the 250s and 275s as well, just in case I ever decide to hunt something bigger. I did run some of the 310 RNs through it, and penetration is pretty amazing, but not something I need, for what I hunt.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Have you ever tried the 275 PPSP in your Whelen? I'll be running the 225 ABs in my Ackley Whelen this year, but I'd like to try the 250s and 275s as well, just in case I ever decide to hunt something bigger. I did run some of the 310 RNs through it, and penetration is pretty amazing, but not something I need, for what I hunt.

@5shot
Haven't tried the 275s as like yourself to much penetration for what I usually hunt. I can see them being great on eland, giraffe and scrub bulls tho. Maybe on day I'll load some up to see what velocity I can get in my Whelen.
Bob

 

[Professor Mawla]

Recovered 500 grain Hornady DGS copper clad steel jacketed meplat ( flat nose ) solid ( fired from factory loaded ammunition ) . Chronographed velocity is 2137 feet per second .

 

[BeeMaa]

Recovered 500 grain Hornady DGS copper clad steel jacketed meplat ( flat nose ) solid ( fired from factory loaded ammunition ) . Chronographed velocity is 2137 feet per second .

@Professor Mawla
You have provided some excellent information.
However, would you be able to provide a little more please.
It helps to make a complete picture of the scenario, more than just the bullet.

Caliber of rifle.
Animal shot and distance.
Orientation of animal/shot placement/bullet path through the animal.
Where was the bullet recovered from.
Were any other shots taken at the animal.
How far did the the animal go before being recovered.

 

[Professor Mawla]

@Professor Mawla
You have provided some excellent information.
However, would you be able to provide a little more please.
It helps to make a complete picture of the scenario, more than just the bullet.

Caliber of rifle.
Animal shot and distance.
Orientation of animal/shot placement/bullet path through the animal.
Where was the bullet recovered from.
Were any other shots taken at the animal.
How far did the the animal go before being recovered.

@BeeMaa ,
I apologize . I am new to this forum and am slowly getting the hang of things here. I should have offered more details . The rifle is my .458 WM ( Winchester Magnum ) which is custom built on an Enfield 1917 action with a Douglas Premium barrel and a French walnut stock . The maker is Flaig’s in Millvale , Pennsylvania . The animal in question was a wild boar ( which weighed 143 kilograms) and the shot was an end on end body shot ( frontal heart shot ) . The range was 55 to 60 yards . The bullet completely passed through and lodged itself in a tree trunk of a jackfruit tree . Normally , I prefer soft nose bullets on wild boars ( namely 500 grain Nosler Partition ) . However , I really wanted to trial some of this new Hornady factory loaded ammunition . The wild boar went about 70 to 75 yards after taking the shot . Had I used a 500 grain Nosler Partition soft nosed bullet , then it would have succumbed far quicker ( due to the larger wound cavities created by quality expanding bullets ) .

I used the same rifle to shoot a rogue Asiatic elephant in 1977 . For that , I used Winchester Super X factory loaded 500 grain round nosed steel jacketed solid ammunition . I personally rank the new Hornady product to be lightyears ahead of the old Winchester Super X products . Better velocity , longer shelf life , better bullet profile and sturdier constructed bullet .

If I may be able to provide any further information or photographs , please let me know .

 

[ZG47]

Original 1977 bullet might have been a Hornady projectile, as well. I have read one story, probably in Rifle magazine, about Joyce Hornady listening to African PHs complain about Winchester and Remington .458 solid projectile failures; keeping quiet about supplying those bullets and reacting, upon getting home; by doubling the jacket thickness of all his company’s’ ‘solid’ bullets.

 

[Professor Mawla]

Original 1977 bullet might have been a Hornady projectile, as well. I have read one story, probably in Rifle magazine, about Joyce Hornady listening to African PHs complain about Winchester and Remington .458 solid projectile failures; keeping quiet about supplying those bullets and reacting, upon getting home; by doubling the jacket thickness of all his company’s’ ‘solid’ bullets.

@ZG47
This is fascinating . Do you have the article ? I actually had a similar experience , as well . I first tried to take the rogue elephant out with a frontal brain shot . But the bullet deformed very badly . The lead core got squeezed out of the back of the bullet upon striking the elephant’s skull . Elephant skulls are thicker at the front than at the sides . They are honeycombed with pockets of fluid .

Since the animal charged , I had to take aim at it’s knee and fire . The elephant’s leg bone snapped and he fell down . Elephants cannot move on three legs . Then , I gave him a side brain shot behind the ear , which finally killed him . To this day , the Forest Guard who was accompanying me insists that I had mistakenly used a soft nosed bullet for the first shot . But I know that this was not the case .

Also , it is entirely plausible that Hornady was making bullets for Winchester or Remington . But I doubt that Hornady was supplying both companies . This is because I sectioned 500 grain full metal jacket bullets from both Winchester and Remington in 1985 . Both of them were using steel jackets . But the jacket of the Remington bullet was far thinner than the jacket of the Winchester bullet .

 

[ZG47]

@ZG47
This is fascinating . Do you have the article ? I actually had a similar experience , as well . I first tried to take the rogue elephant out with a frontal brain shot . But the bullet deformed very badly . The lead core got squeezed out of the back of the bullet upon striking the elephant’s skull . Elephant skulls are thicker at the front than at the sides . They are honeycombed with pockets of fluid .

Since the animal charged , I had to take aim at it’s knee and fire . The elephant’s leg bone snapped and he fell down . Elephants cannot move on three legs . Then , I gave him a side brain shot behind the ear , which finally killed him . To this day , the Forest Guard who was accompanying me insists that I had mistakenly used a soft nosed bullet for the first shot . But I know that this was not the case .

Also , it is entirely plausible that Hornady was making bullets for Winchester or Remington . But I doubt that Hornady was supplying both companies . This is because I sectioned 500 grain full metal jacket bullets from both Winchester and Remington in 1985 . Both of them were using steel jackets . But the jacket of the Remington bullet was far thinner than the jacket of the Winchester bullet .

Great story. Enough excitement for several years? I have been looking through my magazine piles (sorting items to rubbish and recycling at the same time) but have yet to find the article. It will most likely turn up when I am not looking for it!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

300 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
375 H&H mag, 2550fps
Ruger No1
298.77 grains retained
Distance 70m
Sable bull, quartering away
Entry 200mm behind right shoulder, third up
Bullet found under the skin above left shoulder.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

300 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw
375 H&H mag, 2550fps
Ruger No1
298.77 grains retained
Distance 70m
Sable bull, quartering away
Entry 200mm behind right shoulder, third up
Bullet found under the skin above left shoulder.View attachment 364951View attachment 364952

Sable ran 40m and collapsed.