Hi gents.
Quite new to the threads, this is one of my first comments/posts.
Any of you fimiliar with impala bullets? I am still waiting for my first hunting rifles lisence to go through(6 months).
Up to the late 19th century shooting was easy and simple. Black powder was the propellant and lead the bullet material. With the development of smokeless powders lead suddenly turned out being too soft. Hence a bullet jacket was introduced, firstly made of soft steel with copper and tombac to follow later.
The full metal jacket bullet as a solution survived well into our time and due to the comparatively little wounding capability these bullets are even declared mandatory for military use by the Hague Convention.
The search for better performance on game lead to a temporary solution, the soft point bullet. This bullet is, however, handicapped by its design in principle: To achieve proper and acceptable killing performance it has to shed its kinetic energy by either loosing mass (fragmentation) or enlarging its diameter (mushrooming).
To do so, however, it has to rely on external assistance such as that impact velocity and target resistance have to be within certain limits. Going below these limits results in a FMJ effect and marginal wounding effect while on the other end of the scale excessive meat damage and insufficient penetration are imminent.
Mass- and shape consistent universal bullet.
Kobus Du Plessis, known South African ballistician, consequently took advantage of the ballistic and forensic experience he had collected over decades. In 2002 he surprised hunters and experts as well with his ”shock wave inducing” Impala Solid.
It all happened when a friend destroyed the ribcage of an impala female using a Marlin 45-70 Govmnt with a 350gr RNSP BULLET.
Tissue displacement-not tissue destruction was the answer
His approach was high frequency displacement rather than work done (J/s).
This resulted in a bullet which’s sharp cutting edge and nose design develops strong radial shock waves in the animal’s organs.
As no deformation is necessary the Impala bullets do not rely on a fine balance between impact velocity, bullet diameter, bullet mass and target resistance (skin, meat and bone). The bullets performance is machined into its profile using a CNC lathe other than conventional bullets that is dependant of the anatomical structure at point of entering the animal. The Impala Bullet is the only purposely manufactured shockwave inducing hunting bullet in the world.
