Bullet Weight Retained ---> Weight Lost???

superd222

superd222

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Just looked at BCSteve's 6.5mm bullet testing - very well done!!!

It got me to thinking, as we've all read about hunting bullet weight retained (and %)...

---> What happens to the "weight lost" ? Where does it go? I mean, where does the lost weight accumulate in the penetration path? Is it near the surface or is it uniformly distributed along the wound channel?

I've found shards of copper jacket material in game animals (and a few times, recovered bullets) but never found pieces of lead.

Would be interesting to understand what happens to the rest of the bullet weight.

SD
 
It depends on the bullet material, velocity and "hardness" of the medium hit.

But basically

If you have a bullet impacting at 1800fps out of your 45-70 that looses 100g of weight the 100g of shards will be larger pieces which will cut clean tiny individual wound paths radiating some what outwards but MOSTLY FORWARDS in the same direction as the main bullets wound tract.

IF you have say a bullet impacting at 3000fps out of your 300RUM that looses the same 100g of weight, that 100g of shards will be completely disintegrated into lead dust very rapidly. The resulting "explosion" will create a large single wound hole radiating MOSTLY OUTWARDS of the direction of the main bullets wound tract.
 
Republic of Alberta said:
It depends on the bullet material, velocity and "hardness" of the medium hit.

But basically

If you have a bullet impacting at 1800fps out of your 45-70 that looses 100g of weight the 100g of shards will be larger pieces which will cut clean tiny individual wound paths radiating some what outwards but MOSTLY FORWARDS in the same direction as the main bullets wound tract.

IF you have say a bullet impacting at 3000fps out of your 300RUM that looses the same 100g of weight, that 100g of shards will be completely disintegrated into lead dust very rapidly. The resulting "explosion" will create a large single wound hole radiating MOSTLY OUTWARDS of the direction of the main bullets wound tract.
Click to expand...

Interesting for sure. I am surprised that people don't talk more here about lead in their game. I have read some not too appealing accounts of 'where the lead goes' and have switched exclusively to lead free bullets such as the TSX. About 100% weight retention and lead-free. Maybe my hair didn't have to fall out after all...
 
The front end of a Nosler Partitian literally turns into flowers of lead.
Did you never bite onto one of those very tiny pieces, have it adhere to a tooth, and get that metallic taste in your mouth until you could brush it off?

HPIM1172.jpg


The .270 130 grain Barnes weighs 129.8, and the .388 250 grain Nosler weighs 166.5.
 
The potential health hazard from lead ingested in the meat of game animals may be larger than previous risk assessments indicated, especially for vulnerable groups, such as children, and those consuming large amounts of game.

Since 2007 I have converted my hunting bullets to Barnes TSX to avoid lead fragments.

Here are some articles on effects on lead bullets:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20081106/wild_game_081106/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20436670
http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2700&Q=452732

Enjoy!
 
Danny Boy said:
The potential health hazard from lead ingested in the meat of game animals may be larger than previous risk assessments indicated, especially for vulnerable groups, such as children, and those consuming large amounts of game.

Since 2007 I have converted my hunting bullets to Barnes TSX to avoid lead fragments.

Here are some articles on effects on lead bullets:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20081106/wild_game_081106/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20436670
http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2700&Q=452732

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

This is good info too! Thanks for adding. SD
 
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