Why RN Bullets Over SP?

Traditions die hard. A way back when most rifles were levers with tube magazines, of course the ammunition had to be flat, or round nose. The old time hunters always looked on these as big game killers.
Strangely, when they designed these lever action rifles they also designed excellent, I would even say great, bullets for their ammunition. Even Jack O'Connor has written that the 30-30 is a much better killer than it's ballistics show it should be. All due to the flat nosed 170 grain bullet that all the old manufactureres used. Same is true of the 38-55. Where great numbers of families relied on wild game for meat, the 38-55 was often looked on as the king of the moose killers. I have seen the streaks of black, cut hair, extending on the the clean white snow, behind where moose had taken a 38-55 bullet in the ribs. There the moose tracks in the snow, the black streak on the snow behind them and this way a few yards, the dead moose.
I'll bet Gatehouse would think that looked cool! As a boy, I thought it looked really cool. (Well, some other word to describe what "cool" now means, because we had not yet got that meaning out of cool.)
 
I prefer roundnose bullets because:

1. More exposed lead I think helps with expansion.
2. Wider nose helps make better wound channel if bullet doesn't open.
3. Heavier bullet in shorter length.
4. Feeds way better than spitzer rounds.
5. I don't shoot farther than 300m, so "trajectory" doesn't really impact me.
6. They look damn ###y.

#6 is the most important.
 
Many European bullets are designed to cut hair on impact, it is considered in Europe to be a very desirable feature to aid in recovering shot game. Round nose bullets do that as part of the original design, some pointed bullets made by companies like RWS and S&B actually incorporate a "cutting edge" to achieve the desired effect. I like a bullet that leaves some hair at the impact point.
I also believe it is easier to make a bullet that consistently performs as desired IN game if it is a round nose or flat nose design. Sharp spitzers with little lead exposed and tiny hollow points sometimes do odd things on impact, such as pencil through without expanding, or deflecting at an odd angle after entering the animal. That is almost never a problem with round nose bullets, although over expansion sometimes is a concern.
I mostly shoot spitzers, but recognize that round nose bullets may be better for some applications. And they definitely are the most neato cool bullets!
 
RN bullets are inherently "cool" and "mean looking"

I can't wait to load 250gr Woodleigh RN's into my .325wsm when it arrives or the 215gr Woodleigh RN in the .303 Ruger #1's that are coming.
 
Big bore rifles of .40 and up used for dangerous game typically use RN bullets for a number of reasons:

-RN solids are more likely to make a straight wound channel than a spitzer bullet.
-To provide a similar shape so that SPs and solids can shoot to the same POI.
-More bullet weight for a given OAL.
-The lower ballistic coefficient doesn't make much difference at the ranges these rifles are used.
 
Amphibious said:
RN bullets are inherently "cool" and "mean looking"

I can't wait to load 250gr Woodleigh RN's into my .325wsm when it arrives or the 215gr Woodleigh RN in the .303 Ruger #1's that are coming.
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With respect to the .303 Ruger, has anyone said if the bores will be .311 or .308? Seems to me Ruger made their 7.62X39 bolt gun with a .308 rather than a .310 bore so I'm curious if they did the dame with the .303.

If the #1's bore does prove to be .308 thats good news for handloaders, but if so the 215 gr Woodleigh might not be the top choice. Woodleigh does make a really good 220 and 240 gr .308 bullet though.
 
H4831 said:
"Swell, wow, oh boy, or damn, look at that, but neato hadn't come into existance yet, either!"
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"neato" is post metric era terminology I believe:p. Here's a 'goodie' from the pre metric period;) you may appreciate. In addition to a couple of cast bullets, there are three main bullets I use in my model 71 Winchester. Two Barnes originals, a 220gr and a 250gr but most frequently I use the Hornady 200gr FP. Anyway, the 'goodie' I acquired a short while back, two boxes of 200gr Winchester Silver Tips:D.

IMG_1071.jpg
 
More frontal area calls for more force at the impact point. One main reason why they use the RN for safari-like hunting, it make a clean hole through any kind of bone.
 
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Has anyone used the 250 grain .35 cal RN Hornady Interlocks in a .358 Winchester chambered rifle? It seems to me they may be great for this calibre. :)
 
those hornady 250 round nose in the 358 are awsome. the pointed ones work just as well. the speer 250 hot core is right up there too. i never could tell the difference in any of them. i killed at least a dozen moose with them.
 
I have A Browning BLR in 358W.. It loves the speer 250gr bullets.. I love them as well since I paid $12 each for boxes of 50.
 
Jeff/1911 said:
Has anyone used the 250 grain .35 cal RN Hornady Interlocks in a .358 Winchester chambered rifle? It seems to me they may be great for this calibre. :)
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Yes, driven by a healthy dose of w748 they will drive lenghtwise through a good sized blacktail buck.
 
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