Hi all,
The monolithic hydrostatically stabilized bullets made by woodleigh have been out for a couple of years now. They are very expensive... about $4 per bullet, but they make some grand claims on their performance. The claims are that the bullet doesn't expand but rather the unique design of the nose causes maximum cavitation which results in a permanent wound channel that can be roughly twice the bullet diameter.
This is an interesting idea because the expansion of a bullet itself actually robs alot of the energy that it carries. One source that I read said that a fast bullet like a 7mm rem mag can waste up to a third of its energy in deforming the bullet rather than causing a permanent wound channel. As a result, purely in terms of terminal ballistics, if you took two bullets that were the same weight with one expanding to a given diameter while the other starts off at that diameter, given the same momentum/energy the solid will still penetrate deeper. This is in spite of having the same mass, energy and frontal area because some of that energy was spent expanding the bullet.
If you could make a wound channel that is twice the bullet diameter but with a solid bullet, that would seem to be the best of both worlds. The initial penetration results (the first 5-6 inches or so) would not be as dramatic as a conventional expanding bullet, but it would be very consistent and very very deeply penetrating.
Of course this is all purely theoretical. I did a google search and a CGN search, and surprisingly I didn't find a single review from anyone who has used this bullet in the real world aside from the manufacturer's own website. I'm curious to see real experiences and terminal effects. The cost certainly is prohibitive for paper punching but in reality, once you have a load sighted in an extra $4 expense (or even $80 for a full box) on a hunting trip costing thousands is insignificant.
So, has anyone used this bullet and can give us all some feedback of what happened in the field?
The monolithic hydrostatically stabilized bullets made by woodleigh have been out for a couple of years now. They are very expensive... about $4 per bullet, but they make some grand claims on their performance. The claims are that the bullet doesn't expand but rather the unique design of the nose causes maximum cavitation which results in a permanent wound channel that can be roughly twice the bullet diameter.
This is an interesting idea because the expansion of a bullet itself actually robs alot of the energy that it carries. One source that I read said that a fast bullet like a 7mm rem mag can waste up to a third of its energy in deforming the bullet rather than causing a permanent wound channel. As a result, purely in terms of terminal ballistics, if you took two bullets that were the same weight with one expanding to a given diameter while the other starts off at that diameter, given the same momentum/energy the solid will still penetrate deeper. This is in spite of having the same mass, energy and frontal area because some of that energy was spent expanding the bullet.
If you could make a wound channel that is twice the bullet diameter but with a solid bullet, that would seem to be the best of both worlds. The initial penetration results (the first 5-6 inches or so) would not be as dramatic as a conventional expanding bullet, but it would be very consistent and very very deeply penetrating.
Of course this is all purely theoretical. I did a google search and a CGN search, and surprisingly I didn't find a single review from anyone who has used this bullet in the real world aside from the manufacturer's own website. I'm curious to see real experiences and terminal effects. The cost certainly is prohibitive for paper punching but in reality, once you have a load sighted in an extra $4 expense (or even $80 for a full box) on a hunting trip costing thousands is insignificant.
So, has anyone used this bullet and can give us all some feedback of what happened in the field?
