Thread: Monolithic Projectiles

I have a 20” .308 and my current load is 168 gn ELD M which seems to work. I’ve recently sought advice on flat base projectiles (thanks very much for the input guys) and am planning to try out some 180 gn round nose or similar.

Then looking at the other end of things it would be interesting also to look at a monolithic bullet, and I’m thinking of a Barnes TSX or TTSX of 125-30 gn weight. I get 2680 with my 168s and I figure a 130 Barnes might do around 2900 or so. My understanding is that monolithic bullets need to be moving pretty fast to perform properly on game. Is that right? What sort of speed should they be doing on impact?

I do sometimes wonder about the wisdom of chucking small bits of lead around the bush. I mean they’re small bits but it must all add up. And lead is pretty scary stuff once ingested, so a lead free bullet, if effective, does have its attractions, it seems to me.

I'm a great fan of copper bullets. GS Custom bullets are fantastic if you can get hold of them. 130gr is ideal for the .308

I use 110g Barnes ttsx in my .308 as my bush load,killed everything I have shot so far and very light recoil wise,45g 2206h.

ok this one is a big bundle of worms.
my take on it???? having used them in .223 and .270
they work well and in little rifle like .223 give quite a boost in preformance---penertration wise.
in bigger calibres you can drop projectile weight/keep velocity up get loads of penertration BUT they wont do anything a good old cup n core lead n copper pill wont do just as well and if range is getting out there/velocity lower the lead will win hands down.
as for lead spoiling meat...ho hum change the record,how often will you carry out ENTIRE animal??? if you worried about loosing meat change your point of impact.neck shoot if conditions allow or just shoot the animal through both shoulders and accept you will loose some meat.even using .270 I dont loose that much...heck if Im a long way from car Ive been known to happily put another through shoulders just to make sure animal goes down,to heck with meat loss...80% of good meat is from 3rd rib forwards.

Dont get hung up on lead "contamination" its a rort especially in an open landscape with occasional hunting. Bullets work by transferring their kinetic energy into potential energy at the target. How much energy they have is determined by their weight and speed.
Double the speed and you increase the energy 4 times, double the weight and the energy doubles.
Monolithics weigh approx 30% less than a cup and core of the same size and are signifcantly harder so need velocity to match the energy and clever design to get the transfer.
They do work, and out of curiosity I have used them but gone back to cup n core sierrias as I believe across the spectrum as a game taker they are more reliable.

Thanks for these replies, that’s really helpful.

Bit like the other guys the Barnes type bullets work well but of late the cup and core are what I use now and find they are working well, ELD X in particular, if you use solid copper the more speed the better. If worried about lead injestion leave the bullet damaged area behind.The 130 gr Barnes TTSX in 308 is meant to be a good one.

Using 130 TTSX doing just over 3000fts out of a 18" Rem 600. Have shot a few deer with this and have had no problems. Went for this bullet combo as I also have a 3006 and wanted to separate them performance wise. (3006 pushing 200gr ELDXs.)

lead contam negligible.
You have to breath lots of fumes for it to get you or eat a shitload. Its actually pretty inert. and it goes out of your system.
panel beaters used to be tested for it only 30 years ago or so. if the level were up they'd be stood down until it came good.
Not much lead work in panel beating now.

As young kids we used to carry our slug gun pellets in our mouth and always managed to swallow one or two over the course of the day in the heat of the action shooting all manor of pests,(mainly rats as a mates dad worked at the local tip and we got to shoot there after hours)and no one died,many rats died of lead poisoning tho!!

Most lead contamination is from shooting at indoor ranges with out ventilation there is lead in the priming compound and lead dust from impact
melting lead does not put lead in the air only if it is vaporised with a gas flame at high temperature,
Lead particles in shot animals is from using bullets that fragment instead of mushrooming, so those of you that like shooting animals with hand grenade
bullets good luck.

Originally Posted by shooternz

Most lead contamination is from shooting at indoor ranges with out ventilation there is lead in the priming compound and lead dust from impact
melting lead does not put lead in the air only if it is vaporised with a gas flame at high temperature,
Lead particles in shot animals is from using bullets that fragment instead of mushrooming, so those of you that like shooting animals with hand grenade bullets good luck.

From that I take it you don't stuff a bit of ffg into your hollow point boolits... then again I guess it might also defeat the purpose of subsonics and suppressors.

Someone somewhere made a point about lead fragments - if you use a very fragmenting bullet and just opt to leave the destroyed parts of the kill behind... another animal will ingest the lead fragments in the course of tidying up after you. Another good reason to use less frangible bullets.

Originally Posted by WillB

I have a 20” .308 and my current load is 168 gn ELD M which seems to work. I’ve recently sought advice on flat base projectiles (thanks very much for the input guys) and am planning to try out some 180 gn round nose or similar.

Then looking at the other end of things it would be interesting also to look at a monolithic bullet, and I’m thinking of a Barnes TSX or TTSX of 125-30 gn weight. I get 2680 with my 168s and I figure a 130 Barnes might do around 2900 or so. My understanding is that monolithic bullets need to be moving pretty fast to perform properly on game. Is that right? What sort of speed should they be doing on impact?

I do sometimes wonder about the wisdom of chucking small bits of lead around the bush. I mean they’re small bits but it must all add up. And lead is pretty scary stuff once ingested, so a lead free bullet, if effective, does have its attractions, it seems to me.

im going to get some impala bullets in for the 6.5 and the 30 cal 90gr and 130gr respectively lwhv there pointy little bastards that hit like thors hammer, they are semi wadcutter in style and impart ridiculous hyperkinetic shock. let me know if you want to try them. should have them in the new year.

I was given some of those in .224" years ago not very accurate but adequate for hunting should be better in larger calibres.

Only recovered one monolithic bullet from my 416 (strange that) from a cattle beast. 350gr barnes x point. back 99ish.
Only a lower speed fireforming type load but still useable. I would only be guessing 2000fps or there-abouts especially compared to my later chronied 340grs at 2500+ going by recoil-definitely not as robust in that department.
Angling shot just in front or back leg raked through gut bag and lungs while it was trotting away and dropped it onto its side, no more than 50meters away. Looked impressive.
Later when being butchered projectile was found in the neck. Just started to flatten out and close to maybe 5/8 diameter-no more.
Just enough to start a mushroom but not enough to stop it going 4-5 feet through the animal. Speed does help with them by the looks-that would've been the equivalent of a full load maybe 200+ meters away.
Same projectile/load put 2 bullets overlapping and one just out for an under 3/4 inch 3 shot group at 100yrds during sighting in so that was good and shot it into some wood blocks at 30m to check-full beautiful mushrooms and lost bugger all weight.
Lost the bloody thing through a hole in my pocket-spewing, although I still have one of the ones I killed the wood with.
I'd buy more of those if they came up cheap but don't do enough with the old girl to warrant it really lol