It’s a matter of choice. That’s important when choosing the right bullet for the task at hand. In today’s marketplace the right choice can be elusive.
Many of today’s quality firearms can be teamed up with precision ammunition to produce incredible minute of angle accuracy. However the importance of selecting the right bullet for the task at hand is often overlooked.
Decades ago, hunters chose handloading of ammunition to reduce cost and to improve accuracy. Today, availability can be added to the list.
In past years, a limited line of bullets were offered for handloading. At the time there was enough of a selection to meet the needs of most hunter and target shooters. However, it didn’t take long for that to change.
The shooting fraternity was expanding, and reloading and the development of new calibers was a good fit for those who reloaded their own ammunition.
At the same time another group of gun enthusiasts were developing wildcat cartridges. Some of which were developed into practical cartridges such as the .243 Winchester and the 7mm-08, just to name two.
Now precision shooters are setting the bar higher to meet their own set of standards when it comes to developing new cartridges. Cartridges and bullets that when combined with a quality rifle are capable of reaching out from the shooting bench to accurately deliver to the target a bullet that is capable of covering impressive distances. A good example of that is the 6.5 Creedmoor. When it was introduced into the hunting market, it gained immediate and overwhelming acceptance.
However with so much to choose from, the situation has led to some confusion. And bullets are at the heart of the discussion.
Advancements in bullet design have taken bullet performance to a new level. One good example is the introduction of Hornady’s A-Tip bullet.
The A-Tip is a low drag, high performance match bullet. The bullet is topped off with a tip machined from aluminum. And on the range, when properly loaded, this sleek little number is capable of producing fantastic results.
Sounds great, but should this bullet be used for hunting? The answer is simple, no. But why not? Simply put, this particular bullet is not designed for hunting.
In the late 1970s, a series of wildcat silhouette cartridges developed for handgun shooters in matches sanctioned by the International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association (IHMSA). Shooting was conducted at distances out to 200 meters. The targets were metallic silhouettes of chickens, pigs, turkeys, and rams.
At that time (1976), a number of wildcat silhouette cartridges ranging from .25 to .35 caliber were developed and introduced for this type of shooting.
Heck, if the calibers being developed for this type of shooting had the oomph to take down a steel target out to 200 yards, just think of the potential for hunting whitetails.
A Thompson Contender single shot handgun was in my gun safe. So I purchased a 7MM TCU barrel that would fit the handgun. The barrel was rechambered for the 7MM International wildcat cartridge. Since commercial rounds were not being produced, Redding Reloading was producing reloading dies for this specific wildcat caliber. After the dies were in hand, I began the process of reloading my own ammunition for this specific firearm.
The brass used for the 7MM-R was formed using a standard 30-30 case. Using the reloading dies, the shoulder of the brass was adjusted to about a 38 degree angle, then the cartridge was loaded then fired. The resulting pressure from the round being shot adjusted the brass to conform precisely to the inside of the chamber (the process is known as fire forming).
Back then, the selection of bullets available were not as extensive as they are today. For my initial test, cartridges were loaded and topped off with a 100 gr. hollow point Hornady bullet. Although the round printed inch groups on paper and was capable of taking groundhogs, a heavier bullet would be needed when hunting for whitetails.
A 139 gr. Hornady bullet was tested. And I was pleased with the way it performed. To this day, the section of the target with three rounds touching each other remain affixed to the back of the reloading data card.
Today, bullet manufacturers offer a broader range of top quality bullets to choose from than when I first began reloading this cartridge. And the various types of bullets allow me to “fine tune” the rounds I reload.
So how do you choose the right bullet for the job?
A good starting point is to visit web sites hosted by bullet manufacturers via the internet. Hornady, Nosler, Swift, Federal, Barnes and Sierra can provide a wealth of information with the click of a mouse.
In my case, the bullet I chose to use hand load for hunting whitetails with my 7MM-R was Nosler’s 140 gr. partition bullet.
Some may consider the 7MM-R a wildcat relic. However by handloading cartridges and topping them off with quality hunting bullets, this caliber is more than capable of filling deer tags for many years to come.
(Charlie Burchfield is an active member and past president of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association, a member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association, and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers. Gateway Outdoors email is GWOutdoors@comcast.net.)
