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Personally, I love the 127gr Lehigh Defense. If you can't get ahold of that one I'd recommend the 140gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, the 150gr Interlock, 110gr TTSX or the 130gr Interlock. I've had good success with all those bullets. The Berger 140gr Classic Hunter is also a dramatic killer, however I've found jacket particles far from the impact location which makes me nervous to recommend it. I am not crazy over the 117gr Hammer Hunter bullet either as I am not a fan of it's massive fragmentation nor do I find it kills any quicker than the aforementioned bullets. As much as I like the people who own and work at both Berger and Hammer, I would not personally use either of those bullets. Hope this helps.

I have not, nor do I have any 136gr Terminal Ascent Bullets with which I could test, but I'll keep it on my radar.

100% makes sense! Thanks for watching.

You got it. I have a pack of 150gr Nosler Accubond LR sitting on my desk here I could use for testing. I had several personal life circumstances which made filming these gel tests go to the backburner but I will put out more testing videos once the weather warms up. That being said, when I called Nosler in preparation for my Accubond LR testing they told me specifically that their LR Accubond bullets are designed for long range (400-800 yards) and they will likely fragment and explode at ranges less than 300 yards. Even though the Accubond LR are bonded, they were never designed to hold together at velocities over 2200fps like the traditional Nosler Accubond. (That being said, I'm sure it'll kill anything dead as a doornail at short to medium range. You'll just have a lot of bloodshot and potentially no pass through.)

Thanks for watching! I'll have some more videos out later this year. Love my 270 too.

If you're using the 223 I'd highly recommend the Speer 70gr Varmint or Sierra 63gr Gameking soft point bullets. They work amazing well.

They are crazy expensive! The marketing though is spot on. ;)

They're a lot cheaper than partitions, Accubonds, or Terminal Ascent, and they're more accurate than Hornady or Barnes. I'm pretty broke but I'm never too broke to use the best when taking an animal. Just me though.

The Hornady 150gr SST is a tremendous bullet in the 308win. Couldn't recommend it more to the eastern hunter!

The testing I'm doing is in pertains to soft tissue gel mediums. I don't plan at this time to add hard barrier penetration to my future testing videos. However, being a monolithic bullet I would safely venture that bones will pose no threat to the bullet. I shot a deer this year with a 110gr Barnes in my 308 at 240 yards, passing through the shoulder bone. The deer ran around in a circle before collapsing in the same location it was standing when I shot it. Bloodshot was minimum with little to no meat waste. I'd imagine the 129gr Barnes LRX will perform the same. In the future I'll be testing some Maker bullets which should also perform admirably.

Do you mean the "original" original (which is no longer being produced) or the standard TSX which is widely available today? I have a far amount of testing to get back to so I thank you for your suggestion!

No disagreements here in regard to traditional bullets. But when we're talking monolithic I like to err on the side of lighter.

My wife killed her first buck at 287 with a Lehigh bullet using the BC numbers they publish. I'm thinking they're good for sub-400 but over that I may be looking at far more testing.

Thank you so much for your encouraging comment. I really appreciate it. Yes! I have tested the 112gr Controlled Chaos out of my 270 Winchester at various velocities. I've experienced identical results in regard to penetration, petal behavior, and temporary wound stretch. The base of the bullet on the 112gr is nearly the same size as the 127gr however the petals are absolutely smaller. Given my results, I see no performance increase as a result of the higher velocities in the 112gr. This was admittedly surprising to me. I would highly recommend shooting the 127gr at 3100fps as opposed to the 112gr at 3400fps due to the larger petal size of the 127gr and potentially higher wounding effect as a result. I'll have more tests coming out in the future. Just been busy working with the guys at Limitless Outdoors (you could find them here on RUclips as well) and my time has been very short.

The temporary stretch gives us an idea of what's happening throughout the animal's body when we shoot it. Take a rock and throw it in a pond then watch the ripples. If that rock is big enough those ripples will effect not only the location the rock was thrown into the water but also the shoreline. That's the temporary stretch and it matters.

Awesome! Keep shooting!

Not an exact copy. The Lehigh bullets have a shear line through the center of the bullet forcing pedal disconnection. The Hammer bullets rely on softer alloy to fragment into much smaller particles. The wounding effect is different with the Hammers having dozens of small particles hemorrhaging the tissue and the Lehigh's having 4-5 .22 caliber sized petals exiting the body. With the Hammers I'll see one entrance and one exit. With the Lehighs I usually see One entrance and 3-5 exits. I've seen more blood loss with the Hammers but faster kills with the Lehigh's.

Yes, but I like to know what's going to happen to a bullet when it exits my animal.

@@joshuahunt1210 you’ll never know that. All bullets can do some weird sht. Especially if it hits bone at just the right angle.

Thank you so much!

Agreed and thank you for sharing your experience!

Now that's a bullet weight I'll agree with in a Barnes bullet! They need lighter weights and higher velocities to work to the best of their ability.

If I had to choose between the Hammer Hunters and the Barnes LRX I'd choose the Hammer. As for any of these monolithic bullets, there is a cult following. The problem I've encountered with Hammer's following is that they are *exceedingly* passionate at the moment. And now that Ron Spomer got on board (he used to be a Barnes guy) things seem to be getting worse. Of course when you spend $130 for 100 bullets that price tag tends to create emotions, like the ones your feeling now. For Hammer bullets, there is no need to go as light for caliber as needed for Barnes. Just choose the lightest "normal" weight bullet in your cartridge of choice (120-130 for 6.5/270 bullets, 150 for 30, 140 for 7mm, 85-100 for 6mm, etc), load and shoot. Hammer's grass roots marketing has a lot of exaggerated claims but no doubt they're effective. Just not moreso than say, a Partition or Interlock. I'd say keep them, but if you want to swap them and stay with an all copper bullet, go with a Lehigh, Maker, or Cutting Edge bullet.

I suppose you're right. The 130gr 270 has a sectional density of .242, while a 100gr 6mm bullet has the same sectional density. Technically a 6CM could propel a bullet of same sectional density at 3100fps for 10-13 grains less powder in a 24" tube. You'd have to step up to a 6.5PRC, 25-06, 7RM, 300WM or 300WSM to get the same velocity for a similar sectional density bullet and all of them will be igniting significantly more powder for a 0.242 sectional density bullet at 3100fps than the 6mm Creedmoor at SAAMI pressures. I guess when we say "efficient" we should clarify which metric we're looking at. Is it powder burn to barrel length? If so, the 308 burns all it's powder within 16-18 inches of barrel but the 300BLK will burn it all in 11 inches. Is it powder burned to velocity gained? If so then how should we quantify? Is it 10grains of powder = 500fps? Then how would we pick the standard for which bullet weight to choose? I chose the 0.242 sectional density because it fits well within what some (not me) would call minimum to killing deer (think 100gr 6mm, 110gr 25cal, 120gr 6.5, 130gr 270, 135gr 7mm, 162gr 308). But we could lower that sectional density, work together, and find what may be the optimal cartridge for say, deer hunting, elk hunting, predator hunting, varmints, etc. It would be a fun exercise! If you have any thoughts please do share. I love the 308 and hunt with mine in 162, 150gr, and 130gr pills, but I feel it's slightly anemic for the bullet diameter it's throwing. I also tend to need to track my animals further when I use my 308 than using other options including my 223.

@@joshuahunt1210 The next subject area I need to study is sectional density.

@@joshuahunt1210 One thing I hate is losing meat to lead and high speed impacts causing blood shot meat. My favorite shot placements is at the base if the skull, centered in the neck. I think CNS, are the best method to kill a game animal. Second is a high speed (2200 fsp +) Nosler Partion type bullet. Or Federal Terminal Acent. If you can get, CNS, hydraulic shock, some satilite projectiles and complete pass through all in the same shot, that's great too. But you'll probably get some meat damage. But I have made foolish shots and am far from prefect. I'd rather be a little over on killing performance than under or just at. Another favorite is heavy for caliber soft lead bullets like the eldm at slower speeds say from 2600 down to 1700 ish speeds. But with proper placement. But that don't alway happen. I'd rather have a quick kill and ruin some meat, rather then lose the whole animal. I like the HAWK bullets as well. I don't think any thing is wrong with wide heavy soft slower bullets. I think I'd rather have that, then narrower, lite, tuff and fast bullets. This is a subject I enjoy and ever learning. You seem to be in a blessed situation where you can study this subject rather often and real world.

@@joshuahunt1210 Would you be willing to try the 195 grain eldm in your 308?

Sure I'd be open to testing the 195 ELD-M. Would need to get my hands on some first. I've noticed shot placement has almost as much to do with meat loss as bullet selection. Tuck the round behind the shoulder on a broadside shot and you'll have minimal loss no matter what you're using. The least amount of meat loss I've had was with a 160gr Ranch Dog cast bullet at 2100fps. But she ran farther than I liked. I have the 190gr Sub-X loaded up I'm wanting to test on game this hunting season too.

I do. His stability is crap in the air and completely too low in gel. Needs a faster twist for that bullet. He's on the edge of what you'd expect to tumble once it hits the gel with the low velocity shot. 1.5 is absolute bare minimum with copper bullets and 2.0 is ideal. There is no doubt that with that low of SG the bullet has yaw, and the BC is greatly lowered.

Right, "Seemingly no reason." In other words there's no obstruction to cause it to veer off. And I've dealt with it often in these Barnes bullets as well as the Hammer bullets on occasion.

@@joshuahunt1210 Another load I'd like to try on both elk within a 100 yrds and deer within 200 yrds, is 190 grain flat nose HAWK bullet in my 30-30, as well as my 308. I just think that would be a hammer. A 400-450 lb cow elk out to 100 yrds would work well with that load, I think.

Like which ones? Heaviest/Longest I own is the 178gr ELD-X 30 cal. I had a 338 Lapua in 300gr here the other day, but had to ship it off to the customer we built it for. Should have tested those 300gr Bergers in the block though...... Missed opportunity!

@@joshuahunt1210 Well when I wrote this I was thinking of Hornadys new heaviest .284 cx copper bullet as well as, Hammer, Cutting Edge and Leigh heavier copper bullets. As this is an ever learning subject, I hear all the more that copper bullets veer during penitration. One so bad, that supposedly while entering game the bullet came out the same side it entered. But who knows. It also seems that this don't seem to happen with lead core bullets. But who knows.... I recently found Hard Atler Hunting out of New Zealand. He makes some great points and is very down to earth with great comman scene. I really enjoy him. So, my conclusion is, just have fun....

I love a 65gr bullet in a 22-250! I killed my first deer with a 22-250 and 65gr Sierra Gameking. The only problem is most 22-250's are built with a slow twist making it difficult to stabilize a bullet over 55gr. A 1:9 or 1:8 twist 22-250 would be superb however!

@@joshuahunt1210Nice, pretty cool

They are certainly for particular people and even after all the testing and killing deer with them they admittedly still make me nervous. My greatest concern with them is the diameter of the nose, however it appears they've remedied that in their newest line of bullets in which they widened the nose. I have yet to test them.

@@joshuahunt1210 TSX is the only way to go with all copper

The point of the test is to simulate longer shots than what I was doing. I probably used light charges of Ramshot Hunter in these loads, however they aren't accuracy loads or max charge loads. More data would be available in the comprehensive gel tests in this channel. There's only a couple comprehensive ones out now but at some point I'll release more.

Thanks for watching! I don't tend to care for Barnes the majority of the time because of the exact problem you stated here. Punching a hole straight through does help for less than ideal shots which may cause one wound to close up from blood clotting. Two holes also collapse the lungs faster and help the animal to die faster. On an ideal shot of course any bullet will work, even an FMJ, but when we're doing testing we want to assume all worst case scenarios.

Hey Dennis sorry for not getting back to you sooner! Lehigh Defense changed their website recently so that's probably why their link doesn't work. I was using 58gr Ramshot Hunter (Published data is MAX 57gr), Winchester WLR primers, R-P Brass, ~3150fps and my accuracy was about 1/2-3/4" at 100. My rifle is a Tikka T3x 270Winchester with a 22.5" barrel. Here is the Lehigh published data: Accurate MAGPRO 60.0 3,040 64.0 3,150 Accurate 4350 50.0 2,795 54.0 3,125 Reloader 19 54.0 2,875 58.0 3,130 Winchester 760 50.0 2,890 53.0 3,075 Hodgdon 4831 SC 56.0 2,910 59.0 3,060 Ramshot Hunter 53.0 2,905 57.0 3,110 Hybrid 100V 51.0 2,935 54.0 3,085 Accurate 5744 (Reduced Recoil) 31.5 2,505 35.0 2,710 You could find more Lehigh data by following this new link: lehighdefense.com/ld-load-data

I would say they're nearly identical in both expansion characteristics (even minimum velocity in regards to expansion rate) and weight retention.

That's a good point and one well taken and understood. However, I did experience the same tracking issue using 10% knox gel. I've tested Barnes bullets a lot and always seem to come up with mixed results with it.

This video was shot in slow motion and my camera didn't capture audio during slow motion. So sorry!

@@joshuahunt1210 It would be nice to see what these Hammer's would do with more velocities with regard to accuracy and bullet expansion. I plan on using these for Predator hunting. Thanks again for the reply. I look forward to more of your videos.

Thanks for watching! My wife killed her first deer last year and I was over the moon happy to see her with it. It's truly a special moment!

Thank you! The 117gr Hammer definitely needs more testing.

Literally! It cooked the gel and put permanent burn marks in it!