Hunters must pay as much attention to their rifles as to the ammunition they use, although they tend to spend more time choosing the gun over the ammunition. It brings us to the point of whether the gun or the ammunition comes first and where one should focus upon to ensure that the right chambered rifle has the correct cartridge. Ideally, the bullet demands the same attention as the rifle because the former is the reason for the latter’s existence. Rifles will be meaningless if the bullet does not get the game, and it will not be wrong to say that the bullet does all the work. The rifle is just a launchpad.
Bullet makers have relieved hunters of thinking critically about bullets because through constant innovation and development. They keep modifying and retesting bullets that hunters can rely upon with closed eyes. Selecting bullets becomes easier if we know that most bullets work well in almost all situations. But still, there are reasons for manufacturers devoting time, money, and other resources to produce a variety of bullets. In this article, we will try to figure out those reasons.
Bullet design
The bullet design aims at improving its ballistic performance or its behavior in flight. One of the most critical ballistic considerations is the accuracy of bullets, and to achieve it, manufacturers pay attention to consistency in concentricity. In simple words, the bullet material must have a consistent thickness, weight, and integrity that facilitate balancing around its centers. To achieve the goal, lead cores must be free from air gaps, jackets must have a uniform thickness on all sides, and polymer tips resist deformation or denting to enhance the performance.
Bullet shape
The shape or the form of the bullet has a massive impact on the ballistic performance. Sleek, long, and pointed bullets encounter the least air drag that makes it travel faster, drift less in the wind, drop less and retain more energy. Although it is irrelevant how fast does a bullet travel as it does not impact its effectiveness, just for information, you should know that 300 to 900 meters per second is the average speed for most bullets.
Therefore, to shoot at a long distance, you will need a sleek, long bullet with a high BC (Ballistic Coefficient). The higher is the BC better is the bullet performance.
Flat nose bullets are different
Flat nose and round nose bullets attain functionality and safety by sacrificing ballistic efficiency. Bluntnose bullets suit tubular magazines to eliminate the possibility of sharp tips rubbing against primers of live rounds ahead of them so that it functions like firing pins during recoil. Flat noses suit the requirements of revolvers that use heavy bullets inside chambers to facilitate the rotation of the cylinder. The short magazines of pistols make it imperative to use blunt and short bullets.
Blunt bullets are advantageous because of their straight-line travel that efficiently reaches the vitals or the brain of massive beasts like elephants and buffalo as they can plow straight instead of deflecting in tissue.
Hunting Bullet Designs
Varmint Bullets
Varmint projectile line incorporates those shots that are most usually utilized by exactness arranged varmint trackers. These slugs are demonstrated in the field to give uncommon precision and a degree of development that best suits a given varmint or hunter application. The J4 Precision Jacket is more slender at the nose.
Flat Base Bullet Design
Berger produces a full line of level base shots in a few types. We consider the level base shot a staple of outrageous exactness projectile producers. These shots are utilized frequently by short reach target and varmint shooters who are centered around the most impenetrable conceivable precision.
Boat Tail Bullet Design
The projectile plan that we allude to as our “boat tail” or “BT” or “non-VLD” is a plan that incorporates a boat tail obviously yet more significantly these slugs incorporate a digression ogive. This is a significant qualification in light of the fact that our VLD configuration incorporates a boat tail however is made with a secant ogive.