Now I've got my 338 Win Mag Vanguard up and shooting well with some effective handloads, it was time for some bullet penetration tests! I had three different cup and core bullets on hand so I thought it would be fun to test them in newspaper pack.
The three bullets I had on hand were the 200g Hot Core SP; the 225g Hornady SST, and the 250g Hornady Interlock SP. I've been using these from my 338 WM and they all give me pretty much 1.5 inch groups at my range which is set up at 120y.
I decided to shoot two of each into the newsprint pack, loaded to different velocities to simulate roughly impact speeds at 50 and 150y, when loaded to fairly standard MV.
To that end the loadouts looked like this:
Speer Hot Cor 200g
a) 2850fps b) 2650fps
Hdy SST 225g
a) 2700fps b) 2550fps
Hdy I'lock 250g
a) 2550fps b) 2350fps
The samples loaded up for the test:
I had chronoed these loads in various forms during load workup so I was quite sure of the speeds they were doing. The newspaper was packed very tight and left dry, in fact there was a mix of a few magazines in there so it was quite a hardy medium and I knew it would be a rigorous test of the bullets.
So to the results:
200g Hotcor
a) 2850fps 9.5 inch penetration ret.wt. 114g exp.dia.0.843
b) 2650fps 8.0 inch penetration ret.wt. 77g exp.dia 0.672
225g SST
a) 2700fps 8.5 inch ret.wt. 89g exp.dia. 0.783
b) 2550fps 8.5 inch ret.wt. 104g exp.dia. 0.780
250g Interlock
a) 2550fps 11.0 inch 190g exp.dia. 0.977
b) 2350fps 10.5 inch 171g exp.dia. 0.917
Both Hot Cors lost most of their cores. In fact sample B which was actually going slower lost all of its core, and penetrated less than the faster sample A.
Both SSTs similarly lost most of their core, however the slower sample B more predictably held together better.
The 250g Interlocks held together much much better, and even though mangled were not in bad shape, with most of the core intact. They also penetrated roughly 25% further than the lighter bullets and expanded more as well. Interestingly and like the Hotcors, the A samples of the 250 grain Interlock retained more weight and penetrated further than the B sample which had a slower impact speed. Not what I expected really.
As I said above, the impact speeds were meant to simulate hits around 50y and 150y for samples A and B respectively, when loaded to moderate muzzle velocities.
All in all you'd have to say the 250g Interlock would be the best choice for really heavy game. But a word of caution; when loaded to full power, Moses do they kick!
So there you go. Far from perfect methodology but a fun thing to do on a late winter day on the farm.
The three bullets I had on hand were the 200g Hot Core SP; the 225g Hornady SST, and the 250g Hornady Interlock SP. I've been using these from my 338 WM and they all give me pretty much 1.5 inch groups at my range which is set up at 120y.
I decided to shoot two of each into the newsprint pack, loaded to different velocities to simulate roughly impact speeds at 50 and 150y, when loaded to fairly standard MV.
To that end the loadouts looked like this:
Speer Hot Cor 200g
a) 2850fps b) 2650fps
Hdy SST 225g
a) 2700fps b) 2550fps
Hdy I'lock 250g
a) 2550fps b) 2350fps
The samples loaded up for the test:
I had chronoed these loads in various forms during load workup so I was quite sure of the speeds they were doing. The newspaper was packed very tight and left dry, in fact there was a mix of a few magazines in there so it was quite a hardy medium and I knew it would be a rigorous test of the bullets.
So to the results:
200g Hotcor
a) 2850fps 9.5 inch penetration ret.wt. 114g exp.dia.0.843
b) 2650fps 8.0 inch penetration ret.wt. 77g exp.dia 0.672
225g SST
a) 2700fps 8.5 inch ret.wt. 89g exp.dia. 0.783
b) 2550fps 8.5 inch ret.wt. 104g exp.dia. 0.780
250g Interlock
a) 2550fps 11.0 inch 190g exp.dia. 0.977
b) 2350fps 10.5 inch 171g exp.dia. 0.917
Both Hot Cors lost most of their cores. In fact sample B which was actually going slower lost all of its core, and penetrated less than the faster sample A.
Both SSTs similarly lost most of their core, however the slower sample B more predictably held together better.
The 250g Interlocks held together much much better, and even though mangled were not in bad shape, with most of the core intact. They also penetrated roughly 25% further than the lighter bullets and expanded more as well. Interestingly and like the Hotcors, the A samples of the 250 grain Interlock retained more weight and penetrated further than the B sample which had a slower impact speed. Not what I expected really.
As I said above, the impact speeds were meant to simulate hits around 50y and 150y for samples A and B respectively, when loaded to moderate muzzle velocities.
All in all you'd have to say the 250g Interlock would be the best choice for really heavy game. But a word of caution; when loaded to full power, Moses do they kick!
So there you go. Far from perfect methodology but a fun thing to do on a late winter day on the farm.