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Old August 30, 2017, 11:44 AM   #26
Wyosmith
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My 1903 Mannlicher only feeds RN bullets. So I need them for that rifle.
Want or preference have nothing to do with it.

But the 160 GR RN bullets have a reputation for working very well in that caliber for 114 years. That's not a bad track record.
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Old September 1, 2017, 03:15 PM   #27
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I had a Ruger 77 in 7x57 when they first came out. Tried Hornady, Speer and Sierra bullet's in it in weight's from 140gr to 175 gr, nothing shot for squat! Loved the rifle and was ready to give up and bought a box of Hornady 154gr RN, boy did they shoot well. Never fired anything else in it again. Aside from that I've never felt the desire to use round nose bullet's. If there is any advantage to then, I haven't a clue what it is.
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Old September 1, 2017, 08:31 PM   #28
Art Eatman
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I imagine that within 200 yards, the only thing that matters is proper expansion and not fragmenting. Trajectory and all that? Irrelevant.
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Old September 2, 2017, 12:11 PM   #29
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A good friend spends three weeks every year hunting in South Africa. Mostly cross bow, and archery now. But he has taken many animals with various rifles as well. He tells me all they use is round nose bullets. From smaller, thin skinned plains animals to dangerous game. They believe the round nose bullets penetrate better. Don't know anything about scientific theory, and ballistic tests. Just that they have been successfully taking animals for a long time with round nose bullets.
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Old September 2, 2017, 03:35 PM   #30
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I heard that in Africa they put a lot of emphasis on complete penetration to get a blood trail to follow. I suspect that a spitzer bullet slowed down some to help retain weight would in fact shoot through a great many of the animals over there. If that is true it blow's a hole in their idea about RN bullet's. I don't think RN are bad but notice in most cartridges you find them in heavy weight bullet's. A 220 gr bullet from a 300 mag could be a super load. Take the same rifle and load it up with 110gr bullet's and they simply go splat. Somewhere between the two is an ideal bullet. But at the same time the 220gr round nose will kill whatever it's shot at with good placement. No magic in the bullet, just well chosen for the job needing done!
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Old September 2, 2017, 07:27 PM   #31
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Nothing kills a pig faster then 180gr Hornady RN bullets out of my 06. Hits so hard you hear the bullet thump over the muzzle blast. Not exactly a long range hunting bullet but in the woods I never shoot that far anyway.
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Old September 3, 2017, 12:15 AM   #32
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I shoot round nose out of my .30-40 Krag. I shoot round nose or flat point ,30-30 and .45-70 and .458 Win Mag. Don't see many spitzers in .458 caliber.

Remember where the Spitzergeschoss came from. The German Army's desire for a better long range bullet design.
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Old September 3, 2017, 12:37 PM   #33
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OP is 17 years old. Some of us have underwear older than that. snicker.
"...dead before they know what hit them..." They don't care either.
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Old September 3, 2017, 12:47 PM   #34
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A 220 gr bullet from a 300 mag could be a super load.
Actually, another of my friends observations after more than ten African hunts is that his PH does not want people even using a 300 Win Mag. He says that there are more game lost when using that round than any other. But for hunting game that requires less than a 375, or other medium to large bores, he praises the 303 British.
Can't say his PH is wrong or right on either the round nose bullets, or cartridge choice. But I can say after decades of being an outfitter, and Professional Hunter in South Africa there are probably tens of thousands of animals that prove his credability.
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Old September 3, 2017, 12:52 PM   #35
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OP is 17 years old. Some of us have underwear older than that. snicker.
I missed that. I usually watch the date of an OP. But this is a topic as viable, and interesting today as it was almost twenty years ago.
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Old September 6, 2017, 09:04 AM   #36
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At 100 yds with both of my 35 Remington rifles, I get better groups with roundnose Corelokts and Winchester than I have with the Hornady leverevolution.
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Old September 7, 2017, 09:17 AM   #37
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The areas I hunt have a lot of underbrush. I use a round nose in 35 Rem or a SWC in 44 and 41 mag or 45c. Oh, by the way, just reminding everybody again that this thread is 17 years old.
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Old September 7, 2017, 11:37 AM   #38
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Old September 9, 2017, 10:25 PM   #39
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Oh, by the way, just reminding everybody again that this thread is 17 years old.
It be a good one.
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Old September 9, 2017, 10:50 PM   #40
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I confess that I've never had any underwear last for 17 years and I have missed this thread for 17 years. What are round nose bullets?
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Old December 9, 2019, 11:20 AM   #41
Jbalzen
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Round nose bullets work!!!

Round nose bullets are very good for close ranges and for large animals up to grizzly bears for something like a 30-06. They have incredible knock down power. The other pointy bullets are great as well but round nose is what i prefer for close range.
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Old December 9, 2019, 01:16 PM   #42
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This zombie thread keeps coming back... for decades now.

Well, it's still a valid topic.

With respect to round-nose versus pointed "spitzer" type bullets, it depends on whether they are solid or expanding/deforming hollowpoints.

A round-nosed solid is balanced with more weight forward. It will tend to keep a straighter path while plowing through a target and therefore penetrate deeper.

Round-nosed solid/FMJ etc. also allow more total mass in the bullet within a specified OAL, and therefore higher sectional density.

Pointed, spitzer solid/FMJ bullets will have lower drag in the air, but their weight-rearward characteristic will make them more likely to yaw or tumble in a target and this can limit depth of penetration.

Pointed solid/FMJ are probably better at piercing armor. They exert more pressure within a smaller area when the tip strikes.

With hollowpoints, we're not really talking about pointed versus round so much as the width of the meplat and the opening in the jacket or cavity size in the monolithic. A really fine hollowpoint could be harder to open and might need more velocity, a thinner jacket or softer metal. A wide "round-nosed" hollowpoint can probably be made to open at lower velocities and under more adverse conditions. I think this would apply to JSP and similar bullets as well.

Around the time this thread started, back when some of you were toddlers, some knowledgeble people were recommending cutting the tips off Sierra Match Kings in order to get them to open up better.
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Old December 9, 2019, 01:50 PM   #43
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Around the time this thread started, back when some of you were toddlers, some knowledgeble people were recommending cutting the tips off Sierra Match Kings in order to get them to open up better.
...... say it ain't so! There were illiterate people that thought they knew better than the bullet designers back then too?!?!?! I am certain that Sierra's 4th Ed. (published 1995) manual clearly stated that their match bullets were not for use on game, and that they sold "Sierra Game King" bullets for .......... wait for it ...... use on game!
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Old December 9, 2019, 02:50 PM   #44
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Around the time this thread started, back when some of you were toddlers, some knowledgeble people were recommending cutting the tips off Sierra Match Kings in order to get them to open up better.
When I was 12 or 13 years old back in 69 or 70. I cut the tips off of some FMJ's in my 8MM Mauser. No they didn't shed the jacket like rag writers claimed. They didn't lose a lot of accuracy either. What they did do was make hellacious holes in whatever they hit. I never shot an animal with one and don't think I'd want to.
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Old December 9, 2019, 06:50 PM   #45
labnoti
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Originally Posted by jimbob86 View Post
...... say it ain't so! There were illiterate people that thought they knew better than the bullet designers back then too?!?!?! I am certain that Sierra's 4th Ed. (published 1995) manual clearly stated that their match bullets were not for use on game, and that they sold "Sierra Game King" bullets for .......... wait for it ...... use on game!
Believe it or not, the SMK was/is popular with police snipers. Apparently, the Game Kings don't offer the same flattering results in practice. Federal actually marketed ammunition featuring Match Kings for Law Enforcement use. In an effort to improve terminal performance, Martin Fackler published an article in 1995 titled "MATCHKING BULLET, Past, Present and Future" in which he described the bullet's failures in terminal performance and how to modify it to improve the results.
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Old December 9, 2019, 08:27 PM   #46
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Posted by Hawg:

When I was 12 or 13 years old back in 69 or 70. I cut the tips off of some FMJ's in my 8MM Mauser. No they didn't shed the jacket like rag writers claimed. They didn't lose a lot of accuracy either. What they did do was make hellacious holes in whatever they hit. I never shot an animal with one and don't think I'd want to.
Well, Hawg, I did just that. I got my first 98k 8x57 in fall of 1963 as a birthday present from my Dad.

I found a box of 100 cartridges 198 gr FMJ made in Egypt at one of the Western Auto stores for a grand total of $5.00. I shot some of them and they shot good.

Then I got "creative" and thought I could turn them into hunting cartridges by cutting off the end of the bullet with a pair of my Dad's side cutters, filing the meplat flat and then took a 1/16" drill bit and hollow them out.

I had a 6 point buck down at the feeder at maybe 115 yds, I drew a bead on the buck (yes, I still had iron sights on the rifle) squeezed the trigger and boom, all hell broke loose. I hit the deer where I was aiming, right behind the shoulder, he jumped, turned a full circle, and when the off side was facing me, all I saw was red on that side. He took off and ran a total of prolly 110 yds but nowhere near a straight line. He fell off into a gulley and was wedged in the fork of a cedar tree about half way down. I had a hell of a time getting him out of the tree, but after busting my butt getting him out there was a good 6-7 inch exit hole on the off side.

After that, I went and dug thru my money jar and scrounged up enough to buy a box of 170 gr Core Lokts to use for the rest of the season. They were round nose by the way.

Ain't it odd how we could dream up stuff like that when we were kids.

I don't think any youngster could even buy ammo nowadays.

Last edited by Dufus; December 9, 2019 at 08:34 PM.
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Old December 9, 2019, 11:00 PM   #47
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Believe it or not, the SMK was/is popular with police snipers. Apparently, the Game Kings don't offer the same flattering results in practice.
I dunno ..... I've used the Game Kings for nearly 2 decades with good results .....
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Old December 18, 2019, 07:11 PM   #48
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While this is all quite interesting, those who want to hunt with round nose bullets best look for what may still be on dealers shelves or hit guns shows to find some. Seems like the bullet makes are or already have discontinued them. One of my favorites, the Sierra 170 gr. 7MM round nose has been gone for years and AFAIK, Hornady has dropped just about all their round nose bullets. I got lucky at a gun show and found some of the 170 gr. Sierras. l bought every box he had. I think the only 7x57 factory ammo with 175 gr. RNs are from Federal and PPU. Might be some from other European companies like RWS, Norman and Lapua but I don't know about them. The 7x57 did make it's reputation with 170 to 175 gr. round nose bullets at a measly 2300 FPS. Current data in the latest Speer manual shows close to 2550 FPS which should work even with the round nose bullet. I'll have to give those load a try.
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Old December 19, 2019, 12:17 AM   #49
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Now 18 years old, but still mighty interesting. We are all here to have fun talking guns, right?

Myself, my sister, and a former girlfriend all killed plenty of deer with a .257 Roberts and 117gr round nose bullets. Both the Winchester +P at 2900 fps, as well as the old Remington 2600 fps load. Killed quite a few out to 300 yards. Back then that was as far as any of us had any business shooting, under ideal conditions.
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Old December 19, 2019, 02:14 PM   #50
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OK I'll contribute to the 18 year old thread .
Yes , no reason to abandon the RN just yet . I fixed myself up a budget deer hunting rifle with a 7X57 Model 95 Spanish Mauser purchased from Montgomery Wards .
Had the military barrel cut to 20" , new sporting iron sights installed , drilled & tapped for scope mounts and the bolt handle forged low to clear scope. I wanted it rebarreled to 358 Winchester but the gunsmith said no , 358 Win. had too high a pressure for the model 95 action and probable feeding problems ...advised to leave it 7X57 .
A walnut Herter's Mannlicher style stock was fitted and finished by me and my first hunting rifle was complete . I worked up handloads after shooting up a box of Remington 175 gr. RN ammo .
The military barrel was throated for the long 175 grain round nose military round .
Wanting a little more speed I discovered 154 grain Hornady RN would shoot just as well as the 175 grain RN bullets . None of the spire points shot well .
Leaving that little rifle in 7X57 and handloading 154 gr. RN Hornady bullets for it was two of the smarter things I have ever done .
If you have a rifle that for some reason has a generous throat ... don't give up on it ... try some round nose bullets in it .
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