Can anything be done about bullet tip deformation in magazine

[DRS]

My favorite bullets for my .270 rifles are soft points from Hornady and Sierra. Their tips commonly get deformed while in the magazine, I assume from recoil when the rifle is fired. For years I never really bothered with it, but recently read a magazine article that indicated that the deformation could adversely affect accuracy. Has anyone had any experience with this? Should I be worried about it?

 

[mevertsen]

It's my understanding that accuracy comes from the tail of the bullet. Not the tip. Only way to prevent it is to switch to a copper or plastic tip bullet. Not worth the change in my opinion. I like soft points on game.

 

[MThuntr]

I think within hunting situations you should be fine. Heck I have partitions that look like they were flattened before I even loaded them and I see Core-Lokts that look like they were used as hammers with not real effect. I'm sure it affects things way out there at distances that most hunters are not shooting. I remember a test where a guy smashed bullets and short of completely removing the tip the differences were hard to track. Though very unlikely one thing you should watch is the OAL of the cartridge...did the recoil seat the bullets deeper?

 

[mtmuley]

Don't worry about it. My RUM Hammers the tips of Accubonds. I've shot those with mashed tips at steel way out there with no issues. mtmuley

 

[phutch30]

I think I remember Nosler doing tests where they went so far as to take the tips off accubonds and partitions with little loss of accuracy within normal hunting ranges. Effects weren't really noticeable until ranges approached/exceeded 500 yds or some such

 

[Don Fischer]

My favorite bullets for my .270 rifles are soft points from Hornady and Sierra. Their tips commonly get deformed while in the magazine, I assume from recoil when the rifle is fired. For years I never really bothered with it, but recently read a magazine article that indicated that the deformation could adversely affect accuracy. Has anyone had any experience with this? Should I be worried about it?

Amazing. Thing worked for you for years and then you read something! Now you have question's about bullet's that have seemingly satisfied you for years? Power of the press!

I should add that the Speer mag tip in development, had photo's of a bullet in flight and those photo's led to the mag tip. Speer claimed the bullet tip melted in flight. So much for dinged up tip's.

 

[DRS]

Thanks for the helpful information folks.

 

[JohnyRingo]

I was having the same issues with Nosler Ballistic Tips in my 300 H&H Mag until I seated the bullets a little longer in the casing. Now, there is very little room for them to slam forward into the magazine during recoil and they don't get damaged. Something else you can look at is having a muzzle brake put on your rifle and reduce the recoil.

 

[Brian in Montana]

I wouldn't worry about it. As somebody else pointed it the accuracy comes more from the base of the bullet. If the bullet is seated properly in the casing the riflings should stabilize it in flight. I'd think the tip would have to be really malformed before it could create a significant balancing issue in flight.

 

[Brian in Montana]

Something you should try, though, is before you insert the magazine, make sure the cartridges are seated all the way to the back. If I'm not careful about that with my Tikka, I can ding up the bullet tips pretty bad just by inserting a loaded mag.

 

[Don Fischer]

Don't worry about it. My RUM Hammers the tips of Accubonds. I've shot those with mashed tips at steel way out there with no issues. mtmuley

Hammer's the tip's of Accubonds? aren't they made of plastic? I saw years ago a high speed photo's of a bullet leaving the muzzle of a rifle, the tip melted away. It was in an ad for the then new Mag Tip Speer, to justify the point design. I've always bought the idea but was never willing to spend the extra money on a bullet for that. Let's face it, if the tip melts so close to the barrel there can't be any need for the mag tip design in the first place! Look at the Rem core lock. Looks the same as a mag tip. I have no experience using core locks but I suspect that they must work well, a whole lot of people have loved that bullet for a very long time. I pretty much only use cup and core with exposed lead tips, 40+ years and no regret's. Plus when I shoot target's, the banged up lead tips don't open the group's. I know because I have actually fired a few group's on purpose using banged up tip's, no difference in groups! But an admission, When I see a banged up tip in the box before loading, I save it for later. It's a mind game!

 

[mtmuley]

Yep Don, hammers them. A .300 RUM moving a 200 grain bullet 3200 fps has a bit of recoil. mtmuley

 

[RookieHunter]

....Though very unlikely one thing you should watch is the OAL of the cartridge...did the recoil seat the bullets deeper?

Better to watch the Cartridge Base to Ogive length as the COAL changes with the deformation of the tip. Principally, what Mthuntr said about bullet seating is far more important than a blunted tip, from the stand point of accuracy and the slim possibility of of higher pressures that could prove hazardous.

FYI - Berger has an excellent article on its site regarding the "Effects of Cartridge Overall Length (COAL) and Cartridge Base to Ogive (CBTO)

 

[Gunner46]

It's a moot factor. At hunting velocities the lead nose melts away from air friction alone. I've actually witnessed bullets vaporize in mid flight when a too light of bullet was pushed too fast. That was just out of a 22/250.

 

[Arch Stanton]

I have shot 165 Hornady BTSP (Lead tip) out of a 30-06 for 15 years. I shoot that gun out to 600-700 yards at the range and see no effect on accuracy by the tips being flattened in the magazine. I would never shoot at a deer/elk that far with that gun (VX-2 3x9 scope on it) so I would say that the bullets work great and I'm going to worry about something else like getting some Chopper mittens.....