DRT Bullets

[MM]

I came across ballisticstudies.com and have been reading most of his research notes and that in turn has led me to DRT and their interesting bullets. I have always used Nosler Partitions thinking soft enough to expand but the base should pass through and leave a blood trail. I thought this is a good solution to hold together at close range and still expand at long range. I have shot way more game under 150 yards than over and extreme long range for me would be 400 yards but more likely 300-350 yards especially with my kipplauf and combo. I have always liked a pass through shot because things can go wrong and if you don't have a blood trail recovery becomes difficult to impossible. I understand the thinking behind a complete energy dump inside the animal but what if my aim is off just a bit for whatever reason, flinch,wind angle whatever? I can only shoot about 4 deer a year where I live so it is impossible to get enough hands on experience to see what works and what doesn't and a jacket core separation that stays inside the dead animal is complete bullet failure to one line of thinking and a complete success to another way of thinking because all the energy was expended inside the animal. I am trying to decide between Barnes TTSX with 100% weight retention and pass through but maybe not enough expansion, Nosler Partition with 60% weight retention, maybe more likely hood of expansion and pass through, or the DRT massive energy dump and internal trauma but no exit. I am going to try their 39 grn. .224 bullet in my .222's and see how they work. They are claiming they work well on varmints and predators and will not pass through a coyote yet are capable of killing deer and pigs up to to 300 pounds out to a range of 300 yards. It sounds to good to be true but the videos are impressive. Has anyone had any experience with the validity of the information in ballisticstudies.com? Has anyone had any experience with DRT bullets? As always any ideas opinions and stories are greatly appreciated.
Matt

[SPEEDY]

I like a bullet that sheds some weight inside and can handle traveling through from any angle.
I had a funny one recently where the bullet both shed its jacket and exited.
But what made it funny was that it somehow bounced back into the deers body.

But my preference is for either, I love a pill that expends all of its energy inside a deer, I've had less deer run tgat way.

[stokesrj]

I've seen the DRT in action on Florida hogs fired from the .223. I was observer, not shooter, and in all cases they performed as claimed. All went down right there, it did take a while for some to die, but they could not get back up, expired on the spot without a follow up shot required. I'm not sure how many but I would estimate 15-18 ranging in weight from 100 pounds up to 300 pounds. The shooters were highly skilled and all shots were placed either behind the shoulder or behind the ear. The results were much the same but the behind the shoulder shots produced less thrashing about.

I've read all of Nathans books and conversed with him a few times. I know trazman spent some time discussing long range applications with him year before last at the SHOT show. I think Nathan has a far better grasp than most experts on how bullets kill especially at long range.

Like you, I've had very good results using the Nosler Partition bullet at traditional hunting ranges 0-350 yards. I had my 6.5 STW throat set up specifically for the 140 grain .264" Nosler Partition and it served me really well. However I did have a few instances that resulted in slow kills when ranges were extended beyond traditional hunting ranges. It's almost blasphemy to say so, but I had a few failures to expand beyond 400 yards with the .308 diameter 165 grain Partition when fired from my 30-06.

I also had multiple failures with the .308 diameter 165 grain Ballistic Tip when used at close range. This was when used on even relatively light game with shoulder shot placement choices. The results were what I call splash wounds, shallow wide wounds that failed to make it to the vital organs.

I think controlled expansion bullets such as the Nosler Partition and Accubond do really well when fired from high velocity rifles at close to moderate range. There really isn't much better. But as range extends I really think a highly frangible bullet does much better. Not because it dumps it's energy in the animal, but because it creates a wide wound with the secondary projectiles of bullet particles and bone fragments. To me it is demonstrably superior to use a highly fragmenting bullet once impact velocities drop below 2200 fps. This is assuming the payload weight is matched to the animal weight so that those projectiles have sufficiently deep penetration.

Bullets can be divided into three categories, fragmentation, deformation, and non expanding. Each has it's applications.

[pagosawingnut]

While I haven't tried the Cutting Edge Bullets in lighter calibers, I use the solids and the Raptor (which is a hollow point that fragments into 6 petals and the shank) in bigger bores. 375 and up to the .500 NE. They are an absolute hammer.