BNH Rating vs CUP and Vel.

[MaxP]

Neither of which require anything harder than BHN 12. The Buffalo herds were slaughtered with bullets no harder than BHN 8, at the most.

Bison are the least difficult of the bovines I have seen killed. They are narrowly constructed. Also, they were shot en masse and left to die slowly. Not a good example.

 

[Walkalong]

Hardness to prevent leading and hardness/ductility/malleability for killing critters are two different things/subjects. So you can both be correct.

 

[WrongHanded]

Neither of which require anything harder than BHN 12. The Buffalo herds were slaughtered with bullets no harder than BHN 8, at the most.

Where they regularly shot through the skull whilst charging, for a CNS hit?

 

[CraigC]

Just out of curiosity, Craig, what projectiles are you using to handgun hunt those big critters with?

I like Beartooth, Cast Performance and Rimrock. Leadheads seems to be a little on the soft side. We've seen Montana Bullet Works shatter.

Yes Craig, for the 3 people in the world that want to shoot a cow with with a cast bullet from a hand gun, perhaps harder than BHN 15 might be useful. The rest of the world would generally tend to use a bullet more suited to the task...

Snark aside, that's the problem with absolute statements, like yours. No wiggle room.

Neither of which require anything harder than BHN 12. The Buffalo herds were slaughtered with bullets no harder than BHN 8, at the most.

Wow, "buffalo herds were slaughtered". No more details than that? I'd sure like to have more information to make any sort of determination.

Just because Elmer Keith's bullets were BHN 12 does not mean there is no utility in harder bullets. As critters get bigger, the need for reliable penetration becomes more critical. This may be hard for you to believe but there is a significant group of hunters who need tougher bullets. It doesn't have to be Cape buffalo or elephant as one poster commented. I want a tough bullet for elk and moose but this also applies to a lot of plains game like zebra, kudu, nilgai and eland. Softer bullets deform and/or expand and that seriously inhibits penetration. It also inhibits the bullet's ability to smash heavy bone and keep moving. Large diameter, cast LBT's and SWC's don't need to expand to be effective and when the game is larger than deer, I really don't want them to deform at all. That goes double if the quarry bites back, like the aforementioned bear defense angle.

Bullets a little on the softer side behave like this. Which is fine for deer sized game.

View attachment 831233

A heat treated LBT in the 22-25BHN range will behave like this in a 2000lb water buffalo. They still deform but hold enough of t heir shape to fully penetrate.

View attachment 831234

Here you can see the stark difference between GOOD cast bullets and monolithic solids like the Grizzly Punch, which is brass over a small lead core. This is why quite a few folks are abandoning cast bullets in favor of monolithic solids for heavy game.

View attachment 831235

 

[Walkalong]

If y'all want to debate hunting bullets, feel free to start a thread about them. The OP just wants to buy a bullet that won't lead his gun.