Been playing with my 450BM AR 10.5 pistol. Tested Hornady 300grn XTP Mags for accuracy and terminal performance.
Accuracy- well, from a 10.5 bbl, soft rested on bags at 50 yds, 32 grn LilGun with an optic makes a big hole after 4 or more shots, reddot or irons, 2 inches; so yes, accurate enough for what I intend.
I am looking for a heavy(er) bullet that holds up well for deep penetration ( think bears or a bison or....)
Terminal Perf? Well, water jugs at 25 yds- complete blow up, but destroys 4 out of 5 gallon milk jugs, with the 5th leaking; just fragments remaining, no bullet to be found in the backer box. Wet newsprint- massive cavity at 3-7 inches, but again, little to no bullet intact ( maybe a 30-50 grn lead particle).
External ballistics show this bullet travelling at 1785 fps with about 13 fps SD. So, why are they blowing up?
Next-has anyone tried out the Hawk 452/300-350 grn soft jacketed bullets they offer? Not as expensive as Swift or Barnes, but pretty expensive compared to Hornady FTX/XTP etc.
Custom Performance Hard lead gas checks, but short checks, not too interested for an AR, half jackets- yeah I could talk to Corbin, lay out about $2 grand and make my own, but that is not in the checking account.
Not really a fan of monometal bullets-not really sure why though.