The debate has raged for as long as gun hunters have taken animals with tiny, fast-moving metal projectiles: what type of bullet is best?
These days, that debate revolves mainly around solid copper bullets and various jacketed lead bullets. Unfortunately, as MeatEater’s Janis Putelis pointed out, reliable, real-world information can be tough to track down.
“A lot of folks come up with very strong opinions about which one is best for what animals at what ranges,” Janis said. “But if you try to dig down into it, there’s not a definitive answer out there. So today, I’m out in Townsend, Montana, with my buddy Garrett Long to hopefully clear up the debate a little bit.”
The result of their efforts is one of the first video-documented comparisons of a copper, bonded, and cup-and-core bullet at distances out to 500 yards using both pure ballistic gelatin and gelatin molded around a whitetail scapula.
The Test
Garrett used his competition 6.5 Creedmoor rifle to take shots at…