Whats a polymer tip for?

S

Saskcoyote78

New member
Im curious why Varmint bullets have plastic tips? From my understanding they are never as accurate as a HPBT and the tip as usually never true.
Is it to push the jacket back on impact to make it more explosive?

Cheers!!
 
Yes to insure expansion, the tip is more aerodynamic than a big honking hole in the point of the bullet.The ballistic tip is usually on varmint bullets.
 
Poly tips are never as accurate as HPBT? Where did that come from? I find them to be equal when properly loaded. The poly tip should maintain better down range trajectory, all other things being equal. The poly tips are more consistent than lead tips, IME. And the tip should initiate expansion sooner and make them more explosive.
 
Originally Posted By: pahntr760Poly tips are never as accurate as HPBT? Where did that come from? I find them to be equal when properly loaded. The poly tip should maintain better down range trajectory, all other things being equal. The poly tips are more consistent than lead tips, IME. And the tip should initiate expansion sooner and make them more explosive.
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Plastic tip bullets can certainly be as accurate as HPBT bullets. One reason MatchKIng and Berger bullets are so accurate and have such high BCs, is that they are fanatical about bullet jackets and shoulder/heel consistency. The streamlined tip does help in ultra-long range shooting and the tip helps in expansion mainly (according to an article in "Handloader" magazine), because when the tip is cast off on initial impact, there is a BIG hollow point to initiate the expansion. Sierra just introduced a tipped MatchKing bullet that ought to be really something.
 
Most of those new bullets with the plastic tips, brought out by Sierra are target bullets. Those plastic tips increase the BC of a bullet. Some of them considerably.
 
Originally Posted By: pahntr760Poly tips are never as accurate as HPBT? Where did that come from?


They are seldom used at benchrest and long range shoots from what I have seen, and a few of the bench shooters I know tell everyone they are for gophers and crows.

I see that Sierra is now making a Matchking with a poly tip but its a new thing.

Im just posing the question..I have no experience with competitive shooting.

Cheers!!
 
Since this new Sierra offering is the first match grade bullet (to my knowledge) made with a poly tip it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that bench shooters dont use them. Of course they are for hunting thats what they were designed for after all (I doubt many bench shooters use FailSafe's or Core-Lokts either). Out of a deer rifle they are more accurate than most of the guys pulling the trigger, even varmint guns for the most part are shot off bags or bipods at varying and often unknown distances. This is decidedly different shooting than off a bench at a stationary target at a known range going for the smallest possible group.
Poly tips (specifically Nosler BallisticTips) shoot great out of my .30-06 and .308, either is capable of sub-MOA when I do my part. This doesn't make either of those rifles bench rest accurate by any stretch of the imagination, one of my "great" 3/4" groups at 100 yards would be laughed at by bench shooters but I'm quite happy with it out of a deer rifle.
 
What everyone says I'm sure is true, but out of my dads 270 hpbt sierras I loaded were by far more accurate then 130 grain ttsx Barnes I loaded, the problem was the sierras didn't exit the deer and he wanted to switch to something did, the accuracy on the Barnes tipped are good enough for hunting just not as good as sierras... I'm sure everyone soon here as far more experience and knowledge then me, I just stating what I've experienced..
 
The difference between sierra and Barnes are the typ of bullet. Any barnes I've shot just were more finicky to load development and a clean barrel since they're solids.
 
Wow if poly-tips are not as accurate, how much tighter than 3/8" groups at 100 meters am I to expect? (These groups are shot in an Underground 100 meter range up here in North Dakota)
 
Originally Posted By: RiflemannWow if poly-tips are not as accurate, how much tighter than 3/8" groups at 100 meters am I to expect? (These groups are shot in an Underground 100 meter range up here in North Dakota)

I didnt say they weren't "accurate", just that they tend not to group as well as HP Match bullets.

Cheers!!
 
Originally Posted By: Saskcoyote78Originally Posted By: RiflemannWow if poly-tips are not as accurate, how much tighter than 3/8" groups at 100 meters am I to expect? (These groups are shot in an Underground 100 meter range up here in North Dakota)

I didnt say they weren't "accurate", just that they tend not to group as well as HP Match bullets.

Cheers!!

Guess I'ma gonna hafta try me some o them match bullets.
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First four shots measured .252" w/55gr NBT's out of Bushmaster Predator but I couldn't take the pressure and 5th shot (barely visible) cut the cloverleaf @ 1 o'clock, opening group up to .345".
My buddy sat down and duplicated that group w/five more shots but his were same elevation but slightly right of vertical center of square.

Just funin' ya, Saskcoyote. I'll admit to chunkin a bunch of SMK's downrange over 15+ years of HP rifle competition, but I don't feel a bit handicapped w/the NBT's shooting predators today.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: Saskcoyote78Originally Posted By: RiflemannWow if poly-tips are not as accurate, how much tighter than 3/8" groups at 100 meters am I to expect? (These groups are shot in an Underground 100 meter range up here in North Dakota)

I didnt say they weren't "accurate", just that they tend not to group as well as HP Match bullets.

Cheers!!

I have no problems grouping poly tipped bullets. 5 shot groups at 100






Again...I have no clue as to how one can make a blanket statement that poly tips are never as accurate as HPBT.
 
Dumb a$$es abound, yet the plastic tip reigns supreme with those that have a clue about things such as, B.C., "nuken" varmints with varmint bullets, reliable expansion with BG bullets, and defeating the wind with all of the above.......


PLOTBOSS
 
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