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Accuracy - Hollow Point vs. Round Nose?

21K views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  JetBlack 
#1 ·
I was doing some reading the other night about the accuracy of hollow point bullets vs. round nose bullets. And to my surprise, I read an article that explained that HP bullets are actually more accurate. They stated some scientific reasoning related to the weight distribution of the bullet being heavier toward the back. They also suggested that most target rounds are actually HP's b/c of their accuracy.

But when I was at the store this afternoon, I noticed that almost all of the "target" or "competition" rounds were in fact round nose.

Does anybody have a clear answer to this? My original thinking was that round points would be more accurate b/c of the lack of cupping in the nose to catch air, but when I read the reasoning concerning the weight distribution of the HP's that made sense as well.


Thanks for your opinions. Just trying to get a better understanding of this.


Dan
 
#2 · (Edited)
I think you have a few points confused.
Rifle match ammo is HP but its a tiny hollow point. .30 cal 168 sierra match kings but they don't expand consistently like normal HP ammo
Rifle round nose is more of a special round for tube fed guns. It's also typically an exposed lead point and is not drawn as precisely as copper
Pistol plinking ammo is mostly FMJ and is sold as "target" ammo because it's cheaper and not as good of a self defence round.
True wad cutter pistol target ammo is designed to cut a nice neat hole in paper to make scoring easier vs a torn hole left by FMJ and HP ammo.
 
#3 ·
My .30-06 shoots the best groups with 168gr (precisely the right weight for the twist in the rifle) boat-tail, hollowpoint, national match bullets.

Here's a pic to give you some idea of the volume of the HP :) Kinda funny.

 
#4 ·
I shot a .27 inch group with those bad boys. Right out of the Remington box. They were $1 a shot, in 1993, at the cheapest place.
 
#5 ·
I assume you are talking about rimfires, not centerfire cartridges . . I don't do much target shooting, but at .22 ranges either seems able to punch holes about equally.
I use CCI Stingers iin my .22's always.
 
#8 ·
By far, THE most accurate .22 rimfire ammo I've ever used were some Remington Eley match grade. They were round nose bullets. I could print a cloverleaf group at 50 yards from a bench rest. The limiting factor was the thickness of the cross hairs on my 4x leupold rimfire scope. Really.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I have had excellent results with Wolf Extra Match. Bought a bunch of these when the Obama scare was on and 22 ammo was hard get. I also have had good results with Stinger in my old J.C. Higgins 40DL (Marlin Model 80) but not match quality. I have also found that Stinger is not necessarily the best for large fox type squirrels. Seems like body shots will crater rather than penetrate so head shots are more certain as usual, just have to limit shots. I have not noticed any difference in accuracy of non-match solid or hollow point.
 
#10 ·
As far as I understand, the quip about hollow points being more accurate than round nose (or other non-hollow points) is true for jacketed bullets. This is due to the fact that apparently they can have better control of the jacket as it is being drawn from a solid base towards the hollow point than when drawn from the nose towards the base. This leads to better axially balanced bullets and hence better accuracy. In un-jacketed bullets other factors may apply, but it is not generally accepted that hollow points are any more accurate than non-hollow points. All .22LR match ammo I've ever used has been round nose.
 
#12 ·
As far as I understand, the quip about hollow points being more accurate than round nose (or other non-hollow points) is true for jacketed bullets. This is due to the fact that apparently they can have better control of the jacket as it is being drawn from a solid base towards the hollow point than when drawn from the nose towards the base. This leads to better axially balanced bullets and hence better accuracy. In un-jacketed bullets other factors may apply, but it is not generally accepted that hollow points are any more accurate than non-hollow points. All .22LR match ammo I've ever used has been round nose.
Dan,

Think your research was for centerfire rifles. Not to be confused with rimfire target ammo that, like luis said, is round nose.
 
#13 ·
I believe the most accurate bullets have traditionally been "wadcutters" which I have never seen, in my adult life. They were solid monolithic, cylindrical plugs of lead, in the exact length necessary to stabilize perfectly in the rifling. In handguns you could only use them in revolvers or single shot handguns as they would not feed from a magazine. Super accurate and they punched perfect holes in the target. Not the frayed, stained holes, we get with roundnose ammo. It sure makes scoring a target easier!!!

 
#14 ·
Probably the two most important factors in the accurcay of rimfire ammunition is the consistency at which the primer compound is spread in the rim and the uniformity of the thickness of the rim itself. If there two varibles are not uniform, bullet design makes little differnce IMO.

Primer compounds are dispersed with centifigal force as the case is spun. Several years ago Federal came up with a propietory method and supplied the US Olympic team with thier ammo. Results were amazing. However, the last time I checked if I could find any at all,the price was $11 /box.

There are tools on the market to measure rim thickness variations and compeiotion shooters usually separate these by bacthes. This is why one is reccomended to try several different brands of rimfire ammo and once the most accurate is found, go back and buy all the boxes the merchant has of the same lot number.
 
#15 ·
wadcutters are used in short range pistol matches cuz the clean cut makes a bigger hole+is easy to score+a bigger hole makes a smaller group. over 50yds. most h.p. will group better in my op.

In 22s most guns will have 1 or 2 loads they like better than the rest + Its not always the best grade target ammo "green tag" that will shoot the best in some guns. hp shoots better in most of my 22s than round nose,

I try a dozen kinds of ammo in each of my 22s + make my choice fron that.
 
#16 ·
In my Marlin 925, round nose shoots more accurate than hollow points. Case in point, the CCI Mini-Mag. The 40 gr RN is more accurate than the HPs in my rifle.

Tom
 
#17 ·
My Marlins dislike Green Tag. They LOVE Blazer. It's odd. Also, CCI standard velocity is their absolute favorite. I get an occasional light load out of blazer, which I don't like. Couple of misfires, as well. Nothing worse than being right on that difficult shot and [click]. never had an actual squib, but if I ever did, I'd expect it to be with Blazer.
 
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