More bullet comparison testing. Note the Sierra 125gr PH is new current production, they have toughened it up so much that now it's not suitable for hunting. But it makes a great target bullet since it's so accurate.

Looks like that 115TME opens up a lot nicer than the 125ME... How deep does it penetrate in gel?

We're just finalizing the 115gr TME and haven't shot it in gel yet. I'm going to shoot some into a 200# hog cadaver tomorrow though.

How long is the 115gr TME bullet?

Questions... How does the petal weight compare between the 115 and 125 XCs?

Shot 3 from 100yds into a 200# hog cadaver broadside yesterday, all 3 fully expanded with 100% weight retention and were under the far side hide.

Sounds like great performance. Thanks for the update. 👍

1.075"

XC 81gr base and 4 11gr pedals
TXC 57gr base and 4 14gr pedals

As a FYI I've been doing a LOT of testing of new Lehigh bullet designs and most of the shooting has been with suppressed rifles. Overall I've been using 6 rifles and I've shot well over 3000rds over the past couple of months. These rifles have had very little maintenance since I HATE to clean guns! I often just pull the BCG, re-lube and continue shooting with no other cleaning. Most of the ammo I've shot has been in once fired cases. I've had ZERO malfunctions of any kind which shows just how reliable these guns really are.

I've went over 500rds between bore cleaning on some of these with no noticeable loss of accuracy.

Bill…you’ve got the ultimate job

I’m shocked my the 200y 125tnt results.

I need a little help please. Our deer season is long gone, our bear season is long gone, and we don't have any hogs in my area. So this is my time I go back over all of my loading data and check my rifles. For the past few years it seems like the majority of my shooting and hunting has been with the 300 HAM'Rs.
My problem is the number of suitable .30 bullets. No way can I go out and buy a box of each just to see what works the best.
Can some of you let me know one or two of your favorite loads just to narrow down the selections?
MY HAM'Rs range from 16" to 20" and I do not shoot suppressed.
Accuracy comes first, followed by power.

That's an impossible question to answer as all barrels seem to like different bullets and like the old saying goes YMMV. There are a few bullets that seem to work in a variety of HAM'R barrels. A good place to start is the reloading data on the Wilson website.

I can understand why a manufacturer wouldn't want the extra expense of making a "sample pack" of their various offerings but perhaps if enough of us showed interest maybe we could persuade Mr. Wilson in offering say a 15 count of his most popular offerings. That way we could do five three shot groups at various loads just to get a feel how they perform. I for one would be interested in such an offering both in just the bullets or say 3 full factory loads. It's REALLY depressing to spend 3 bucks a round only to have 15 sitting on the shelf gathering dust because your gun hates them.

Really liking the looks of the 115gr TME. What powder and speed?

Yeah... It is essentially impossible to tell you that what I do is best and make it a valuable suggestion to you. Maybe the best indicator is to look at what WC sells in loaded ammo. That is your first and best filter. A good reloader would then just make the pick that looks best and work with it. I am not aware of any good shortcuts in quality reloading. I tried a number of bullets before settling mostly on the 150gr btsp. I had gone thru about 500 bullets before deciding it was the one.

Other things to consider are bullet availability. There are lots of good bullets out there that are listed but cannot be found. So go with the ones that are the most constantly available (I shoot a lot). And finally... for the 95% of shots that are just for paper or steel, I look for inexpensive bullets that are accurate and easy to load. Hunting is totally different.

Bill,

I appreciate the work in developing the terminal effect of these bullets for the HAM'R. I am also interested in their accuracy. What is the chance that you could do an accuracy comparison at 100 yard (5- shot group) using the same bullets that you did for impact/expansion (above)?

Thanks

Obviously since I own Lehigh Defense I mostly shoot Lehigh bullets, but I still use and shoot some other brands too and based on my "pre Lehigh" experiences here's my favorites listed in order of preference.

Accuracy (as Greycard requested)
Sierra 125gr PH
Sierra 135gr HP-V
Hornady 110gr V-MAX
Hornady 135gr FTX
Speer 125gr TNT

Hunting (best terminal performance)
Speer 150gr Gold Dot (Blackout version)
Speer 135gr HAM'R Bonded
Hornady 150gr SST (300 Savage version)
Hornady 135gr FTX
Sierra 135gr HP-V

As to Lehigh, things are changing so fast with new designs and we're constantly improving it's hard to have favorites. But as it stands "today".....

Accuracy
110gr Controlled Chaos 2
125gr Controlled Chaos (this is my "go to" LD bullet)

Hunting
125gr Controlled Chaos
110gr Tipped Xtreme Chaos (this is brand new, but is testing out EXCEPTIONALLY WELL for both accuracy and terminal performance)

I routinely use 10 uppers and they all have their "favorite" bullets for accuracy, but I've found that if a gun won't shoot either the Sierra 125gr PH or the 135gr HP-V accurately there is an issue of some sort with the upper. Unlike Greycard ultimate accuracy isn't that important to me, if the load will shoot consistent 1.25" 5 shot groups and has good terminal performance then I'm happy.

Mr. Wilson thanks for all the amazing data you publish and I hope you can stand one more pest with a question. I'm a big fan of the heavier bullets and I noticed the Speer 150gr Gold Dot (Blackout version) at the top of the terminal performance list and I was wondering how the boat tail version compared as I could swear you said once that's what Wilson was loading now for the factory bonded load.

The "boattail" on that bullet isn't much really and terminal performance is similar to the standard 150gr Gold Dot which means it's tougher, Also, I haven't found it to shoot as well as the Gold Dot. The reason we don't load the gold dot is Speer ONLY sells that bullet in 50ct boxes, no bulk OEM sales like the other Speer bullets we load.

I thought they were both Gold Dots. What bullet is the 150gr Speer bonded you sell...and does it have a Speer part number?

Thanks!

Both the 135gr and 150gr bonded are proprietary OEM bulk bullets only sold to WC. Being OEM for ammo loading we are not allowed to sell them as components. The only bulk bullet Speer allows us to sell is the 130gr HHC which comes boxed 100ct from Speer and they charge us more for them than we we buy the same bullet bulk for ammo loading.

Took a couple of years to indulge a wildcat but I bought an 18" barrel and am interested to see what I can make this rifle do. If your going to build an 30-30 equivalent, you have to be ok with what a 30-30 will do... take deer/hog sized game to 150 yds. Recommend thoughts of 300 yard shots upside down at bull elk leave your mind. Ok... results so far. (1) Hunting. Nickel WC, 130 gn Hot-Cor seated to cannelure, CCI 450 started at 22 gns CFE Black and worked up to 28.4 gns. Little flattening of primer, no ejector mark, got repeatable 2550 fps. Will back down to 28.2 gns for actual hunting load and test. Should be just over 2500 fps. (2) Plinking same bullet with 3031 powder, 22 grains, 1800 fps. (3) Plinking russian resized 123 gn bullet seated 2.26 3031 22 gns, 1800 fps. (4) Plinking converted wolf russian ammo- 123 gn resized .308, seated 2.26, 22.5 gns of what looks like 3031-2150 fps (burns a little hotter than 3031), (5) Plinking 110 gn solid, seated to chamber, 3031 full case fill, tap, compress - 2000 fps. (6) Plinking. 110 gn loaded same as above but with 22.5 gns 3031 1650 to 1700 fps. Only max CFE Black showed light pressure signs. All rounds fed and cycled 100% with 30 round WC Polymer magazine. For Plinking, focused on 110 gn round nose and russian 123 gn fmj as these can be purchased relatively on the cheap. My take, after experience with many calibers on game is... 130 gn bullet, 2500 fps will take game (deer/hog) to 100 yds with better than 30-30 performance and much better than 77gn 5.56 from more angles. Ballistics with a 2.7 " above bore, sighted at 50 yd zero show shots t o175 yds possible. If game has some oomph, stay within 100 yds. This is exactly what I wanted out of the cartridge... 30 carbine on steroids with accuracy and good dependability with near 300 savage performance/accuracy, one of the best deer cartridges ever developed. Hope this helps some. My next test session will nail down the hunting load and perform accuracy testing. Looking for around 1.5 inch at 100 yds, think this will do better as it was shooting on top of itself at 50 yds. One more note... the lower velocity loads had a noticeable lower point of impact at 50 yds. Has to be a barrel vibration thing, so may vary gun to gun. Last thought... had a few issues when using bullet seating die to apply slight crimp. Shell bulge just below neck was a problem. Had to take cartridges apart and rebuild with no crimp, no contact of die to cartridge. Next tension was satisfactory with no setback. I have factory crimp die on the way. Last Last thought. Assuming that WC Factory 130 grains were loaded with CFE Black, I match the load and could not match their velocity of 2450 fps. Not sure, but think the powder might be a bit different or crimp tighter. Will watch this as I crimp the next batch lightly. This might let full load back off to 28 gns and 2500 fps. A little more room for hotter environments.

Which Wildcat?

Bill, I'm sure this has already been asked, but a 30cal cartridge based on the 6.8spc would have had more case capacity and would have gotten closer to the 30/30 ballistics goal (I think). What was the thought process behind stretching a 300BLK vs standardizing something like the 30HRT? Thanks

1. I would say it is more stretching out a 5.56 instead of a 300BLK.
2. The project was base around improving the 7.62x40WT
3. The goal of matching the 30-30 was met.
4. Keeping the 5.56 case allowed the conversion without having to change the bolt.