I’ve always been a lead cup and core guy but I’m starting to look lead free options.

I’ve started working up loads with Barnes bullets.

Besides Barnes and Hornady, there are so many other lead free bullet brands like Hammer, Lehigh Defense, Cavity Backed Bullets, Cutting Edge, Maker, etc…

Seems like half are designed to retain their petals and half are designed to blow their petals.

If you use lead free bullets for hunting, would love to hear about your experiences.

It’s been my experience that copper bullets do not expand like lead. You need to drop bullet weight to get the performance unless you hit bone.

That said, I haven’t used the TTSX which supposedly expands better at standard velocities

Expensive

My 7x57 Mauser is my designated copper only rifle, it gets very good accuracy with the S&B 150 grain TXRG bullet. It's been effective on hogs at ~250 yards. I have some of the 96 grain tin Evostrike cartridges in .270, haven't shot them but very curious to see their accuracy and performance. That might be more of a varmint bullet.

I've heard that as well but there have been a lot of changes. Talked to a Barnes tech and many of their bullets are designed to expand 1.8x to 2x at 1600-1800 fps.

I think Hornady is behind the times as they always recommend 2000 fps to open.

Some of these newer companies have expansion and petal separation as low as 1400 fps. They are apparently getting really good at terminal performance with the newer lead free bullets.

TAC-TX in a 300BO is a killer for sure.

For deer/hogs this season, I loaded 120 TAC-TX in my 16” 308 win @ 3050 fps.

I can’t speak o the performance of the fracturing bullets, but biting into a lead pellet or fragment is bad enough I’ll pass on the coper bullets that break apart.

That was my issue. Juice just wasn't worth the squeeze. I spent a lot of money on the Barnes train, then realized I could do the same or better at half the price. For hunting, SGKs, SSTs, and Gold Dots have me covered in just about everything I shoot.

This is the only non-lead bullet I’ve recovered out of an animal. Hard quartering away shot on a whitetail doe out of my muzzleloader pistol. Recovered just under skin of opposite shoulder.

I do think bullet manufacturers are getting better at formulating non-lead bullets for better terminal performance. That, and shooters are better understanding what the limitations of non-lead bullets are and not pushing outside those boundaries.

I’ve had great success with light for caliber barnes ttsx, kept within reasonable distance to allow great expansion. I’m really not a fan of the shed petal type. I want it mushroomed and pushing through for a good exit wound. I have since gone bonded and haven’t looked back. Been using nosler accubond with excellent results that closely minic a Barnes but better and reliable expansion. This year I worked up a load for my 6.5 prc using the speer 140 grain bonded gold dot. Same bullet used in federal fusion. Bonded with excellent expansion but retains most of the weight. Have it loaded at 3055 fps at this time. I think I could get 3100 if I wanted to. 24 inch barrel bergara.

Hammers?

I'm seeing more lead free requests for ammo than I have in the past. I've loaded them all and have a lot of feedback on many of them. I see the Tipped TSX not expanding and I see the TSX expanding better than the TTSX, which goes against the norm. The Hornady CX bullet has done very well from reports I've seen. I think solid copper bullets do need more velocity to work properly. So dropping down in weight to gain speed is highly recommended.

The "best" copper bullet I have seen is the Lehigh Controlled Chaos. It hits so hard and has more effect than even a lead bullet does. I plan to be hunting with a 152 grain Lehigh CC in my 308 Win this weekend!

I'm hunting this weekend with Barnes 120 TAC-TX in a 308 Win. I'll likely blow the petals since I'm pushing them over 3000 from a 16" barrel.

I have a nilgai hunt in January and I think I've settled 200 TTSX @ 2990 from a 350 Remington Magnum.

I ordered some Cavity Backed MKZs for a 6.8 SPC. I've heard good things about them. Supposed to open easily and wide even at 1600 fps.

I understand working up a load you like might be expensive but how much hunting ammo do you go through? Annually I use about 3-4 rounds for deer and maybe 50 for hogs when I get the chance. One box of 50 bullets at $50, even I could afford that.

My Dad would buy a box of 20 rounds of 270 and have it last 5 years. But, I shoot a lot with several different rifles, and I might be considered cheap. If not, then frugal, so banging away at a buck a bullet is just too wasteful to suit me. I suppose I could do most of my shooting (Grendel, for instance) with the 123 gr SSTs and then swap to an expensive bullet when hunting, but those SSTs are all I need for hunting. I suppose that I just don’t need expensive bullets for what I do. And what’s a lead free bullet gonna do for me that a cup and core can’t?

And, hunting and paper punching are a year round thing. I don’t ‘go’ hunting, since I live where I hunt.

Bottom line…I’m cheap.

Ha! If it ain't broke.... I used cheap bullets with a lot of success. Nosler Ballistic Tips and Interlocks have worked just fine. I'm mainly playing with lead free as an experiment, other than the nilgai hunt. The guide recommended Barnes TTSX on that one.

I will say copper is generally cheaper than bonded bullets these days. Gold Dots and Fusions were one of the best performers for the price but they are pretty much unattainable now.

I never thought about it, but I always shot Partitions and Accubonds in anything other than a .22 centerfire, but somewhere along the way I became a little more adventurous and decided to see how "lesser" bullets worked. That change seems to have coincided with my enhanced access to hog hunting, and what I experienced with the 6.5 Grendel in the short time I used it. I'll still use ABLRs because I have a bunch of them on hand and continue to snag them when a good opportunity arises, but I have plenty of other choices on hand.

For inexplicable reasons, or maybe my bias toward Partitions was at work, I never tried anything from Barnes. I decided I'd try some TTSXs more recently because of the terminal performance and accuracy reports that are so common in forums, and when I did I was amazed. I easily got 3-shot groups right at 1" at 200 yards with my 6mm-284. If no one wants that rifle (it's for sale now) I'll just keep it and sell my M70 in .30-06 which is the rifle I intended to keep as my sole big game bolt gun. I don't think there's a critter in the state (native, anyway) that will stand up to that little 80-grainer moving at 3600 fps at the muzzle. I liked the 180-grain Partition at 2730 fps at the muzzle out of the '06---it's devastating, but there are many ways to skin a cat.

Bullet manufacturers have a truly unenviable job.

All that the shooting public wants is a bullet that expands violently at any/all impact velocities (but doesn't waste a bunch of meat) while retaining a high percentage of its weight and stopping just under the hide on the far side so as to expend all energy in the beast...unless an exit is desired for a better blood trail. While they're at it, they might as well make them match accurate with the highest SDs and BCs imaginable. Oh, and cheap too!

Lord, by now I've shot game with most everything from patched round ball out of a flintlock to the old steel-jacketed Hornady solids and I've about concluded that I only NEED two things to take game consistently: a) proper shot placement and b) penetration (all else is gravy). I'm responsible for the shot placement, pure and simple. As to penetration, I NEED the bullet to reach the vitals and pierce them. I'd prefer an exit wound, but I'm not wed to one. One thing an exit guarantees: that I got all the penetration I NEEDED.

The more frangible bullets (regardless of source) seem to have a higher percentage of "dynamited bridge" reactions; more controlled expansion slugs through the heart/lungs often result in the traditional "100 yard dash" before dropping. I'm working with a young man who has said that he likes his deer to "drop"...fair enough and I know what kind of slug to suggest for him.

Below is a picture of a recovered 270 grain .375 Cutting Edge Raptor that took the cape buffalo pictured in Zambia. It took out the heart and lungs and was found on the far side. The She-Wolf also used CEB Raptors in her .270 on that trip for five one-shot kills (and no recovered bullets). They ain't cheap but they work!

I typically shoot targets with the same bullet that I hunt with. Mostly SST's and ELD-x. I do shoot accubonds in my .270, but I do very little target shooting with that rifle. I switched over to cast bullets in my .357 too.

I don't want to have to re-zero every time I grab a rifle to hunt with. I just shot steel with it recently, so no need to re-check zero either.

I shot Barnes for several years in my 7-08 but tried the Lehigh and have stayed with the Lehigh in 308 win, and the 300 Ham'r. If you do your part, they are bang, flop. No tracking.

Based on all the good feedback on here, I'm going to have to try the Lehigh Controlled Chaos bullets.

I am finally one of those old guys who does not want to change something that is already working well. No doubt the new copper bullets are very good at what they do but IMO the thing they do best is make a LOT more money for the bullet makers, distributors and sellers. Sorta like Starbucks a couple decades ago.

To be fair, I am tainted. Took some Barnes bullets in 338 WM to Africa 13 years ago and was quite unimpressed.

Thank for sharing. I’ve heard good things about Cutting Edge Bullets. Hammer bullets also seem to be trending as well.

Price wise, Lehigh Controlled Chaos, Maker T-REX and Cavity Backed MKZ seem to be a little cheaper.

I believe Barnes, Hornady, Maker and Cavity Backed are designed to retain their petals while CEB, Lehigh, and Maker are designed to shed them.

Certainly a lot of options and different philosophies between all the bullet makers.

Bills Wilson bought them. I’m interested in them as well.