Has anyone experience with handloading the flextips? Specifically should I discount the measurements of the platic tip and use the bullet ogive for seating/C.O.L. measurements, etc.

Thanks

I measure to ogive. If you use a stony point comparator you can tell better how far off the lands your bullet is seated.

I`d load so the bullet is crimped in the canellure. Proper seating depth is a must in most lever actions to insure they feed. The crimp groove is likely placed in position for the proper COL useing that bullet.

From way out in Left Field....
I was HOT to buy some of those bullets for in-house 30-30's.. till I read a post by a guy who said he had accuracy issues with them. That cooled my jets.
Since I'm getting pretty awesome accuracy, and more importantly, instant kills, with Nosler's 170 grain 30-30 Partitions, I'll hang in there using the Nosler's.

Don

I'll second what Ol' Joe said.

As to DMB's comments regarding accuracy, I do not use them myself, but an acquaintence does -- or should I say he did use them for a short while. He's a pretty accomplished loader and a stickler regarding accuracy, but he called me to pick my brain as to why the best groups he was getting would be in the 2-2.5" range.

He loads for a Rem 788 bolt rifle, by the way.

So he brought it over, and I tried 3 powders he had not worked with and varied the seating depths a bit as well. The best it would do for me was 1.8 inch. Most groups were closer to 2.5".

That same rifle -- with about any appropriate powder -- will keep the 170 grain Partition and 150 grain WW Power Point in 3/4th" or so at 100 yards and almost any other bullet in 1-1.25" at that same range. With the 150 grain Ballistic Tip, most of his groups hover in the 0.6-0.7 range (and I have seen some of his targets and also watched him shoot a few of those impressive groups).

At that point, he decided to cut his losses and said to heck with the Hornady bullet since he had plenty of other options. I probably would have done the same...

I am working with the ftx bullet for two rifles and have had no success yet with either. 2.5-3 inch groups at best. I however will not surrender I hope to find a good combo. I have 2 more powders that I intend to try this weekend and see how it goes. One of the rifles I have been working with is a .357 mag Marlin ( I would like to just get to 1 1/2 inch with this one and 3 is the average with everything that I have tried), I have had to suspend efforts with this one as I found one box of bullets and have not been able to get any more as of yet.

I've used the Hornady flex tip bullets in factory and reloaded form in my M94 AE with 24" barrel. I've a Weaver K4 on it and it is a nice shooting rifle. With the factory ammo 6 shots went to 1.5" at 2452 fps (that is higher than advertised velocity). Another 6 shots went into 1.3". That is the best accuracy I have got from any factory ammo.

My reloads with the 160 gr flex tips run right at 2400 fps using H335 with equal accuracy of right around 1.5 moa for 5 shots fed from the magazine. Zeroed at 200 yards my reload is 3" high at 100 yards and 13" low at 300 yards. Remaining velocity at 300 yards is around 1700 fps and still retaining 1000 ftlbs of energy. That ain't too shabby for a lever gun 30-30 if you ask me. Now if you want to poh-pooh those stats because they are not realistic from a 20" barreled M94 then you are right about that. On the other hand the LeveRevolution ammo was developed for the 24" barreled Marlin lever guns. Thus you are also wrong.

BTW; regarding OAL. If used in a levergun the OAL can not exceed the maximum for feeding from the magazine. I trim the cases to 2.03 and seat the 160 gr flex tips to the crimp groove and crimp with a LFCD. OAL is then perfect for my M94 and is very close to factory spec of 2.543".

Larry Gibson

I have yet to try any reloadin in the 30-30 with the ftx because I have 12 boxes of factory that I got for $12 per box. I have used them in the 44 mag, both in revolver and lever gun, and they are fantastic.

I guy a hunt with had expansion issues with them. He was using a 450 Bushmaster on pigs with Hornady factory loads. Shot a good size sow at 80 yards in the lungs, knocked it down, but it jumped up and ran off. He found it about 40 yards away with caliber size entry and exit wounds. He was pretty underwhelmed.

LWD

has anyone tried to freeze one and see if you could hunt in the north with them? I was wondering if the flex tip gets hard enough in the cold to be dangerous in the tube mag.

quote:

Originally posted by LWD:
I guy a hunt with had expansion issues with them. He was using a 450 Bushmaster on pigs with Hornady factory loads. Shot a good size sow at 80 yards in the lungs, knocked it down, but it jumped up and ran off. He found it about 40 yards away with caliber size entry and exit wounds. He was pretty underwhelmed.

LWD

I was doing a search on FTX bullets and came upon this thread. I thought I'd post one of my experiences with them. I witnessed this shot on a good sized sow at 40 yards with a 444 Marlin.

As you can probably guess she was stoned right in her tracks. She fell over dead and a rather impressive geyser of hot blood was pumping straight in the air for the last few beats of her pumper.

ENTRANCE:


EXIT:


NO PROBLEMS WITH EXPANSION:

I'd guess this is about fist sized wound.

My experience with them is that they are too soft-- like above. I have shot 7 deer with them the last 2 years in the 308 ME. I shoot on the shoulder joint not behind the front leg. On shots at 60 yards (3 deer) the bullets broke up on the shoulder joint, in one case not penetrating through the leg into the chest. It left a bruise on the ribcage, but the bullet was broken up on the 'elbow' of the leg. On 2 more deer, the bullet penetrated into the chest but lost the jacket and broke up with no exit. On the 2 deer shot at over 100 yards, it worked fine, exiting with expansion and no breakup.
I have moved to using another bullet as I hunt very thick vegetation and a 50 yard dash into the thick stuff may provide an afternoons fun looking for the dead carcass.