Is a Bullet’s Weight Loss Detrimental to Wounding?

“Believing that more is not better is counter-intuitive to most men.” - Scott Fletcher

The answer to the question posed in the article’s title is “no.” A bullet’s weight loss increases wounding.

When an expanding hunting bullet impacts an animal, the materials comprising it yield and deform into a mushroom shape. Depending upon the bullet’s generic design and the impact velocity, these materials may not have the configuration and shear strength to withstand the resultant material stress produced in the mushroom. Consequently, bullet material can peel away (spall) from the mushroom, producing shards of random size.

These shards all have weight (mass), and thus have their own unique momentum that can be attributed to their mass and the velocity of the bullet at the instant the shard is peeled away. These shards can accurately be described as “shrapnel”. They typically travel radially away from the aim alignment of the bullet, each damaging tissue and producing a high blood flow “tributary” back to the main “wound channel” formed by the bullet. The destroyed tissue and the high blood-flow tributaries increase the total wound volume and enhance bleed-out. Both of these factors decrease the time to death of an animal after the kill shot.

These shards and their radial trajectories away from the main wound channel can be identified in clear, synthetic gel. Photo 1 is a field photo that shows a side view of the two 20% synthetic gel blocks used to test a 220-grain Sierra Pro Hunter (SPH). Photo 2 is a field photo that shows primarily a top view of the 220 SPH’s first gel block. Photo P-13, taken from the 2023 management hunt report, is a shop photo of the first gel block from the 220 SPH test. (The labeling of the bullet in this photo is incorrect.) Zooming in to the first block shown in all these photos identifies multiple lead and copper shards flung radially away from the bullet’s main wound channel.

Multiple lead shards are visible adjacent to the bullet’s main channel through the gel. Fractures in the gel that can be traced back to this main channel can be difficult to easily identify. However, a lead shard with an easily identifiable gel fracture that can be traced back to the main wound channel is visible in 1 Scott Fletcher Is a Bullet’s Weight Loss Detrimental to Wounding? Africa Hunter Quest Article Photo P-13. The shard is visible in the gel above the main wound channel at a penetration length of about 7 inches. The fracture in the gel made by this shard is clearly visible behind it. The fracture can be traced back to about 5 1/2 inches, the penetration at which the shard likely peeled away. The penetration at 5-1/2 inches can be considered the “launch point” for this lead shard.

Two copper shards with easily identifiable fractures that can be traced back to the main wound channel are also visible in Photo P-13. One is located above the main wound channel at a penetration length of about 10-1/2 inches. The fracture in the gel made by the shard can be traced back to its launch point of about 9 inches. The second copper shard is located above the main wound channel at a penetration length of about 13-1/2 inches. The fracture in the gel made by the shard can be traced back to its launch point of about 11 inches.

Photo P-17 shows the 220 SPH that was recovered from the gel test as well as all the easily identifiable lead and copper shards from the first gel block. Note the random sizes of both the lead and the copper shards.

Enhanced wounding associated with shrapnel produced by a 220 SPH was inferred to have occurred in Zebra Z-5 taken on the referenced management hunt. Photo P-30 shows the near-side lung of Zebra Z-5, shot with this bullet, and Photo P-31 shows Z-5’s heart and FS lung. Both photos indicate the tissue has been “shredded” to an appreciable degree, interpreted to have been caused by the traverse of multiple lead-core and copper-jacket shards. Furthermore, the entrance bullet hole “peed” blood, as shown in Photo P 55, for approximately five minutes after the animal was suspended in the skinning shed. The occurrence, volume, and duration of such bleeding were considered by the professional hunter (PH) participating in the autopsies as unusual.

No readily visible shards were observed in the tissue or organs of Z-5. No organs were dissected to find any. However, the degree of tissue damage through the boiler room and the prolific free bleeding of the carcass can be reasonably attributed to shrapnel based on the results of the 220 SPH’s gel testing.

Photo P-10, taken from the referenced report, is a shop photo that shows a close-up of the top of the first gel block used in testing a 240-grain, poly tipped Sierra Match King (TSMK). This photo shows one prominent lead shard visible above the main wound channel at a penetration length of about 2 10 inches. There is a fracture visible in the gel behind this shard that can be traced back to its launch point of about 8-1/2 inches.

Copper shards are also visible in Photo P-10. There is one visible at a penetration length of about 11 inches, and one is visible at about 13-1/4 inches. Although the gel fractures associated with both of these shards are not clearly shown in this photo, examination of this block in the shop indicated the shard at 11 inches was launched at a penetration length of about 10-1/2 inches, and the shard at 13-1/4 inches was launched at a penetration length of about 12 inches.

Photo P-12 shows the 240 TSMK that was recovered from the gel test as well as all the easily identifiable lead and copper shards from the first gel block. The circular piece shown at the bottom of the photo is a 30-caliber bullet shank, provided for scale.

Wounding caused by shrapnel from a 240 TSMK was clearly identified in Zebra Z-3 taken on the referenced management hunt. Photo P-28 shows three lead shards visible adjacent to the bullet’s exit hole on Z-3’s far-side shoulder. Photo 3 shows these recovered shards with a dime for scale. Photo P-29 shows at least six identifiable shards in the far-side lung of Z-3.

Any article concerning a bullet’s weight loss would not be complete without a discussion of a cup-and-core bullet shedding its jacket. Media accounts of such an occurrence typically result in a judgement of unpardonable, near catastrophic terminal performance regardless of the bones breached, wounding produced, and penetration of the “bullet”. Such primarily important performance details are seldom furnished, with the principle judgement theme being “failure” of the bullet due to the jacket separating from the core.

The original intent of the copper jacket was to serve as a sacrificial layer to allow the lead it housed to be launched at a far greater velocity and with considerably less fouling than if no copper interface layer was provided. In effect, the copper jacket serves the same inconsequential purpose as the plastic sheathing for a modern muzzle-loader bullet.

The 240 TSMK used to take the black wildebeest during the referenced management hunt shed its jacket on the wildebeest’s far-side hide. The lead core completely exited the animal. The jacket recovered from the animal and the 240 TSMK recovered from its gel test are shown in Photo P-70. Note that the diameter of the jacket is far greater than the diameter of the test 3 Scott Fletcher Is a Bullet’s Weight Loss Detrimental to Wounding? Africa Hunter Quest Article retained bullet, likely indicating a potential for far greater wounding than would have been caused by a bullet not in the process of shedding its jacket.

Data in Table 8 of the 2023 management hunt report indicate that there was considerable wounding benefit associated with the 240 TSMK shedding its jacket. The table shows that there was a 130% increase in measured bullet-hole wound area (BHWA) between the wildebeest’s near side and far-side lung, the largest increase, by far, of all BHWA data tabulated. Note that this increase occurred even though no bullet tumbling was assessed to have occurred.

Photo P-53 and Photo P-54 identify the prolific bleeding in the wildebeest caused by the 240 TSMK that was in the process of shedding its jacket. No other animal on the management hunt bled through its nose to such a degree, and no other animal exhibited the degree of blood weeping from the field carcass. Furthermore, the PH administering the hunt remarked that the volume of blood observed streaming from the animal as it attempted to flee was the most prolific he had ever witnessed.

As with using a bullet’s expansion ratio (ER) to evaluate wounding potential, the reality of the actual wounding produced by the bullet is far more relevant than how much weight it lost. The previously discussed, real-world examples demonstrate that the actual wound produced by any bullet, quantified by its penetration length and measured wound volume, should be the basis for judgements concerning its terminal performance, not the end-condition of the bullet produced by its wounding journey.