In an earlier Blog entry I discussed polymer tip varmint bullets and the advantages they offer in dispatching vermin at long range. When it comes to bullets for deer and other large game, bullet design and selection becomes more complicated. Explosive expansion is the goal for most varmint hunting situations while big game requires a combination of reliable expansion and sufficient penetration. We're seeing a lot of new plastic tip hunting bullets being introduced. Are they worth the premium price or are the claims mostly hype?

The XP3 bullet from Winchester is one of the latest designs in the evolution of the polymer tip bullet. It is a hybrid design that incorporates some of the best features of previous bullets.

Polymer tip bullets have been widely available for over two decades yet some hunters still seem to feel that little colored plastic tip is a gimmick, and a lot of hunters who use these bullets do not fully understand what the real advantages and disadvantages are. Ask a group of average hunters what purpose those pointy plastic tips serve and a significant percentage will say they improve the ballistic coefficient of the bullet and allow them to shoot flatter. Polymer tip bullets do usually have higher ballistic coefficients than spitzer soft points of the same caliber and weight but little of the improvement is due directly to the sharp point of the plastic tip punching through the atmosphere. It's the streamlined design of the bullet made possible by the use of a polymer tip that accounts for the high ballistic coefficients.

For example, compare two .30 caliber Hornady bullets of similar profile: the super streamlined polymer tip 168-grain A-MAX and the 168-grain Boat Tail Hollow Point Match bullet. The A-MAX has a B.C. of .475 and the hollow point has a B.C. of .450. If you launch each bullet at 3000 feet per second and zero them dead on at 200-yards the difference in drop way out at 500-yards is less than an inch. That is not a giant leap forward in bullet technology as far as trajectory is concerned and is why most long range competition shooters still use hollow point match bullets.

While the sharp tip may slightly improve the BC of a bullet compared to a conventional spitzer soft point the number one advantage to polymer tip bullets is that they initiate rapid expansion. This solves a lot of problems in bullet design and creates some problems as well. Polymer tip bullets are actually hollow point bullets with a tip inserted. On impact the tip is driven back into the hollow cavity causing rapid expansion. It's an old idea pioneered by Remington with their Bronze Point bullets, which are still available today.

Nosler's Accubond bullets address the concerns of hunters who needed a bullet with the flat trajectory and downrange expansion of the Ballistic Tip but wanted a bit more penetration. The Accubond does usually shed some weight during expansion but the bonded core helps the bullet maintain integrity.

Nosler borrowed from the Remington design in the development of their Ballistic Tips but improved on it considerably in regards to the aerodynamics of the bullet. If you compare a Ballistic Tip to a BTHP Match Bullet you will see they are very similar externally. The major external difference is the Ballistic Tip jacket stops short resulting in a larger hollow point and a polymer tip is added to improve external ballistics and initiate rapid expansion. Internally the bullets are quite different. Nosler uses a tapered jacket, a solid base, and carefully balances the hardness of the core to control expansion.