Meplat importance

I have seen this term on this site and other locations. I do not have a full understanding of what it means. What importance does it have on a bullet for hunting? Does it matter with hollow points?

The meplat is the flat nose portion of a flat-nosed hunting bullet, and yes, it is very important. The size of the meplat determines the size of the wound channel. It also helps stabilize the bullet in flesh ensuring that it penetrates in a straight line. I am oversimplifying, but there is only so much time in my day, and room here to write!

Hollow point, and soft point, bullets are designed to expand when contacting flesh, which increases the meplat area. A wide meplat is more critical with cast boolits which do not expand, and need all the help they can get ;-)

Except when they are already starting at a 1/2-inch in diameter.....

Haha!

I guess the question about which is better might be a great debate in handgun hunting. Is there any really true facts about which is better between the two? How many handgunners stick with one bullet for years or is this always wanting to change normal.

It's a matter of preference. Some folks are only happy always experimenting, others have the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality. At the end of the day the best one to use is the one that shows the most accuracy and gives you the confidence necessary to hunt successfully.

Buy my book, we get into this topic quite heavily!

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Bore-Revolvers...&sr=1-1-catcorr

Each has its place, and although I prefer not to use naked bullets I won't argue against their effectiveness in the right place and right time. Neither is the end-all for every situation, although you will find some who will even argue that notion. Best is to get some and see how they work in your gun, the worst that can happen is a silvery mess inside your barrel. The main thing with cast hunting boolits is that they be hard.

From what I could find the book isn't out yet.

Another suggestion: Go to the search engine here and put in cast vs jacketed and you will get a ton of info; I just did and there were 66 pages worth.

I am sure there are ways to narrow it down further.

you can pre order the book on Amazon I think it's supposed to be out in September.

Gregg, I thought that part was obvious.

Since I have started reloading what would be a good cast bullet for my 44 super redhawk. I hunt deer in an area that most deer are less than 200 pounds. The range would be less than 75 yards. If I hunt a spot that offers shots further than that I have Contender for that. I had a bad experience one time with a hollow point on a deer. The bullet had a big open end and was too soft. I want a bullet that goes through. My theory is two holes make a better blood trail than one.

Actual flat part at the front. Go look at Cast Performance's offerings -- they are first rate and I have used many extensively. What caliber are you planning on loading for?

You can clearly see the meplats of these two bullets.

I went to midway shooters and found a 300 grain wide nose gas check bullet. I will order a box of 50 and see how they do. I will use my 240xtp's for plinking. I think that big flat chunk of lead will look impressive sitting in that cylinder.

Who is the manufacturer of the bullet?

I am very glad that I was shooting XTP's when I killed my bull elk last year with my .475 L; I got through penetration plus some advantage from the expansion in the "no man's land" area, (which is above the shoulder but below the pine) and the bull went right down. The hard cast would have certainly gone all the way through also, but may not have put him right down. Gary and I discussed this on the phone, and he happens to agree with me.

As s4s4u said, both types have their place.

It is Cast Performance 300 grain wide flat nose. I was surprised how much they were though. I thought the cast bullets were cheaper. It doesn't matter since it is not for plinking.

Deer Dad check out Rimrock,Montana Bullet works,My Baldy,Penn Bullets all make nice cast bullets.There are some companies who load some also Grizzly,Double Tap,Corbon,Buffalo Bore and if your caliber of choice is 44mag federal use to have a cast core load that works well.

The cast v/s jacketed debate is like Chevy v/s Ford.If both are placed properly the results will be the same,meat in the freezer.

I have been looking at with a Truck Vs. Car philosophy. They both have their place. Some people like to drive nothing but big trucks, (think of them like heavy flat nosed cast bullets) and others like to drive fancy cars, (think of them like low profile-high BC- Burger bullets…)

I guess what I am trying to say is the same thing everyone else is, just in a different way. It isn’t practical to commute with a truck every day to work, but it is a pain in the posterior to move with a car even if it has a trailer hitch…

"but it is a pain in the posterior to move with a car even if it has a trailer hitch…"

That's some funny stuff right there.

I find fault with your reasoing tex, my Ram 2500 with the Cummins is my daily driver and I smoked a WXR the other day off the line and I spun the tires for over 100yds (which is impressive for 37's) and he still could't pull me and once I caught traction it was all over but the crying. I will say once you get over 115 it becomes a sporting proposition to handle a truck that big

Your always the exception to the rule my friend... LOL

Ps, so what you are saying is that you are shooting depleted uranium???

Even though my Ram is a dually flatbed and has an old 1997 12 valve Cummins with the mechanical injection pump instead of the electronic pump (that can be "chipped" for more power) it is my most fun vehicle of three to drive when it comes to acceleration. Unless you have ever driven a diesel you would not believe the high you feel when that turbo kicks in and that massive torque just...well, it just slingshots you down the road.

Especially going up a steep climb on the highway; I have left many many "fast cars" in my black diesel smoke.

Talk about getting off topic?!?!? Even the Mod is contributing to the deliquency.

yeah but it's fun! Actually blame it on TC he brought up trucks and cars!

Don't make me break out photos of my little ragtop!

Is that a Colt 1860 44 revolver???

'68 Barracuda......

Its all fun ;-)

i've seen an idiot shoot a buffalo with a 50 bmg and it ran around for 20 minutes. just penciled on through, extreme example of no meplat. the two things that contribute to wound channel are meplat size (i.e. frontal diameter) and velocity. back of the bullet matters not much imho and that of most of my trauma text books is that in the end it all comes down to the frontal area and velocity, we can argue ad nauseum as to how much velocity matters and how much bigger the frontal area needs to be to make a difference but those are the two factors at work.

Let me guess: It was a spire point non-expanding bullet. Maybe even a "Full Metal Jacket.?

But IMHO if that bullet had been a "good expanding jacketed bullet," I think the results would have been really really different.

Was he really "an idiot?" or just someone "experimenting."

LOL

I agree with Tradmark about bullet choice. He was showing that even with a 50 cal, if you choose a bullet that was not designed for hunting you'll run into trouble and not make a quick kill. He wasn't saying not to use an expanding bullet, he used one on his latest black bear as did all of the last hunters who posted bears on the bragging board. He was just saying that a FMJ bullet even at extreme velocity with a large diameter is not a smart choice for cleanly taking game because it had a small, pointed nose (no meplat)

Agreed, Franchise; maybe I wasn't clear. I am a hunter and I certainly assumed you would know that I meant using a "hunting type bullet."

I think we all do more of that than we should.

yeah, he was an idiot, expected it to go right down. didn't happen. i just in the last 2 months worked a shooting of an inmate shot in the arm with a .223 fmj, poked a lil' hole right thru the humerus. patched up and none the worse for it either. last one like that we saw with an expandable the arm wasn't attached real well. point is, the caliber has nothing to do with it, it's the frontal diameter which is "doing the work" the bullet is doing with the kinetic energy it has. now before anyone freaks out at the term kinetic energy, realize that by definition it is simply "the ability of an object to do work." it is the projectile type that determines what "type of work" is being done. the nose design of a solid, the way an expandable expands all determine how much of that energy is put "to work" making a wound channel. so.........how can one argue that a .50 caliber bullet is soooo much more effective that a .475 which is soooo much more effective than a .452 and so on down the line but not concede that a projectile that opens up to .80 or 1.0 caliber so to speak isn't more effective.

the only question when dealing with large bore pistol rounds is how much more effective does a given round need to be when it's already about 1/2" in diameter.

well, shoot your bear and follow it into the trees on an expensive hunt, i say, and find out. how much more of a wound channel does an 80% meplat provide than a 40% meplat, i say i'm gonna go kill a few more things and find out.

That reminds me of an article that JD wrote in the sixgunner about someone who shot a Ram at a wildlife safari with a 50 BMG. They said it ended up being shot again with a 6.5 JDJ… same basic principles applied.


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Two things
A, rag top- “topless”- strapless revolver… Muwahahahaha… so see, it was in good fun to bring up the 1860 Colt 45…

B, I missed the "little" part. I should have put Colt Paterson-it was a 36 cal five shot revolver…

Sierra makes 1 1/2 percent antimony hollow cavity heavy jacketed bullets that are designed to hold their shape and penetrate deeply. all hollow points and jacket soft point are not designed soft

A wide meplat hard cast would have put that elk down just like your XTP did and I am basing my opinion on experience on elk not an assumption

Small in stature (relatively) -- big on performance!

So...my interpretation of Gregg's question for the cast aficionado's is as follows:

Given the choice of a .429 WFN and a .452 SWC (Keith design), with similar bullet weights at similar velocities, which one do you choose and why?

Since I believe that their are better choices in cast bullets for hunting I no longer use "Keith" SWC. With that being said there are a number of SWC cast bullets that are claimed to be "Kieth" SWC'ers but are truly not since the meplat is much larger than a true "Kieth" SWC. I will and do use these.

In fact I would take a 44 in hard cast over a 45 caliber hard cast if the meplat is larger on the 44 bullet.

If we are talking WFN's in each then the would cahnnel will be larger in 45 caliber and the penetration deeper. This trend seems to favor the larger caliber with a few notable exceptions, such as the 41 mag usually out penetrates the 44

what timeline our we looking at for this book coming out?

September

Actually, October 3rd......

oh great, just burst my bubble and keep backing it up, Amazon told me september when I preordered. That does it I'm suing!

Sue the publishing company!

I think we have a Class Action here. We're all getting depressed

Please don't -- LOL!

It would take longer to get his book out! LOL

Of course if you sue them and they go bankrupt before it comes out then we all would be screwed...

Then Whitworth wouldn't be able to buy any more big bullets to build his carpal tunnel . I don't see what he needs a tunnel for anyway!Maybe its to keep his Meplats in??

Something like that.....

I think I'm going to send someone down to Bass Pro and have him ask for a box of .38 cal. meplats.
Kinda like my buddy did to his nephew when he was working on his airplane. He sent him to the hanger next door to borrow some prop wash and 8 ft. of flightline.

I got a box of meplats that I will sell you!

I'll trade you a box of crimp grooves.

I need grid squares. Anyone have any grid squares?

I'd trade you some grid squares. I need some lube grooves to go with my crimp grooves.

Might have some, let me check.....

make those .512 please

New guys were sent to the stockroom to get a "pit expander" so all the cargo would fit. The stockroom always said they were out of stock.

I, somewhat, disagree with this train of thought. My way of thinking is if one needs more wound channel, use a bigger caliber and you won't need anything else.
Steve

what about too wide a mepate retarding penetration? i want destruction from one end to the other and out the other side and out the other side.

That is the beauty of a WLFN (wide meplat) great penetration and large frontal area. Many soft expanding bullet expand too large of a diameter and this inhibits penetration

A hard cast 20 to 24 brinell will penetrate exceptionally. A cast bullet of about 12 brinell will expand

It all boils down to choosing wisely a bullet designed to do the job that one asks it to perform

Ive been practicing a bit with Lasercast 240 SWCs in 2 ruger SBH pistols they are very accurate at 100yds. my measure of meplat is .300 in. and they are sized at .431, I measure .432 with caliper. Manufacturer says 24 BHN. Do you think these would perform well on deer and blackbear?