Well folks, I still do not have an answer to this that can be confirmed. However I did make an interesting find. I was under the mistaken impression that a hard monolithic bullet would not get deformed in the magazine of my rifle. Especially the puny little 30/06.
Today I was cleaning up a few odds and ends from my reloading gear and setting up to reload some ammo this week. While removing empty brass and unused shells from my leather shell holders that we used in Africa I had one that contained 5 rounds.
One was an empty and four were still loaded and ready to go. I recognized this 5 pack of shells as the ones I used on my last day. They were also the same 5 pack of shells my last hunter had with her. The one that was used was the shell I killed the warthog with. The other 4 were in that gun a couple weeks. The ones in the botttom of that magazine were not used during that time. The magazine would be topped off with new ammo as they were shot. Since the Model 70 holds 5 in the magazine the bottom 3-4 shells were not used for long periods. With this find I noticed something very interesting.
Look at this photo of the tips of these bullets:
Gotta wonder what effect this flat tip has on the ability to open up after impact? What if it had been closed up even more, as if from a magnum level recoil? Maybe this has something to do with the unusual bore sized exits. Maybe these flat tips, or closed tips don't open the same?
I'll be honest I never expected a Barnes bullet to get a deformed tip from recoil in the magazine of a little 30/06 rifle. Imagine what they might look like with a 375HH or any weatherby cartridge.
My very strong suggestion is to be very careful and certain that you cycle the bottom cases up and out of the rifle frequently. Don't let a bullets nose get pounded in the magazine over time. Although I have nothing to prove that this will effect the ability to open up it is certainly a suspect issue at this point.
Today I was cleaning up a few odds and ends from my reloading gear and setting up to reload some ammo this week. While removing empty brass and unused shells from my leather shell holders that we used in Africa I had one that contained 5 rounds.
One was an empty and four were still loaded and ready to go. I recognized this 5 pack of shells as the ones I used on my last day. They were also the same 5 pack of shells my last hunter had with her. The one that was used was the shell I killed the warthog with. The other 4 were in that gun a couple weeks. The ones in the botttom of that magazine were not used during that time. The magazine would be topped off with new ammo as they were shot. Since the Model 70 holds 5 in the magazine the bottom 3-4 shells were not used for long periods. With this find I noticed something very interesting.
Look at this photo of the tips of these bullets:
Gotta wonder what effect this flat tip has on the ability to open up after impact? What if it had been closed up even more, as if from a magnum level recoil? Maybe this has something to do with the unusual bore sized exits. Maybe these flat tips, or closed tips don't open the same?
I'll be honest I never expected a Barnes bullet to get a deformed tip from recoil in the magazine of a little 30/06 rifle. Imagine what they might look like with a 375HH or any weatherby cartridge.
My very strong suggestion is to be very careful and certain that you cycle the bottom cases up and out of the rifle frequently. Don't let a bullets nose get pounded in the magazine over time. Although I have nothing to prove that this will effect the ability to open up it is certainly a suspect issue at this point.
