When a handloader sets out to develop a new rifle load, he is met with a whole world of bullet choices and may want to dip his toe into the “monolithic” pond of solid bullets.
Conventional bullets are typically made with a copper jacket surrounding a lead core. Solids, on the other hand are… well, solid. They are usually made of copper because it is workable, relatively heavy, and has excellent terminal performance. Other materials are certainly a possibility, though.
Another difference is that conventional bullets will usually have a nose tip that is called a “meplat.” It looks like a divot or a miniature hollow point. This is created during the manufacturing process, wherein the conventional bullet is formed in a die, and a mechanical punch pushes the new bullet out by the nose tip, thus creating the meplat divot.
One of the advantages that solid bullets have over conventional bullets is that they (typically) aren’t made in dies, but rather turned on a lathe. For this reason, solids can be lathed with exceptionally sharp points, thus increasing their ballistic coefficients.
And it is here that a “just so ya know” warning needs to be made: be wary of advertised ballistic coefficients for solid bullets, as they are typically reported as a G1 form and potentiallyat the bullet manufacturer’s most impressive velocity point. This can result in inflated BC numbers.
The overriding issue for solids is that, for a given caliber, they tend to be longer than conventional bullets. Sometimes a lot longer. This is because the material they are made from weighs less than lead, so they need more length to make up that same weight. If a solid gets excessively long, the existing G1 and G7 ballistic models don’t really work for them anymore, as verified by in-flight data gathered via Doppler radar.
Don’t let the previous paragraph scare you too much, though. What it means is that you can still go ahead and load up your super-fancy solids, but don’t expect a ballistics calculator to do you a whole lot of good at predicting their trajectories at distance. Instead, you’ll need to do thatthe old-fashioned way through trial and error.
And while we’re still somewhat on the subject of these solid bullets being really long for weight, keep an eye on your seating depth with these bad boys. You may find yourself in a situation where you’ll have to either load them long – perhaps longer than will fit into a magazine – or you’ll have to load them deep.
Be very careful when deep seating a bullet! The last thing you want to do is excessivelycompact your powder, which could result in over-pressurization followed by a kaboom.
This isn’t to say that I don’t recommend hand loading with solids. Hey, if you want to go for it, then go for it!
Given the exceptional amount of long-range conventional bullet choices out there, I personally wouldn’t go down the monolithic rabbit hole if you’re looking for a bullet to give you increased range. That said I’m not shooting super-long distances and a lot of these bullets are being designed specifically for extreme long-range shooting, so I’m probably wrong in this regard.
On the hunting side of things, though, solids have a long and proud history of taking down game. They can penetrate deep, have very consistent expansion rates, and will often retain most—if not all—of their weight after impact. These are huge advantages for the hunter!
Furthermore, we’re starting to see some areas requiring hunters to use “lead free” ammunition. This pretty much means that you’re hunting with a solid! While we can debate the veracity of these laws all day and night, switching from a conventional bullet to a solid bullet shouldn’t be viewed as an end to your hunt, either. It just means that you need to hit the reloading bench far enough ahead of time to test out your new hunting load.
