In 2022, the author took his Jarrett .300 Win Mag and then-new 190-grain CX copper bullet to Tajikistan. He took a quartering shot at 300 yards and change and recovered the bullet against the hide in the far hip. Performance was classic copper bullet, the recovered bullet retained 99 percent of original weight. (Photo courtesy of Craig Boddington)
June 04, 2026
By Craig Boddington
Some shooters love copper bullets, others hate them. Like all bullets, some rifles shoot them well…and some don’t. Today, “unleaded” rifle bullets are an important part of the hunting scene, but they perform differently than traditional lead-core bullets.
Copper Bullet History
Jacketed bullets were a parallel development with nitrocellulose-based propellent. Both were perfected in 1888. The new smokeless powder increased bullet velocity causing soft lead projectiles to be stripped through the rifling. To solve this problem a lead core was encased in a jacket of harder material, but I could not be so hard that it would quickly erode...
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