Why Is It Important to Choose the Right Bullet for Your Gun?

Shooting can be a wonderful experience when hunting. You’re the one having the power, and the excitement you feel during a hunting season is hard to match by any other activity. Having the right gun is as important as you can imagine, whether you’re hunting from a big distance or not. But do you know what else affects the experience? The bullets you use.

Bullets all have different shapes and sizes, not to mention weights. Therefore, even if you’re someone with amazing hunting skills, using the wrong bullets may ruin the whole experience for you and cause your failure. You have to be prepared with the right bullets if you want to have a clean, successful hunting session.

In this article, you will find out why choosing the right bullet for your gun is crucial.

Bullet Weight Affects Accuracy and Recoil

For a bullet, the measurement is done in grains. To make things simpler for you, 437.5 grains is the same as one ounce. The number of grains you see on the box of ammo refers to the projectile that leaves the barrel only, not that of the entire ammunition round.

That being said, lighter and heavier bullets feel different when shooting, and they can have an impact on recoil. Some shooters think that heavier ones have a rather flat push as recoil, whereas lighter ones feel much snappier. Of course, there are multiple things coming into play affecting recoil, but weight is a big factor.

Accuracy can also be affected. If you’ve tested multiple types of bullets with your gun, then you must have noticed that each has a certain level of accuracy. It’s better to experiment with the types of bullets available for your gun model and see which one feels the best.

Choosing the right bullet is really important if you want amazing accuracy and good recoil.

Your Purpose Decides the Bullet You Should Use

It all comes down to what reason you have for using the gun in the first place, as well as the type of gun you own, of course. Each gun requires bullets of a certain caliber, and you probably know this already. Caliber refers to the barrel size and tells the bullet size it requires. Some calibers you will see are:

12 Gauge

A 12 gauge shotgun shell

12 Gauge is probably the most common type of caliber you’ll encounter, and it’s a shotgun round. That being said, it’s mostly used for hunting, meaning this type of bullets will be only perfect for this activity.

9mm

Bullets with a caliber of 9mm are suitable when you own a self-defense gun. They don’t have a lot of recoil when you fire them, and they can do enough damage by penetrating even at close range.

.223 and .308

These bullets can be used for range shooting and are used with rifles. They work greatly when you use a gun for self-defense. The bullets are pretty large and able to do a lot of damage.

Of course, these are just a few examples, and there are many other bullets out there. It is important to understand that caliber matters as not all bullets are suitable for every type of gun. They affect your shooting experience too.

Not to mention that you need to take into consideration the capacity of your gun safe too. Whether you have a wall-mounted one or one that’s hidden in the wall, you must be certain that your ammunition fits inside the gun safe, together with your rifle. A good example would be the Stack-On PWS-1555, which is long enough to keep your shotgun and some other guns, as well as your ammunition. Make sure you have ammo that fits. 

Read more:

• 6.5 Creedmoor vs 7mm-08 Remington: Which is The Best for Hunting?
• Remington .22-250 vs 223: Which Is Best For Your Hunts?

Shape Affects the Air Trajectory

Maybe it’s not such a big surprise, but one of the things affecting the bullet’s trajectory after being shot is the shape. Depending on the shape, it may either be affected by the wind or resist it. This is why, when hunting, you need to choose a bullet that will resist air conditions and not deflect from its intended path.

Long bullets are probably the most suitable ones in this situation, because they don’t drop that much, and they maintain more energy while being able to fly farther. This is why, when hunting from long range, it’s essential to have bullets that will do the job.

Meanwhile, bullets with flatter and rounder noses are meant to provide safety, rather than focusing on efficiency. At the same time, they are better at striking bigger animals when hunting. Rather than plowing straight, they actually deflect in tissue and can reach vital organs of these animals.

Powerful Ammunition Works Better for Hunting

When hunting, you want something that will instantly kill the animal, and not let it suffer for longer. For this reason, powerful bullets are preferred as they are able to kill quickly instead of simply injuring and causing agony for the animal. 

For instance, FMJ bullets should be avoided altogether as they won’t be able to kill the animal, but most likely go through it. Make sure you choose bullets of enough power for hunting. Generally, these are bullets of larger caliber. Keep this in mind when you want to purchase your ammunition.

Conclusion

Overall, choosing the right type of bullet is a must because it will improve your experience, depending on what you’re using your gun for. It also maintains your safety. As you can see, some specific bullets are better options for self-defense, whereas ones of larger caliber and power are best for hunting. The shape is another factor that adds to the accuracy of the bullet, in combination with weight. 

By not choosing the right bullet, you risk wasting your time. So, you might not be able to use the gun accurately, you’ll miss the target, or you’ll make an animal suffer instead of killing it quickly. Hopefully, this article helped you understand why you should pay a lot of attention to the bullets you purchase.