Lehigh Protection Tipped Xtreme Chaos Looking Bullet Evaluation

I not too long ago examined and hunted with a brand new copper-solid bullet from Lehigh Protection that may mix one of the best of each copper and lead-core bullets. It holds sufficient weight to penetrate deep into tissue, and it expands violently, inflicting plenty of injury briefly order. Greatest in contrast to lead, you’ll be able to hunt with it anyplace.

It’s referred to as the Tipped Xtreme Chaos. Once I first heard about it, I questioned the identical factor you most likely are proper now. Precisely how rather more chaotic might ‘excessive chaos’ be? To search out out, a number of different writers and I took the bullets to Gunsite after which on an African safari. Whereas my two journeys weren’t sufficient of a check to declare the Tipped Xtreme Chaos one of the best copper bullet ever, I used to be undoubtedly impressed.

What Makes the Xtreme Chaos Completely different

Like different copper solids, the Tipped Xtreme Chaos bullet will mushroom and peel again to a diameter of .40 inches from a beginning measurement of .30 caliber (this varies relying on caliber). In contrast to different most copper solids, the ogive of the bullet has been reduce to shed 4 copper petals into any water-based media it impacts—whether or not that be a grapefruit or a recreation animal’s chest cavity.

When the bullet hits mushy tissue, hydraulic stress causes it to broaden violently. The method is much like Lehigh’s Managed Chaos bullet, however there’s a distinction. The Xtreme Chaos is comprised of softer copper and is machined in such a approach that the shedding pedals will peel again and broaden the tip of the bullet’s shank. This lets it mushroom like a standard copper stable and depart a bigger exit gap for higher blood trails.

After the shot, you’re left with 5 wound channels as an alternative of only one, and a solid-copper shank heavy sufficient to interrupt bone ought to it have to.

How We Examined the Xtreme Chaos

After all, the bullet is model new, so our pattern measurement of check instances is small in comparison with older bullet designs with years of profitable real-world use. As I mentioned, I’m not able to name it the be-all-end-all copper stable. However what I noticed this bullet do in our assessments and within the area was fairly compelling. Right here’s a breakdown of how we examined the bullet and the way it did.

Xtreme Chaos Accuracy

First, about seven different shooters and I shot a whole bunch of 175-grain Tipped Xtreme Chaos 308 rounds via a 16-inch-barreled Mossberg Patriot rifle at Gunsite. (As of this writing, Lehigh solely gives 115 and 155 grain 308 bullets and loaded ammo to the general public.) We had been impressed with how constant and correct the bullet was out to about 300 yards. Although the heavy bullets from a brief barrel dropped shortly, we laid down sub-MOA teams and correct hits out to sensible searching distances on vital-zone-sized targets. In different phrases, it’s proper in step with type of precision you’d count on another fashionable searching bullet.

Gel-Take a look at Penetration Outcomes

Whereas at Gunsite, we shot the bullets into Clear Ballistics gelatin. These accustomed to this medium know that it isn’t water based mostly and won’t produce the identical outcomes as a bullet hitting mushy tissue. To repair this, we positioned two inches of pork ribs in entrance of the gel, with the thought of letting the bullet broaden on flesh and bone—because it’s designed to. The gelatin then captured that growth so we might see the way it works.

We shot via the pork and gel from 100 yards and noticed dependable growth and the shedding of 4 distinct petals. Give or take, the shank penetrated about 20 inches. The 4 pedals penetrated simply shy of 8 inches of gel and radiated about 3 inches out from the shank. The shank retained 120 grains of weight and expanded to .40 caliber. The pedals every weighed round 13.7 grains and measured .50 inches throughout.

Associated: We Put 5 High Huge-Recreation Bullets to the Take a look at

Looking With the Xtreme Chaos

There are few locations higher than Africa to see how a bullet actually works. Africa offers you quite a lot of recreation and shot alternatives in a short while. Nearly each hunter in our social gathering used Tipped Xtreme Chaos bullets for animals starting from concerning the measurement of an elk to smaller than a pronghorn. With the character of our hunts, we shot from completely different distances and shot animals that had been standing in numerous positions. Most of our photographs had been from round 200 yards, with some underneath 100. Together with our personal impressions, we requested our PHs for his or her enter, as they get to see the results of many alternative bullet sorts and calibers season after season.

My PH, Hein Van Zyl, had a behavior of claiming “jeepers” each time he noticed one thing stunning or exceptional. Whereas observing the results of the Tipped Xtreme Chaos on recreation, he mentioned jeepers quite a bit. The primary animal I shot was an impala at round 75 yards. It was going through me with a frontal shot, standing in skinny brush. On the shot, it ran about 20 yards and collapsed. The bullet entered via the chest and exited two-thirds of the way in which down the physique via the again, and there was a large blood path.

What I discovered most spectacular concerning the Xtreme Chaos was the way it carried out on behind-the-shoulder photographs. A number of different hunters and I hit animals behind the shoulder with out breaking any main bones. In contrast to some copper solids I’ve seen previously, the Tipped Xtreme Chaos nonetheless brought about sufficient injury to shortly and ethically kill the animal—quite a bit like a lead bullet will.

Our PHs felt the identical approach. They had been all stunned on the heavy blood trails and brief monitoring periods for quite a lot of recreation, even after we hit animals slightly too far again. This doesn’t imply you’ll be able to shoot an animal anyplace with a Tipped Xtreme Chaos and it’ll die, nevertheless it appears to level to this bullet’s capacity to behave extra like a lead-core projectile whereas nonetheless retaining sufficient mass to penetrate and break bone if wanted. In the event you’re on the fence about copper solids due to lackluster blood trails and wounded animals that run endlessly, I’d give the this bullet an opportunity. We recovered virtually each animal hit both on or simply behind the shoulder with out the necessity to name in a tracker.

Ultimate Ideas on the Xtreme Chaos

The one draw back I skilled with this model of the Xtreme Chaos was bullet weight and trajectory. We shot 175-grain projectiles with our 308s out of a 16-inch barrel, giving us extra drop than you’d get with lighter bullets at longer ranges. That mentioned, I don’t sometimes shoot previous 300 yards within the area, and with as we speak’s bullet-drop compensating optics, you’ll be able to land heavy bullets farther than you’d assume. Sooner or later, I’d wish to attempt the identical design in a lighter bullet, just like the 155-grain load.

In my view, the professionals actually outweighed any cons. The Tipped Xtreme Chaos hits like a freight practice, dumping a large quantity of power upon influence, and it retains sufficient weight for dependable exit wounds. And whereas I’m undecided how a lot the increasing shank impacts blood trails, the entire animals we shot put plenty of blood on the bottom.

F&S Capturing Editor, Richard Mann, was additionally on the journey, and he summed up this bullet’s efficiency greatest. “I take a look at the Xtreme Chaos as a mono-metal model of the Nosler Partition in how its designed to create a big preliminary wound channel whereas persevering with to penetrate,” he mentioned.

I’ve hunted with a number of copper solids previously, and from my expertise, that is one of the best one I’ve shot recreation with but. Having related efficiency to a lead bullet with out the downsides of lead may very well be a game-changer.