Bullet construction is more complicated than you might think, and when it comes to hunting, choosing the right ammunition and projectile isn’t as simple as grabbing any old box of .30-06 off the shelf. Different bullets are designed to perform differently, and it’s important that you match the bullet to the type of hunting you’re going to be doing and the type of game you’ll be pursuing. The most common hunting bullets can be broken down into four main types: Cup-and-core bullets, partitioned bullets, bonded bullets and monolithic bullets. In this article, we’re going to take a quick dive into cup-and-core bullets.
Put simply, a cup-and-core bullet has a lead core encased by a jacket made of copper or a gilding metal. The jacket helps the lead core stay together better and controls the bullet’s expansion. You might sometimes see them called “jacketed soft points.”
This is a popular bullet type, because they’ve been around forever and because they’re usually less expensive than other bullet types. There are lots of different variations within the cup-and-core design, including some with exposed lead noses and some with modern polymer tips. A cup-and-core bullet tends to be pretty forgiving and accurate, and they work fine in many hunting scenarios. They tend to produce impressive wound channels, even at slower speeds. When a cup-and-core bullet strikes soft tissue, it usually mushrooms easily.
The trouble you might run into with cup-and-core bullets is that they can expand too much and break apart if they hit an animal at a high velocity (which happens more frequently at closer ranges), and at longer ranges, they often struggle to penetrate bone, sometimes breaking into two pieces. If you’re shooting a really fast cartridge or a magnum, you might want to try a different bullet type. If you’re going to shoot a cup-and-core bullet, place your shots carefully—as always—and understand your bullet’s effective range.
Federal’s Power-Shok, Remington’s Core-Lokt, Hornady’s InterLock, Sierra’s GameKing and Winchester’s Power Point are all examples of popular cup-and-cure bullets or loads using cup-and-core bullets.
