English Mike sent me a few .277 130gr Fox bullets to test. These are manufactured in Europe and we don't see them much (if at all) in the US. The are a monolithic brass bullet.

www.foxbullets.eu/

The only other brass bullet I have tested is the 6.8mm Controlled Chaos (CC) which did not have positive results. The CC shed bits of brass from the ogive but did not expand nor did it shorten enough to remain stable. Thus it tumbled and penetrated tail first through my bullet trap and plywood backstop.

I did an initial test at 100 yards with the 130gr Fox. The ogive disintegrated into tiny bits of brass but the bullet shortened enough to stay stable (nose first) so the bullet shank over-penetrated but remained in the bullet trap. It looked like a remake of the CC so passed on to English Mike the initial (not positive) results and promised to finish tests at greater distance.

Yesterday I was out at the range with the .270 so tried another test at 275 yards (max range distance). To my surprise, I pulled a perfect mushroomed bullet out of the bullet trap with excellent penetration. Expansion was driven to the bottom of the expansion cavity with is non-typical for monolithic bullet. They usually fully expand at a higher velocity/closer range like 100 yards.

Based on the 275 yard results, I decided to test at 200 yards. In this situation, the bullet shank was found deep in the bullet trap again but it had fully mushroomed but the pedals broke off and penetrated independently. The bullet shed it petals almost immediately as there were 3 offset holes in the back of the water jug where the pieces had spiraled out. Only one piece is shown. I actually recovered two pieces but lost one after leaving the range. They averaged 10 grains which is sufficient to sustain internal damage.

I was able to derive the Fox bullet's BC which was 0.277 (G1) with the LabRadar. Not surprising as this is not as streamlined as the 130 GMX or 129 LRX (BC approx 0.414). BTW, bullet accuracy seem good with two bullets within an inch of each other at 275 yards.

I looks like this bullet has been optimized for impact velocities below 2300 fps (less than .270 velocities). Higher velocity impacts are still lethal and had energetic reactions with the water jug. I have one bullet remaining and will conduct a low velocity test around 1800 fps.

Thanks very much for doing this matey.
It looks like the bullets might work very well indeed for plains game out in SA, as shots are often taken at significantly greater distances than here in the UK (usually under 100yds for deer).
If you're interested in going further with this, I'll send the remaining 15 bullets when I'm next over in October.
If I get the chance, I'll see if I can take a red or sika with them & with luck, recover some or most of the bullet.

Glad to do it, English Mike. It is unlikely that you will recover the bullet. Maybe with a shot well beyond 300 yards. The penetration achieved from the 275 yard test would equate to a pass through on a deer broadside lung shot.

English Mike,

I finally got back out to the range and shot the remaining bullet at low speed. The goal was 1800 to 1850 fps. Unfortunately, the chrono did not pick up the shot so I do not have an exact speed for you. Expansion results below. The bullet yawed after impact and over penetrated. A portion of the black plastic tip is still in the expansion cavity. It appears this bullet's expansion range where it retains its mushroom is less than a 400 fps spread which is much less than typical.

All the best, Slim