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Sako Powerhead Blade – .366″ – 230gr – Bullet test

THE BULLET

  • Bullet : Sako Powerhead Blade 230gr (14,90g)
  • Ballistic Coefficient (G1) : 0.340
  • Lenght (measured) : 1,420″ / 36,07mm
  • Weight (measured) : 230,46gr (14,93g)
  • Material : Copper
  • Part # : 613D
  • Manufacturer : Sako LTD, Finland

EXPANSION

Test gun was a Blaser R8 rifle with the 480mm – 18,9″ barrel. Faster velocity was measured ca. 5 meters from the muzzle, by using the Sako 9,3×62 factory cartridges. The slower velocity was achieved by reloading. If muzzle velocity is 2533 fps – 772 m/s, the slower velocity of 2119 fps – 646 m/s simulates the impact at the distance of 169 yards – 154 meters.

IMPACT VELOCITYMAX WIDTHRETAINED WEIGHT
2533 fps – 772 m/s0,76″ – 19,37mm229,12gr – 99,4%
2119 fps – 646 m/s0,65″ – 16,56mm229,08gr – 99,4%

WOUND CHANNELS & PENETRATION

Test targets were the wet newspapers.

IMPACT VELOCITYPENETRATION
2533 fps – 772 m/s18,11″ – 46cm
2119 fps – 646 m/s22,83″ – 58cm

REAL LIFE TEST – MOOSE

We had luck to shoot three mooses with the new Sako Powerhead Blade 230gr 9,3×62 factory cartridges during the hunting season 2020. Two moose calfs and one young bull. All mooses were running with quite good speed, when shot. In every three case, the bullets penetrated the whole moose, so no expanded bullets to show. In the real life test, the gun was same Blaser R8 with the 480mm – 18,9″ barrel as on the controlled tests above.

Shooting distance for the first calf was 20 meters and for the second 30-35 meters. Both calfs ran circa 20-25 meters after the lung shots, before felling permanently to the ground.

Some photos of the calf carcasses on the below. On the first photo, the bullet penetrated both sides of the calf, without breaking the ribs. Liver and lungs also took the hit.

First calf – Entrance and the exit wound.

On the second calf, the bullet penetrated the left side with breaking the rib and then went through the lungs and the front part of the right shoulder, without hitting to the bones. This can be seen on the photos below.

Second calf – Entrance.
Second calf – exit wound.

There is no photos of the last young bull. But the shooting distance was 45-50 meters and the moose was running fast! Bullet penetrated the right side and went through the heart and then trough the left shoulder without hitting to the bones. Moose ran about 20 meters after the hit, before fell permanently to the ground.

In all three cases, the runs after the hits was quite short. All carcasses was also very clean as the photos above shows, and there was no need to clean blood from the muscle membranes. Entrance and exit holes of the bullets on the carcasses was good in size and clearly shows that the Sako Powerhead Blade bullets opened immediatedly after hit.

SUMMA SUMMARUM

Premium copper bullet for different medium and big game hunting situations.

The expanding style of the bullet is samekind as on the .30cal Sako Powerhead Blade bullets. The bullet opens fast after the impact and over doubles it’s width. When bullet expands near to the maximum, the overall lenght of the expanded bullet is reasonable short compared to the width, which will give the good directional stability for the bullet during the penetration.

The stopping power of the new Blade bullet is really good. Like we mentioned above, the mooses didn’t ran much after the impacts. Even if the killing power is good, the carcasses was pretty clean and there was no excessive amounts of blood between the muscle membranes.

It can be seen, that this bullet can take even more beating, than what our testing velocities gave to it. The impact velocity of 800m/s – 2624fps will not be the problem, so you can reload it with even greater velocities. It must be noted, that the factory cartridges gave pretty good velocities even if our test rifle had a quite short 480mm – 18,9″ barrel!

This bullet should be in the stores in 2021 for reloading purposes, and it will be a tough competitor for many bullets! Factory cartridges for 9,3×62 is already available!

Big thumbs up for this!

Sincerely yours – The Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab

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Sellier & Bellot Exergy – 6.5×55 Factory Cartridge – Bullet test

We did a little Sellier & Bellot easter shootout at the last weekend! Thank you for the Aseliike Remes to make it possible! This is the first part of the article series that will concentrate on the S&B Exergy factory cartridges. This part will consist the 6.5×55 caliber and the 308win, and 9,3×62 will follow in different articles! The S&B Exergy Blue bullet test articles will follow right after these Exergy articles!

Exergy is the original copper made hunting bullet of the Sellier & Bellot. At their homepage , they are writing that the jacket material of the Exergy, is not available. But on the Exergy 30-06 cartridge page, they are mentioning that it is made of 100% Solid Copper. So we cannot be sure about the exact material, but we know that it is a lead free bullet with little round aluminium tip on the top of the bullet.

But, to the results!

Sellier & Bellot Exergy 130gr – 6,5×55 Swedish Factory Cartridge

TESTING

Test gun was a Blaser combination gun with the 600mm barrel. We measured the velocity ca. 5m from the muzzle and got a 792m/s impact velocity, which is quite spot on to the promises of the manufacturer, which is 805m/s v0 velocity from the 600mm barrel.

The slower impact velocity was achieved by reloading. If the velocity at the muzzle is 805m/s, what the manufacturer claims. The speed of 691m/s simulates the impact at the distance of 91 meters (ca. 100 yards).

THE BULLET

The working style of the S&B Exergy bullet is to open in five petals and retain its high weight after the impact without losing the petals.

The harder hit, with the velocity of 792m/s (2592fps) was too harsh for this 130gr Exergy bullet and it lost three of it’s five petals. Which can also be seen on the retained weight (81,8%) This kind of close distance impacts are not common in normal hunting, so we don’t see this breakdown to be very significant thing. It tells us that the velocity of the factory cartridge has probably been adjusted to the working velocity area of the bullet. The more velocity you dare to add, the better and more reliably the bullet works at the longer distances. So the the breakdown at the close distances might be a well considered decision to achieve longer working distance to the factory cartridge.

At the impact of the 691m/s (2267fps) the bullet worked great and kept all the petals intact as can be seen on the photo above. The retained weight was also excellent. With this velocity, the bullet opened all-the-way to the bottom of the expansion cavity. So we can expect reliable opening of the bullet also on the greater distances than 91m/100yards.

RELOADING

This S&B Exergy .264″ 130gr bullet is only available in factory cartridges.

WOUND CHANNELS

Test targets were wetted newspapers. The bullet with impact speed of 792m/s (2592fps) penetrated 49cm (19,3″) of wet newspapers, and the bullet with impact speed of 646m/s penetrated 51cm (20,1″).

The wound channels can be seen below. With some bullets, it is easy to see the effect of loosing the petals, from the shape of the wound channel. But between these two, the difference is quite small.

SUMMA SUMMARUM

Factory cartridge with a good copper bullet! You can expect good working at the over 100m distances also. Low ballistic coefficient (G1: 0,240) affects the velocity quite fast at the greater distances. Not the bullet for the real long range hunting, but at the normal hunting distances you can expect very good results! Don’t forget the suprise factor possibility at the really close shooting distances.

Sincerely yours – The Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab