Projectiles

The bullet is the component with the largest effect on how the finished round performs, and the choice is driven by what happens at the target. Full metal jacket for volume practice, jacketed hollow point or soft point for hunting and defence, and match bullets where consistency of form matters more than terminal behaviour.

Two numbers govern whether a bullet will work in your rifle. Weight must suit your barrel's twist rate — heavier bullets need a faster twist to stabilise. And the ballistic coefficient describes how well the bullet resists drag, which matters enormously past 300 yards and barely at all inside 100. Changing bullets means returning to the starting load, not adjusting your existing one.