So, you want to be different? Here are some unusual bullet designs that can get the job done.
I’ll be the first to admit that factory ammunition manufactured today is the best it has ever been, and that the choice of projectiles is wider than ever, but I still have a sense of pride when using my hand-loads. Whether I’m using a unique projectile in a common cartridge or feeding a rifle or handgun chambered for an obsolete cartridge, handloading the unique is just plain cool.
And while loading a good old Nosler Partition in your .30-06 is surely sensible, sometimes it’s just plain fun to be the one using a bullet that can’t be bought in loaded ammunition. Here are some of my favorite projectiles for those looking for a unique experience.
Peregrine Bullets
Hailing from South Africa and imported to the United States by Discreet Ballistics, Peregrine Bullets have a full range of component projectiles—from handgun choices, to match bullets, to a great line of hunting projectiles for riflemen. I have the most experience with their hunting projectiles, having used them here in the States as well as on several safaris, and I’ve never been disappointed.
The PlainsMaster is a lead-free copper alloy design, in a spitzer boat-tail hollow-point conformation, though the cavity is occupied by a bronze tip used to initiate expansion. For those who enjoy the performance of copper projectiles, the PlainsMaster is among the best I’ve ever used. My old 6.5-284 would put three of the 129-grain PlainsMasters into ¾-MOA groups religiously, and the whitetail deer were not a fan of this bullet by any means. I’d happily load a Peregrine PlainsMaster of suitable caliber and weight for any hunt in North America or any of the African species shy of the dangerous heavyweights.
For those larger species like Cape buffalo, the bison of North America, coastal grizzlies, Australian water buffalo and the like, the Peregrine BushMaster is going to suit you quite well. These species are generally taken at closer distances, and the flat meplat of the BushMaster poses no issues. The large brass plunger sits atop a hollow cavity and drives the sidewalls of the bullet outward upon impact. I’ve taken several Cape buffalo bulls with this bullet, and it’s pretty characteristic of the design to find the expanded bullet against the offside hide after creating a large wound channel. I’m a huge fan of these, especially when stalking the Cape buffalo.
Hornady A-Tip Match
Hornady’s factory-loaded ammunition is excellent, and for those who enjoy the sound of ringing steel, their Match ammo line, which features the ELD Match bullet, is a great source of fine accuracy. But for those who want to take things a step further, Hornady offers the A-Tip Match—which I consider one of the finest match bullets ever made. This article is about unique projectiles, and though Hornady is a household name in our industry, these bullets are only available in component form to be handloaded.
Precise jackets and uniform lead cores are mated to an aluminum tip, and you’ll be challenged to feel the transition from aluminum tip to copper jacket with your fingernail. These are taken directly off the assembly line and put immediately in the packaging; Hornady even included a polishing cloth to remove the oil from the projectiles. You can buy the A-Tip Match in lots up to 500 pieces for the ultimate in consistency.
The A-Tip Match is available in calibers ranging from 0.224 inch up to 0.416 inch, so there should be an option for nearly every target shooter. If you are into the most consistent components, give Hornady’s A-Tip Match a whirl, but be sure and use a VLD seating stem to avoid damaging the meplat.
McGuire Ballistics
California’s move to mandated lead-free projectiles inspired the folks at McGuire Ballistics to build a better mousetrap. Sam McGuire is the brains behind the company, and as he is equal parts machinist and hunting guide, he knows a thing or two about how hunting bullets should perform. He routinely pursues those big California feral hogs at all sorts of ranges, so he wanted a projectile that would give the needed results in a variety of situations.
Enter his Copper Rose projectile, an all-copper spitzer boat-tail softpoint, quickly gaining an excellent reputation in the fields and woods. My .300 Winchester Magnum loves the 178-grain Copper Rose (magazine feed variant) over a healthy dose of IMR 4831, printing three-shot groups averaging just over 0.6 inch at my 100-yard range, with very consistent velocities. That particular bullet sports a G1 Ballistic Coefficient of 0.600, so it’ll definitely retain a good amount of energy, as well as resisting wind deflection at longer ranges.
This design will certainly work well for deer and hogs, but I wouldn’t hesitate to reach for these for an elk, moose or bear hunt, or even for one of the sheep species or a mountain goat. It’d also make a great bullet for the serious aoudad hunter, as those rams can take a pounding, and the integrity of the Copper Rose would be most welcome. Available in 0.224-inch 71 grains, 6mm 93 grains, 0.257-inch 95, 117 and 122 grains, 6.5mm 114, 125 and 130 grains, 0.277-inch 128 and 148 grains, 7mm 143, 160 and 168 grains, 0.308-inch 156, 168,178 and 195 grains, and 0.338-inch 225 and 250 grains.
McGuire also has a match bullet available—their Steel Slayer line—which appear to have the same profile as the Copper Rose projectiles, though I must confess I have yet to lay my hands upon these for any sort of evaluation.
Northern Precision Custom Projectiles
Based in Western New York, Northern Precision is the brainchild of Bill Noody, and he has some excellent component projectiles for the rifleman and handgunner alike. As Noody is a one-man show, each projectile is hand-formed by him, and he makes some highly consistent products. I love the fact that Noody is approachable and isn’t afraid to take on a new project.
After using his stuff in some of the more common calibers and cartridges, Noody and I talked about providing a USA-made option for feeding the .318 Westley Richards I love so much, and it wasn’t long before we had a 250-grain round-nose bonded core bullet that works perfectly. It’s of a proper shape and weight to get the classic performance the cartridge is famous for, and Noody’s projectiles have proved to be just as accurate as the stuff from Kynoch or Woodleigh. Best of all, they’re made practically in my backyard. Noody and I also discussed a lighter bullet for that cartridge, culminating in a thin-jacketed 180-grain bullet, in a flat-base round-nose conformation with a bit of dimpled lead at the nose.
Even Noody’s more common designs are unique. During some range testing, I loaded up some of Northern Precision’s 165-grain .30-caliber Spitzer RBT Bonded Core Open Tip (that’s a mouthful) in my Winchester 70 .300 H&H Magnum. This rifle normally likes bullets on the longer side of things; in fact, the best loads I’ve seen in this rifle are built around the 200-grain Nosler AccuBond and the same weight of Federal’s Terminal Ascent. However, the Northern Precision 165-grain RBT gave excellent results, with three-shot groups averaging 0.7-inch groups at 100 yards, giving me an excellent load for our New York deer and bear season. That Open Tip design will surely give good expansion for deer and similar game, yet the bonded core will hold together on the heavy bones of a truly large black bear or even an elk or moose.
Noody uses the RBT (Rebated Boat-tail) design, which has what looks like a stepped transition into the boat-tail. This feature is supposed to reduce muzzle blast dispersion by 15 percent or so, which will enhance accuracy and give more consistent velocities. I know this rifle likes them so much; they are headed to the woods with me this fall, celebrating the .300 H&H’s 100th birthday. The Sabre-Star handgun bullet line features both bonded and non-bonded designs in a number of common calibers, at useful weights.
My Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt loves the 270-grain Sabre-Star with the cannelure, while my Sig Sauer 1911 seems very happy with the 200-grain variant, without cannelure. His handgun bullets are limited to 10mm and .45-caliber. Noody has a number of useful designs, from a bonded-core flat-nose 400-grain bullet made to work with the Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun, to more traditional designs for obsolete cartridges like the .405 Winchester, .22 Savage High-Power and .348 Winchester, and he is open to discuss custom options for whatever you may need.
Nosler’s Solid Base Bullet
Rewind the clock to the late 1970s, and Nosler’s Partition was the indisputable flagship of their fleet, but the Ballistic Tip, AccuBond and Expansion Tip—as well as any Nosler factory loaded ammunition—were years away. There was another choice, however, among the component bullets: the Solid Base. A cup-and-core design, with a bit of exposed lead at the nose and a copper jacket that thickens at the base, the Solid Base bullet was recently reintroduced in the Nosler Whitetail Country ammo line. And while the cartridge selection in that ammo line covers a lot of ground, the fact that the Solid Base bullet has recently become available in component form again is great news for handloaders.
I used this bullet last fall in the .308 Winchester, in the Whitetail Country ammo, and it took a good Catskill Mountain eight-point without issue. Now, if you’d like to use this bullet in a .300 Savage, .30 Remington, 6.5×55 Swede, or .244 Remington, the components are there for you to do so. Nosler has made the Solid Base available in 6mm 100 grains, 6.5mm 140 grains, 0.277-inch 130 grains, 7mm 140 grains, 0.308-inch 150 grains (spitzer and round nose, for the 30-30) and 165 grains.
Hawk Bullets
If you’ve got an oddball cartridge, Hawk can be an invaluable source of projectiles. Using a pure copper jacket and lead core, Hawk’s hunting bullets give excellent expansion for a large wound channel (sometimes up to three times the original diameter) and are easy on the older barrels, many of which have been nearly ruined by the modern monometal designs.
Thirty-five years of hunting reports have shown that Hawk’s bullet designs work, as they offer a number of nose profiles. But it is the sheer number of obscure bullet diameters offered by Hawk that makes them such a valuable resource. Need a 0.286-inch-diameter bullet for your .280 Ross? No worries. Are you struggling to find ammo for your .333 Jeffery, especially those fabled 300-grain slugs? Hawk has your back. Found a helluva deal on a .475 No. 2 Jefferies, but are now panicking about a source for 0.482-inch-diameter projectiles? Again, Hawk to the rescue. Among the bullet choices, there are a number of different jacket thicknesses to choose from, so you can customize your bullet to a certain degree.
If you don’t see what you want, Hawk accepts custom orders, but you’ll have to contact them to discuss the parameters. I’ve used Hawk’s stuff in my .318 Westley Richards. Their 200-grain bullet worked perfectly and in the mighty .505 Gibbs, where the 500-grain round nose gave excellent accuracy. They are worth keeping on your favorites bar, if you like the obscure.
Make It Your Own
There is something special about using a unique combination of cartridge, load and bullet; once the trigger is pulled and the desired results achieved, I feel a sense of pride nearly unequaled in the shooting world. Yes, I have relied upon the common components and cartridge many times, but the do-it-yourself aspect of handloading ammunition has led to the desire to embrace the unique. Fly your freak flag and sally forth with a combination no one else uses.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the January 2026 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
More On Reloading
- Tips For Reloading the .30-06 Springfield
- Loving Your Luger: Reloading the 9mm Luger
- Handloading: Tips For Reloading The 7mm Rem Mag
- How To: Tips For Reloading the .223 Remington
- Reloading Bench: The Inside On Reloading For The .30-30 Winchester
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