Here are sectioned and intact E-Tip bullets. Note the deep cavity and the polymer tips. Photo courtesy of Winchester.

Winchester and Nosler engineers tested the E-Tip extensively before introducing it. In their testing, it proved to be as accurate as the AccuBond and XP3, and it performed as intended on game. In fact, they shot 17 hogs with the final version of the E-Tip, not one of which ran more than a few yards after being shot. But I'm a skeptic, so I invited Winchester's Kevin Howard and his son Andrew down to the Pamandan Ranch in Southwest Texas to do a little bullet testing of our own.

Texas Tested
The E-Tip had just been announced when the Howards came down. In fact, the bullet was so new, we only had 60 of them--20 each in .308 Winchester, .30-06, and .300 WSM. Limited supply meant we didn't get to shoot much, but the E-Tip shot as well in all three of our rifles as the XP3s we brought along with which to zero our rifles.

Kevin was my guest, so I offered him the first shot. He got his chance late on the first day when a small sounder of pigs came out into a clearing to mow down some freshly sprouted greenery.

There were no big hogs in the group, but an eatin'-sized sow made the mistake of stepping clear. Just as he was about to shoot, another sow walked behind his intended target.

"What should I do?" he asked.

"We're here to test bullets, Kevin. Take 'em both," I replied.

He touched the trigger of his .300 WSM and sent a 180-grain E-Tip downrange. The first hog took off, as heart-shot animals often do. We found it piled up under a bush, 30 yards from where it stood at the shot. A postmortem revealed tremendous internal damage on par with that of rapid-expansion bullets like the AccuBond. The exit wound was about .75 inch, which was consistent with exit wounds I've seen from tougher bullets like the XP3.

The E-Tip bullet passed through the first hog and dropped the second in its tracks. Obviously, the entrance wound was substantial due to the already-expanded bullet, but that didn't seem to slow the E-Tip down a bit--the wound channel was just as devastating as that of the first hog.

Andrew got the second shot when we found a herd of exotic sheep feeding in the north pasture. The Pamandan is a low-fence operation, so we don't waste a chance to take a trophy exotic when we get one. The ram was big and black, and it was clearly the boss of a herd that numbered 10 or so animals.

We closed to within 60 yards of the 145-pound ram before it realized something wasn't right. Andrew took a slight quartering shot with his .30-06 Browning BAR. The ram reared up, then collapsed where it stood. The E-Tip hit the ram just behind the shoulder and exited the offside flank. Since the E-Tip exited the animal, again, we were unable to recover it, but the internal damage was very extensive.