Remington Premier CuT Ammo Review, Expert Tested

Remington’s new Premier CuT Copper Tipped rifle ammunition is the company’s latest line of lead-free of big-game hunting ammo. It’s not their first. In the early 2000s, Remington loaded Norma’s lead-free Naturalis bullet, and then, starting in 2010, you could get Remington ammo loaded with Barnes Triple Shocks. Although the company could continue to load the latter, Remington wanted their own, modern, lead-free, big-game bullet—and now they have it in the Premier CuT.

I was recently in Africa for 42 days, where I got to spend a week hunting with Remington’s CuT ammo, with it’s brand-new mono-metal bullet. Here’s my full review, including how the ammo and bullet performed on a variety of African game animals.

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Remington Premier CuT Copper Tipped Ammo Overview

Remington’s new Premier CuT Copper Tipped line of hunting ammunition uses a monolithic, lead-free alloy bullet. That’s how the CuT bullet got the first part of its very descriptive name. In the periodic table of elements, “Cu” stands for copper, and 95 percent of the CuT bullet is copper, the other 5 percent is zinc. The CuT bullet also has two relief grooves to give bullet material displaced by the rifling somewhere to go, and the front groove can be used for crimping. The last letter in the name—the T—stands for “tipped,” because all of the bullets used in Remington CuT ammunition have polymer tips.

One advantage of a cooper-alloy bullet is high weight retention, which helps increase penetration, without inducing any lead particles into the meat. This makes the CuT bullet suitable for locations that do not allow bullets containing any lead. The polymer tip increases ballistic coefficient, reducing drag, flattening trajectory, and minimizing wind drift. Initially, for 2024, Remington’s Premier CuT ammunition line will include offerings for 10 very popular and trusted big game cartridges.

Remington Premier CuT Ammo Offerings and Specs

Field Test: How the New CuT Ammo Performed on Game

After 18 days of hunting in Africa’s Eastern and Northern Cape, I headed up near Musina, South Africa, to hunt with Joel Hodgdon of Remington Ammunition in the Limpopo province. We were hunting near the Limpopo River, just across the border from Zimbabwe, and Joel had brought a rifle chambered for the 7mm PRC. At that time, the 7mm PRC was the only cartridge Remington had finalized for the new CuT ammo. During our week-long hunt, Joel and I took seven animals ranging in weight from about 20 pounds to nearly 800 with seven shots, all using the new CuT ammo.

The smallest plains-game animals taken were steenbok and duiker. Both are small African antelope that range in weight from about 20 to 35 pounds. Though you’ll see them frequently on the veld, they’re usually they’re running, so both can be challenging to hunt. Joel shot his steenbok ram at about 70 yards. The bullet entered the chest, passed through the abdomen, and exited behind the off-side hip. The duiker Joel took was walking away at about the same distance. Almost a Texas heart shot, that bullet passed through the body in almost the opposite path of the bullet that took the steenbok. Neither animal took a step after impact.

Joel also took a black impala ram and a nyala bull. Impalas are about the size of a south Texas whitetail doe, and a nyala can weigh as much as a mature mule deer buck. Joel shot his impala ram quartering away at about 55 yards, and it dropped instantly. The bullet entered just behind the shoulder, passed through one lung, and exited the ram’s chest. Joel shot his nyala at about the same distance, the bullet passed through both lungs and exited, and the bull ran about 40 yards and piled up.

The greater kudu is one of the most sought-after of all of Africa’s plains game, and a fully mature bull can weigh 600 pounds or a bit more. Joel and I both took a kudu. Joel’s shot was at about 80 yards, and the bullet entered behind the shoulder and exited just forward of the shoulder on the opposite side. The bull ran about 90 yards through the thick acacia and mopani bush, but the tracking was easy. I shot my kudu at about 160 yards. It was quartering towards me, and the bullet struck just forward of the point of his shoulder and lodged somewhere in the paunch. At impact the bull collapsed and never moved.

A zebra was the largest plains game animal we took, and a big stallion can weigh as much as 800 pounds. I don’t think any species of African game is harder to kill than another, but through 20 years of safaris I’ve seen more troubles with zebra than anything else. I shot the stallion at about the same distance I shot the kudu, with almost the exact same shot presentation. He ran about 80 yards. The bullet had traveled through the lungs and into the paunch, but we never found it. What we did find, with no trouble at all, was an expired zebra.

Final Thoughts on Remington Premier CuT Ammo

In Africa, I shot the 7mm PRC load on the range to confirm zero and then saw it used on seven animals. It seemed to deliver good precision, but I never got to measure groups. After returning home, I got to range-test the 120-grain 6.5 Creedmoor CuT load for precision. It shot well out of my son’s New Ultra Light Arms 6.5 Creedmoor with a 24-inch barrel, with slightly higher than advertised velocities. It averaged 1.03 inches for five, five shot groups at 100 yards. I also tested that load in Clear Ballistics. That bullet penetrated 27 inches and upset with a frontal diameter of nearly a half-inch with 98 percent weight retention. Here’s a breakdown of the ballistic performance and precision of the 6.5 Creedmoor load I tested.

We only recovered one bullet in Africa, and it was from one of the smallest animals. We found the 160-grain 7mm bullet under the hide on the front of the duiker’s chest after about 20 inches of penetration. This was surprising after seeing a complete pass through on a kudu bull, but with the duiker the bullet impacted and shattered it’s pelvis right after entry. What was surprising was that the 7mm PRC did not blast these small antelope into oblivion. I’ve seen lead core bullets from lesser cartridges erupt these diminutive antelope ruining their pelts. The new CuT bullet, however, worked well on both small and large game.

Remington is on what you could call their third generation of mono-metal big-game ammunition with the new CuT line. Based on my experience, I think you can expect it to perform on par with Barnes Tipped Triple Shocks and Hornady’s CX bullet. And you’ll be able to try it for yourself soon, as Remington says loaded CuT ammo for all 10 of the initially offered cartridges should be available by the 2024 big game season.

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