Maybe not the regulars but we do seem to have people lurking.
Aeromatch Bullets for high volume shooters
- Thread starter davidjoe
- Start date
Maybe not the regulars but we do seem to have people lurking.
Rank Amateur
Gold $$ Contributor
Side by side preliminary testing of Aeromatch 105s vs Berger 105 hybrids in 6BR. Lapua brass, Rem 7 1/2, N-140. No adjustments made to dies, just loaded 50 with Bergers and 50 with Hornady in the same session. Fired 5 shot groups at 500 yds, 4 separate shooters all through the same rifle.
Groups with Bergers ranged between 1/4 and 3/4 MOA (depending on shooter). Groups with Hornady ranged 1 to 1.5 MOA. Interestingly, the Hornadys printed about 2 minutes left of the Bergers.
Subtle observations: jackets looked marginally “shinier”, smoother on Bergers than Hornadys, and there feels to be a little residue left on the Aeromatchs so the Bergers feel more slippery right out of the bag. Meplats of the Aeromatchs seemed a bit more uniform than those on the Bergers. All of this is “for what it’s worth”. Given my preliminary testing, I didn’t find the new Hornady bullets to be a perfect copy of the Berger 105 hybrids, and in my rifle, they did not perform as well. Perhaps a different rifle, different shooters, some load development, cleaning/polishing, sorting could yield a different result, but I won’t be using Aeromatch for my match rounds…. As always, hope others find the info useful.
Groups with Bergers ranged between 1/4 and 3/4 MOA (depending on shooter). Groups with Hornady ranged 1 to 1.5 MOA. Interestingly, the Hornadys printed about 2 minutes left of the Bergers.
Subtle observations: jackets looked marginally “shinier”, smoother on Bergers than Hornadys, and there feels to be a little residue left on the Aeromatchs so the Bergers feel more slippery right out of the bag. Meplats of the Aeromatchs seemed a bit more uniform than those on the Bergers. All of this is “for what it’s worth”. Given my preliminary testing, I didn’t find the new Hornady bullets to be a perfect copy of the Berger 105 hybrids, and in my rifle, they did not perform as well. Perhaps a different rifle, different shooters, some load development, cleaning/polishing, sorting could yield a different result, but I won’t be using Aeromatch for my match rounds…. As always, hope others find the info useful.
Four shooters and your round count is the start of a good sampling. Did you guys shoot any groups closer in?
500 yards returns good information but it is distant enough to also require that the conditions be truly identical for a comparison.
What could you discern about BC between the two? Dis they strike at the same elevation with the same charge, given slight differences in the meplats?
Rank Amateur
Gold $$ Contributor
@davidjoe, thanks for the response. Sorry, no closer shooting in this session. We just set up a ShotMarker at our usual practice range and went to work (grin). I don’t think there was a significant difference in BC. Groups formed essentially straight across from each other (same elevation), with the hornady group always to the left of the Berger group by about 2 minutes. Didn’t burn enough ammo to really characterize group shape (for the Hornadys), but while the Berger groups were relatively round (depending on shooter, of course), the Hornady groups were more irregular and spread out. For example, one shooter had more horizontal dispersion with two rounds printing near the middle and the other three on either side. Another shooter had a somewhat square group with one round printing above. The best shooter had 5 Bergers touching, while the group for Hornady was spread over about a minute.
Of course you are correct that wind is a factor even at mid-ranges. This group of shooters regularly competes in F-Open at 500, 600, and 1,000 yds. For this test, we deliberately did NOT attempt to read wind and compensate. We all agreed to simply hold center and see where the groups would form. Obviously, we included the 4 shooters so that no single shooter’s technique would bias results overall. I also could have chrono’d the rounds, but chose not to as the only criterion I wanted to assess in this first outing is how the bullets compared in grouping on paper. Lastly, the two sets of ammo were unlabeled. It’s possible the shooters could discern differences as they picked rounds out of the box and loaded them (single load rifle), but we tried not to make any such assessment.
Thanks for testing and being the first I know to share a comparison. It sounds like the groups are bigger. Not just because of a single bullet/flyer here and there but simply a more diffuse pattern of clusters. If they are shooting twice as large, you could say that in relative terms to the control bullet, they are basically all flyers unfortunately, as doubling the group size is typically the amount by which a bullet earns the flyer label.
Close range would be interesting as well. Hornady really relies on tipped bullets historically in its line up, so this would be a little like Berger shipping tipped bullets and the first ones being tested. That said though, they aren’t new to it, - one very fine .308 loaded ammo I have always been impressed with was the 176 or 178 (I forget) BTHP Superformance that had been available on and off for maybe 13-15 years.
Close range would be interesting as well. Hornady really relies on tipped bullets historically in its line up, so this would be a little like Berger shipping tipped bullets and the first ones being tested. That said though, they aren’t new to it, - one very fine .308 loaded ammo I have always been impressed with was the 176 or 178 (I forget) BTHP Superformance that had been available on and off for maybe 13-15 years.
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I was skeptical of the “no changing your load” claim. I suspect you will see better results if you retune with the new bullet. I would be curious if a few thousandths in or out on seating depth brings it together. I wouldn’t expect different lots of the same bullet from Berger to be interchangeable, so a completely different manufacturer definitely wouldn’t be.
hoz53
Gold $$ Contributor
mabie you meant to have put this post in a different thread? Of coarse we are all praying hornady will make bullets with the accuracy and consistancy of Bergers- lol
“Even in in the 3000 count matched bulk buy, each bullet comes with the new prayer ring.”
Seems like they are doing a pretty good job of that. I see more and more of their ELD's showing up on the long range shoots. And even in posts by many on the site using them and the V Max with good load data.
drop_point
Silver $$ Contributor
There are places that offer discounts for service people, and then there are coupons. In many cases, yellow boxes may be even cheaper.
If groceries prices come down now, they will seem a lot cheaper.
Rank Amateur
Gold $$ Contributor
I ordered the minimum (500) so I still have some for testing. I gave 100 each to two friends, so the three of us will play with them in separate rifles. I was hoping for enough similarity to use the AeroMatchs for practice. My initial testing says that isn’t going to happen. So, to @Evan point, I’m shifting my intent to assessing if they can be used as a replacement for the Bergers (assuming some future shortage after my current stock is used up). I will do some load development as if AeroMatch bullets were the only ones I could get (and I’ll ask my friends to do the same with their limited stock). That load development will be done at 100 yds, and I’ll post results when I have them. Just to manage expectations, this won’t be immediate due to needing to focus on building and load development of and for a couple of other new rifles.
Thanks for sharing your results! I am hopeful it works out for Hornady and they expand the line to include bullets I want.
Did you try to measure them, bullet diameter, OAL, etc.?
hoz53
Gold $$ Contributor
of coarse i hope they continue to improve.
gotta be all good for shooters.
Rank Amateur
Gold $$ Contributor
Measured 5 bullets selected at random, and compared them to 5 Berger Hybrids also randomly selected.
- The Bergers varied between 1.2792” and 1.2840” in length, and were all 0.2430” in diameter for the bearing surface. The Bergers all had a minutely larger ring (0.0001 larger) just ahead of the boat tail (0.2431”) than for the rest of the bearing surface.
- Hornady AeroMatch bullets varied between 1.2698” and 1.2730” in length, and were all 0.2431” in diameter for the bearing surface. There was no variation in diameter from ogive to boat tail.
hoz53
Gold $$ Contributor
Thanks for spending the bucks,time and posting on these Rank..I was on the verge of pulling the trigger on a 500 box of 105s to test but decided against it at last minute. to me the cost of them is not much cheaper than bergers and then id have to use(waste) the components to shoot them when i could be shooting the bergers. ill continue to watch these aeromatch though. i do hope hornady ups there game to bring these bullets to at least the quality of bergers. we definately need them!!!
There is no "deal" here. They are just "trying" to copy our products.
Notice the lack of " bullet designing and innovation" here....
EXACTLY!
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