Hornady 25 Cal 138gr A-Tip
- Thread starter B23
- Start date
I was wondering if you think the the 25 caliber bullets shoot better than the .264‘s in your 284 case?
Honestly, my 6.5-284 is the most accurate 284 parent case rifle I own. More so than the 284 as well. I still need to shoot more bullet options thru the .257 barrel to say for certain but for now, the .264 140s are the most accurate
B23
Gold $$ Contributor
The ELD-M and A-Tip regardless of caliber seem to always shoot pretty damn well in just about everything.
This was literally the very first ten rounds down the barrel all with the 134's and RL26 in my new 25 RSAUM. Left side was finding pressure and right side was three shot group. For now I'll just leave her be and shut up an shoot it. I think if I went to changing anything my gunsmith would probably choke me out.
This was literally the very first ten rounds down the barrel all with the 134's and RL26 in my new 25 RSAUM. Left side was finding pressure and right side was three shot group. For now I'll just leave her be and shut up an shoot it. I think if I went to changing anything my gunsmith would probably choke me out.
138 A Tip ($80) vs 134 ELDM($40 ). Think I'll stick with my 134s. I'm pretty sure the A Tips won't do anything better than the 134s except look prettier. Fancy fleece bag and aluminum tips won't put venison on the ground any better. They shoot great but no better than the 134s. I only had 40 bullets to try and they shot great at a lower velocity than my 134s.
Just finished working up two 133 gr berger loads for my 25-06AI with surprisingly good results from H1000 and N570. H1k is 3178 fps and N570 producing 3218 fps out of 26” tube.
The heavier Atip is on my radar.
The heavier Atip is on my radar.
Infrequent Shooter
Gold $$ Contributor
linebaugh
Silver $$ Contributor
Keep comments coming please. Just built a 25-6.5 PRC and will be breaking the barrel in very soon. 131SMK, 134 ELDM and 138 Atips to start. Starting with Retumbo but will likely be changing to N570. 27" tube.
Having other boring life issues that are putting me a bit behind but getting closer. Put glass on Monday and have break in loads with 131s ready to go. Will see what happens but with retumbo it looks like I will run out of case about the time I run into pressure... I suspect N570 to be the same. Short action.
Having other boring life issues that are putting me a bit behind but getting closer. Put glass on Monday and have break in loads with 131s ready to go. Will see what happens but with retumbo it looks like I will run out of case about the time I run into pressure... I suspect N570 to be the same. Short action.
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Lightfoote
Silver $$ Contributor
That’s some serious speed! My 25/284 topped out around 3020 with 133/135s. Lapua brass rl-26,h1000, h4831sc all max just above 3000fps in a 24” barrel.
Yes I was shocked. So many had 3100 max so I was expecting 3000-3100. To my surprise the 3198-3220 was just unbelievable and those velocities were in the first 30 shots. Did some break in shooting then zeroed the scope. Load data came next and at the upper RL26 loads showed 3200+ with great accuracy. I will say that 3200 was not the best accuracy and I didn't want to step on it that hard anyway so plans were around 3000-3050 for the best of everything if I could find a sweet spot. I did.
Conrad
Silver $$ Contributor
ELDM's are going to be more consistent on game anyway. A-Tips seem to be unpredictable for proper expansion.
Shot 25 Creed with 131's in 2019-2020 more for PRS. Dasher is the easy button for me these days, but a 20-22" 25 PRC (6.5) or a 25 SAUM would be very cool for hunting. My concern on the Hornady bullets is while they are fantastic on game, certain models have had a history of going *poof*--and these short mag cases are going to push them into that realm. Hopefully the 134's are good to go throughout a barrel's life.
Probably 25 SAW (1-2gr more capacity than a CM) I just had a new tube spun up in this chambering for NRL Hunter. The Berger 135s will run comfortably at 2900 from my 24” 1-7.5t Brux. A 26” tube would guarantee those numbers with the 138gr.
I’d really like a conventional bullet closer to 145gr in this cartridge to run about 2800 fps…
From what my experience the “poof” issue has been resolved in the ELDMs. I shoot the 155s and 168s in my .308 and I have seen a lot of people returning to them without issue in other calibers. Granted none of the examples I’ve seen have been magnum cartridges, so maybe speed is still not friendly to the design.
My only gripe with them is that the tips break pretty easily. Fumble a mag - broken tips. Weird feed - broken tip. Spill bullets on the loading bench - broken tips. They shoot great though.
Infrequent Shooter
Gold $$ Contributor
What has been everyone's experience w 131 smks? //. I guess this is pretty much the former blackjack bullet. But I am asking specifically about the smk incase there are small differences.
I think @Bill Norris just had bad luck with inconsistencies with them.
SVT_Tactical and I just recently tried the Sierra 131 gr. M K in our 25 X 47 Lapua rifles only to find huge variations in the base to ogive of the bullet and even measuring from the boat tail/profile junction to the ogive there was in some cases up to .008 differences from bullet to bullet.
Sierra had us send all of them back for them to check with their tools. They reported receiving them last week but I have not heard anything else from them yet.
I then turned to the 135 gr. Berger LRHT and found much better consistency bullet to bullet from a 100 ct. box that over 10 bullets measured .0005 variation base to ogive bullet to bullet. As one might expect my powder, seat depth, and verification testing delivered much better results with the Bergers. Two verification five shot groups measured .071 & .222 12 days apart in different temps. and conditions. I did not turn the tuner for either of these groups.
CAUTION DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS LOAD DATA WITHOUT THE SPECIAL REAMER FROM ODCR
135 GR. BERGER LRHT 2.131 O M 2.883 COL T/L B S .465 B C .650
POWDER VV-N540 38.3 GR. PRIMER CCI 450 .281 BU.
SEATED @ 2.124 O M 2.876 COL .007 OTL
.071 5-SHOT GP. 2933 FPS 6 E S 2 S D 83 DEG. 88 % REL/HUM 07/11/25
.227 5-SHOT GP. 2945 FPS 4 E S 2 S D 90 DEG. 59 % REL/HUM 07/23/25
.149 10-SHOT AGG. 2939 FPS 5 E S 2 S D VARYING TEMP/HUM
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B23
Gold $$ Contributor
Inconsistencies in how they shot or the actual bullets themselves measured out inconsistent from one to the next?
I know if you compare other bullets consistency to the A-Tip they all pretty much look inconsistent because the different A-Tip I have when you get all the different measurements on them from bullet to bullet those damn things are crazy with how consistent they are.
B23
Gold $$ Contributor
Have you tried Hornady's 138 A-Tip in your 25 x 47 ??
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