So I had an interesting experience yesterday. I had a client bring me a rifle to tune up a load for. Its chambered in 28 Nosler on a Defiance action with a 26" proof barrel with a brake in 1:8.44 twist. Last weekend I took it out and found a great load. 80.5gr of Retumbo was giving five shot groups in the .3s at 100 yards and a velocity of 3180fps. Went back to the range yesterday evening to do some ballistic verification and ran into a bit of a problem. Beyond 300 yards only about half of my shots were hitting targets. I suspected a scope issue at first so I went back to 100 and things looked fine. Long story short my wife was spotting for me and she finally saw a poof in the air when shooting at the 500 yard gong. The bullets were actually coming apart mid flight. I have heard of this happening before with other bullets but this is the first time I have ever witnessed it personally. The barrel looks fine I don't see any rough spots and it's not fouling excessively so I don't suspect that its the barrel causing the issue. Has anyone else experienced this with the ELD-Ms? I suggested we try the Berger 180 hybrid or 195 but he says he hasn't had good experiences with Berger bullets in the past and doesn't want to use them.
I think you have the perfect storm.
Velocity+twist = high RPM's
Velocity+ possibly a tight barrel = friction
Velocity+ twist+ tight bore= poof
Been there done that myself.
Slow them down to 3050 and see if they live.
I believe Dave T. has probably it the nail on its head. The only bullet I have lost it 19 years of F-Class shooting was a thin jacket 140 Berger VLD in a 6.5/284 case at 3030 fps at the end of a very fast 30 shot string. Switched to moly & then thick jackets and no more problems.
Reference the 7mm Berger 180 Hybrids I have fired over 7,000 in the last 5 years in my 7/270 WSM. 28-32” Bartlien barrels (also 1 Brux & 1 Broughton) at 2970 to 3030 fps and never lost a bullet. All shots in matches and 15-20 shot strings + sighters. If you lose Berger 180 Hybrids I don’t think the problem is the bullets.
... Larry, congratulations on winning the TSRA LR F-Open. I just saw your name, figuring this forum out. That was the match my daughter lost one bullet each day, one scenar and one hybrid. My twist rate is faster than it needs to be, 8 twist in several, and that is being addressed in the next generation of barrels. A factor perhaps.I believe Dave T. has probably it the nail on its head. The only bullet I have lost in 19 years of F-Class shooting was a thin jacket 140 Berger VLD in a 6.5/284 case at 3030 fps at the end of a very fast 30 shot string. Switched to moly & then thick jackets and no more problems.
Reference the 7mm Berger 180 Hybrids I have fired over 7,000 in the last 5 years in my 7/270 WSM. 28-32” Bartlien barrels (also 1 Brux & 1 Broughton) at 2970 to 3030 fps and never lost a bullet. All shots in matches and 15-20 shot strings + sighters. If you lose Berger 180 Hybrids I don’t think the problem is the bullets.
So I had an interesting experience yesterday. I had a client bring me a rifle to tune up a load for. Its chambered in 28 Nosler on a Defiance action with a 26" proof barrel with a brake in 1:8.44 twist. Last weekend I took it out and found a great load. 80.5gr of Retumbo was giving five shot groups in the .3s at 100 yards and a velocity of 3180fps. Went back to the range yesterday evening to do some ballistic verification and ran into a bit of a problem. Beyond 300 yards only about half of my shots were hitting targets. I suspected a scope issue at first so I went back to 100 and things looked fine. Long story short my wife was spotting for me and she finally saw a poof in the air when shooting at the 500 yard gong. The bullets were actually coming apart mid flight. I have heard of this happening before with other bullets but this is the first time I have ever witnessed it personally. The barrel looks fine I don't see any rough spots and it's not fouling excessively so I don't suspect that its the barrel causing the issue. Has anyone else experienced this with the ELD-Ms? I suggested we try the Berger 180 hybrid or 195 but he says he hasn't had good experiences with Berger bullets in the past and doesn't want to use them.
Yes, we shared a challenging wind in relay 1, at the end. That’s me, I was next after you I think on that string, which made me feel great about my score even though far off of your own.DavidJoe,
Did you shoot the end of Apr at the TSRA LR Championships? Just trying to place you.
I hate to suggest this but as a past crossfire champion, could that 1 Berger have gone on another target![]()
7mm 180 ELDM's are horrible, horrible bullets. Please do not buy them so the price will go down and I can buy them cheap. Seriously, I'm not driving them that hard (2800fps) in my 284Win F-open gun and they are tact drivers.
David I don't care who you are or what rest you are using it is possible to move the rear bag enough if you move your body around on the firing point for any reason and then forget to check your # board. Just saying....been there done that!Snip, snip...
We all wondered if she could have crossfired (my daughter had the issues that match) but she was pretty tightly locked in on a Seb Max. And it was one bullet each day, the Berger First day and a Lapua day two.
What twist are you running in your rifle?? I have a 1-9 and they shot really well to 500yds but seemed to open up at 800 on out to 1000. My 162s would out shoot them. I only tried them on the one occasion at 800+ and after talking to my smith he thought I may be on the edge of stability is why the seemed to open up further on out. I am wondering if I need to give up on them or buy another box and give the a try again at longer ranges...7mm 180 ELDM's are horrible, horrible bullets. Please do not buy them so the price will go down and I can buy them cheap. Seriously, I'm not driving them that hard (2800fps) in my 284Win F-open gun and they are tack drivers.
I think the eldx has a thicker jacket and can handle it better at those velocities.I have run the 175 eld x in my 28 nos. at 3200+ with no problems ,and the 162 eld x at 3400 with no problems. (Pac-nor 9 twist, 26inch with h1000 and retumbo) Have taken game only out to 712 yards so far.