Anyone compete with the tipped bullets?

[Nowhere Man]

I keep looking at the Sierra TMK and Hornady ELD's and wonder if they work any better than non-tipped bullets. What's your experience?

 

[Grimstod]

No pro that I have ever seen uses them.

 

[watercam]

Having scored for good shooters using them at long range I am not seeing any advantage. Plus it is another possible variable in bullet construction. I am staying with cup and core.

 

[skiutah02]

I did use the 195tmk in a friendly match while testing. My fullish report will get posted here soon. Stay tuned

 

[Berger.Fan222]

A buddy shoots the 208 ELDs at 600 and 1000 yards. Given his relative inexperience, his scores are pretty high. Those super high BCs really cut through the wind.

Another buddy shoots the 175 TMKs also at 600 and 1000 yards. These move more in the wind that the 208 ELDs, but the recoil is much easier to manage and shorter range accuracy is excellent.

 

[Down South]

I never shot them in a match (208 Amax) but i tested them at 300 yards in my FTR rifle and accuracy was on par with Bergers & JLKs. I'm sure the new Hornady bullet would shoot well also.

 

[Liven The Dream]

Well I have had good luck with Sierra 175 gr. GreenTips in. .308 FT/R Rifle.
And Fifle I put together for a friend did well at the Sprit of America.
300 to 1000 yards.
I do think Berger 175 OTM are just a little better but cost more ?

 

[normmatzen]

When I first built my 284 WIN heavy gun, I tried 175 SMK, 180 Hybrid and 162 A-MAX.
The A-MAX shot best of the lot.
I use this load for our monthly F Class practice match and I do pretty well.
I am going to try the ELD-M 180 soon as I get around to it.

 

[NV Highpower]

I shot a 600-37X at 600 yards at Berger SWN last Feb with 155 TMK. There are reports of the tips melting at longer distances, but at 600 yards I'd put them head to head to anything else out there. Basically I'm shooting whatever I can get cheaply or win, so I'll be shooting Bergers until run out of those.

 

[Jdne5b]

I've been using the 195 TMK in FTR. My 7s 8s and 9s arent caused by the bullet. I shoot those with Bergers too.

 

[mao0720]

I'm using 208 eld-m's in my FTR rifle now. They shoot very, very well. You cannot push them quite as fast as the 200 bergers because the eld had a significantly longer bearing surface, by they are going plenty fast enough to beat out 185gr juggernauts in the wind by a measureable ammount. Plus the Hornady ELD are $5-15 per 100 cheaper than the bergers (depending on type of Berger and retailer).

 

[rebel107]

I'm going to use the 30 cal 195gn TMK's in my FTR gun. Just wondering if anyone on here has a base to ogive measurement of the projectile for me. just need to set up the freebore.
I've tried the Hornady 208's but find 1 or 2 seem to go a bit haywire after 4 or 5 good group shots running them at 2610fps.

 

[PAPA65]

Have shot the 195 in several matches with good results. 10 off the lands and 44gr varget

 

[brxbrad]

I've been shooting the .284 caliber for 4 years now. I tested the ELD's against the Berger Hybrids during load development when I put the new barrel on my gun at the beginning of the the 2017 season. I've ran 2000 rounds down the tube sense then. Ballistics show the ELD's will shoot inside the Hybrids traveling the same speed. I'm shooting the Bartlien 1:8.25 straight 1.25" in f-class. I ran the same testing process on both bullets. Long story short, after testing both, I found the Hornady's more consistent in size and weight from Lot to Lot, shoot as good as the Berger's and couldn't see an increased performance from the additional $12 per box for Berger's. I've been a Berger guy for 8 solid years now. My logic was, if the ELD's shoot as good as the Berger's and a .284 barrel will last 2800 rounds and you multiply 28 box's X $12 difference in cost...thats a $336 savings over the life of the barrel.
That almost buys a new barrel.......
Attached is the published BC info for the ELD...
https://www.hornady.com/support/ballistic-coefficient

It might be worth the $38/box to give them a try.

I might add that I just finished my BRX build and shot it in a match yesterday. (600 yds)
First match for the gun in good conditions.
600-37 X
Brux 4-grove-32"-8 twist
Bullet......Berger Hybrid 105
I also tested the ELD's 108 and Sierra 107's
In this case, the Berger's out preformed the other two pretty much hands down

Conclusion:
You won't know until you try them. Your gun will let you know what to choose.

2 cents

 

[rkittine]

No real experience here, but from the bullet makers that I have talked to, it certainly seems to be catching on. I was at the Williamsport 1,000 Yard Bench Rest School again last year ( hope to make the one in 2018 too) and shot tipped Sierra 6mm Projectiles in a 6x47L owned by one of the members. Seems they are liked there. I do want to try some of the ones from Sierra, but plan on buying the cutting and tipping dies myself. One more piece of kit to get.

Bob

 

[Jdne5b]

I'm going to use the 30 cal 195gn TMK's in my FTR gun. Just wondering if anyone on here has a base to ogive measurement of the projectile for me. just need to set up the freebore.
I've tried the Hornady 208's but find 1 or 2 seem to go a bit haywire after 4 or 5 good group shots running them at 2610fps.

The 2013 FTR reamer is *almost* perfect at .169 freebore. I wouldnt go much shorter than that.

 

[Berger.Fan222]

Among my inner circle of shooting friends and family, about half are running plastic tipped bullets. Results are very good.

 

[Mozella]

My formal education is in the field of aerodynamics. When I look at the various plastic tipped bullets I see an obvious advantage for objects flying at Mach 2.5 or so. I've tested a variety of Hornady and Sierra tipped bullets as well as the very nice looking Nosler RDF bullets. The RDF's are non tipped but they're much better looking than Bergers to my eye at least and they're quite a bit less expensive.

Unfortunately, I can't get any of the tipped bullets nor the Nosler RDF's to shoot as well as the Bergers. I would LOVE to use tipped bullets, but I do a lot of testing and I haven't seen anything which outperforms Berger bullets. There's more to performance than a nice looking tip.

So, until things change, I'll continue to use Bergers for competition and keep looking for where I can find storage space for a lot of half full boxes of tipped bullets in various calibers.