Berger 215 , two impacts

[ttfreestyle]

Wierd experience, Had my first bullet failure or double impact if you will yesterday. Shooting 1000 yards at steel with my 300 rum, had two separate strikes 10 yards left of the steel and the two strikes were 15 feet apart. Load is 3130 FPS with the 215 hybrid , I have shot approx 200 out of this box of 250. Next shot was on the steel so all I can think is the bullet came apart? Troy

 

[Evan]

*crickets* surely not a berger!

Just teasing. People like to trash hornady around here, so I'm amused this isn't filled with rants already.

First time this has happened? I would chalk it up as a fluke. Maybe note the lot number of bullets, barrel length and twist here so folks can come back in the future if they have it happen too, just in case this is an emerging problem

 

[barefooter56]

Had my first bullet failure yesterday. Shooting 1000 yards at steel with my 300 rum, had two separate strikes 10 yards left of the steel and the two strikes were 15 feet apart. Load is 3130 FPS with the 215 hybrid , I have shot approx 200 out of this box of 250. Next shot was on the steel so all I can think is the bullet came apart? Troy

Usually if a bullet ( any ones bullet) fails its at a closer range like 50 to 150 yards or so. What twist rate is the rifle barrel. And how many rounds have you shot through it.

 

[ttfreestyle]

In no way am I brand bashing, just curious if this had happened with anyone else as we have literally shot thousands of the 215 without a single hitch. I chalked it up as a fluke. It’s a 10 twist, it has 430 rounds on it and nothing like this has happened. It’s a very consistent gun. All I do know is myself and my buddy spotting both saw the two separate impacts, I can’t explain what happened with certainty.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I’ve used box after box of Berger 215gr Hybrids, not a single fault has been seen accuracy/stability wise.
Are you sure you are getting enough velocity to keep them stable in the twist you are using? A 10” twist isn’t optimum until you reach 3000fps with this bullet.
I run 10” twist barrels, but my velocities run from just under 3000fps to over 3200fps.

Need more info to help.

Cheers.

 

[ttfreestyle]

I’ve used box after box of Berger 215gr Hybrids, not a single fault has been seen accuracy/stability wise.
Are you sure you are getting enough velocity to keep them stable in the twist you are using? A 10” twist isn’t optimum until you reach 3000fps with this bullet.
I run 10” twist barrels, but my velocities run from just under 3000fps to over 3200fps.

Need more info to help.

Cheers.

Yes I’m sure.( miller stability of 1.61).

 

[barefooter56]

In no way am I brand bashing, just curious if this had happened with anyone else as we have literally shot thousands of the 215 without a single hitch. I chalked it up as a fluke. It’s a 10 twist, it has 430 rounds on it and nothing like this has happened. It’s a very consistent gun. All I do know is myself and my buddy spotting both saw the two separate impacts, I can’t explain what happened with certainty.

Were those the only shots you had issues with? Was everything back to normal after that? No issues?

 

[ttfreestyle]

Were those the only shots you had issues with? Was everything back to normal after that? No issues?

Yes just that one shot, just a fluke I guess. Heck it may hit a bird for all I know.

 

[seandradamus]

What I find most odd is the bullet maintained
Speed,stability,and BC enough to go 1000 yards then presumably split into 2 large enough pieces to see the impact of both and keep your waterline elevation.
My guess is you hit a small rock in front of the target launching 2 pieces into the nearby dirt.

 

[ttfreestyle]

I find it odd as well, our steel is hanging at aprox 5 feet on a slope with a bank behind it. I just can’t see being that short with a proven load/ gun. But hey anything’s possible. Was just a first time experience for any of my bunch.

 

[Sheldon N]

I've seen weird stuff when shooting steel at PRS matches. You get to see thousands of rounds sent downrange and watch some fluke shots. Catch the very edge of the plate, or a bolt, or a mounting hole, or the T-post or frame, and you can have a piece of the bullet fly pretty strongly off to one side and hit dirt 10 or 15 feet away from the plate. Usually the first reaction is "No way I missed that badly" but an experienced spotter on glass can see how the glancing impact happened.

 

[raptor1ronin]

Wierd experience, Had my first bullet failure or double impact if you will yesterday. Shooting 1000 yards at steel with my 300 rum, had two separate strikes 10 yards left of the steel and the two strikes were 15 feet apart. Load is 3130 FPS with the 215 hybrid , I have shot approx 200 out of this box of 250. Next shot was on the steel so all I can think is the bullet came apart? Troy

I have had my share of many 90VLD coming apart. I know the feeling and it sucks!!!!!

 

[Down South]

I have had my share of many 90VLD coming apart. I know the feeling and it sucks!!!!!

You aren't the only one that had jacket failures with Berger 90 gr VLDs. I remember last year at Missouri state championship when Greg Taylor had issues with that and he was shooting well and in contention.........

It can happen with any bullet manufacturer.

 

[barefooter56]

Yes just that one shot, just a fluke I guess. Heck it may hit a bird for all I know.

Strange. But as some posts have said. Strange things can happen while shooting with a bullet. Please let us know if you find any this else on this or if it happens again. Thanks !

 

[ttfreestyle]

Strange. But as some posts have said. Strange things can happen while shooting with a bullet. Please let us know if you find any this else on this or if it happens again. Thanks !

Will do, I really don’t expect this to happen again but who knows. I have one more box of this lot. Troy

 

[FrankG]

Usually if a bullet ( any ones bullet) fails its at a closer range like 50 to 150 yards or so. What twist rate is the rifle barrel. And how many rounds have you shot through it.

Not necessarily. I won’t name the bullet maker as they did give me a different lot to try etc...but I had a lot of bullets that would fail/blow up about 500-700 yards from the firing line and would not make it to the target (1000 yards). It happened on average 2 out of every 20 rounds. Even replaced the barrel with a brand new one. That barrel did it as well. Got a different lot of bullets and no problems. Shot a different brand and no problems in either barrel. Went back to try the one lot and failures started right back up.

Also seen a 7mm bullets failing at about the same distance but in that case the barrel the shooter had on the gun (not ours) when I inspected it had damage to the rifling and my guess that was the cause. Brought his rifle back to the shop and we made a replacement barrel for him right away as he was shooting the the F class champs (back around 2009) and his failures stopped.

Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I've had exactly one bullet "run away" in my years of shooting. Scorer said it took a hard turn up and upwind just before getting to the target.

Fortunately, it hit the 6' square target in the corner for a 5. Even the best bullet makers make a few that don't behave - anything is possible.

I was shooting a 600 yard match a month or two ago and saw one of my bullets impact about 5' left of the target in the berm. I was laying there wondering how I had missed by so much when the radio crackled "target repair" and it dawned on me that I had clipped the spindle, deflecting the bullet significantly.

What you see in the scope can be quite different from the reality of the bullet's flight and impact.

 

[dkhunt14]

I would almost bet the bullet clipped the edge of the steel plate. Whenever I saw bullets blow, they kinda just vaporized. All you saw was a poor. Matt

 

[JohnKielly]

I would almost bet the bullet clipped the edge of the steel plate. Whenever I saw bullets blow, they kinda just vaporized. All you saw was a poor. Matt

A couple of ricochet points, is that what you're thinking?

 

[dkhunt14]

A couple of ricochet points, is that what you're thinking?

I think it hit the edge of plate and broke up. Two Impacts. In spotting scopes, whenever I saw a bullet blowup, it was like a poof and it disapeared. Matt