To All,
I have read several posts commenting on the BC of Berger Bullets. It is important that I relay to all of you how we calculate the BCs that we publish. It is important that I tell you up front that minds that are far more intelligent than mine have created our published BC. I will relay our methods and say up front that I cannot defend them beyond saying that I trust the individuals involved to be extremely knowledgeable in this area. Having said that we have received tremendous feedback that our methods are sound.
Our published BC is the result of running dimensional data through a program created by Bill Davis. Bill's program assumes a zero yaw environment,more on that later) and is figured using an Army Standard Metro environment. The Army Standard Metro environment is zero elevation, 59 degrees Fahrenheit, 78% humidity and 29.53 inches of mercury barometric pressure. These details are not important except for the fact that most manufacturers in the industry use them.
You may have noticed that our published BCs changed recently. This is a result of the fact that we have much better measuring equipment available to us today. The original BCs were figured based on measurements acquired using ogive gages and other rough estimates. Today we have high tech measuring equipment that is capable of finding any dimension down to the .00005,yes, four zeros). When we remeasured and Walt refigured the BC we found differences. Our website and recent brochure list the correct BCs based on this new method.
This brings me back to my statement about using a zero yaw environment. Every rifle produces an amount of yaw,those that don't are called hummers and are precious and rare). Also, each rifle has characteristics that are specific to that rifle. A shot BC is nothing more than the BC achieved when shot out of that particular rifle. It is no more accurate to your rifle than a calculated BC. We feel that it is best to provide a standard. Since dimensionally calculated BCs are always the same in relation to each other we feel this was the best way for us to produce a BC that we publish.
Now for the important question: What does this mean to me as a shooter? If you plug our published BC into a trajectory program you will produce a drop chart that is going to be very close to what you experience on the range. If you find that the realized drop at the range is different than the drop chart predicts simply rerun the trajectory chart using slightly adjusted BCs to produce the exact drop you experienced in your rifle. This will give you the exact BC for that bullet coming out of your rifle.
Example,using assumptions): A BC of .472 in your trajectory program tells you that at 1000 yards you will drop 33 MOA at 1000 yards. Establish a true zero by shooting at 100 yards first,assuming you use 100 yards as the zero in your trajectory program) then crank 33 MOA drop into your scope. Fire a shot at 1000 yards. You should impact pretty close to your horizontal cross hair. Let's assume your shot was low by 5 inches. Shoot a couple more shots,or several) to verify your findings. Assuming all shots were consistently about 5 inches below the horizontal cross hair you can go back to your trajectory program and change the BC,in this case lower it) to .469,example) and this should give you 33.5 MOA drop,assumption) on the drop chart that the program produces. This means that out of your rifle, this bullet has a BC of .469. You now have a drop chart that is hyper accurate allowing you to make MOA adjustments from muzzle to 1500 yards,or more if you want) based on this drop chart data.
Our published BC is a standard that is meant to be as accurate as possible for a large group of people shooting everything from high velocity to low velocity, fast twist to slow twist. Remember, our BC is figured assuming a zero yaw environment. If you go through the process explained above and find your drop to be considerably more than the drop chart lists using our published BC you have a situation where your rifle is producing a significant amount of yaw when the bullet exits the muzzle. You should work on,tweak) your combination of components as you are giving away quite a bit by having such an unstable situation.
There are some of you that are convinced that our published BCs are high for the purpose of selling bullets. If you believe this you do not know anything about Walt Berger, Bill Davis or myself. All of us are truly dedicated to providing you with the best shooting experience you can achieve. If you are convinced other bullets are better,or their BCs are more accurate since we have "ulterior" motives) then go ahead and shoot the other brands. Everything I have stated in this post is absolutely true and if you think our methods of producing a BC are motivated by anything other than your complete enjoyment of the shooting experience then you should think about why you feel this way. What I mean is, do you actually believe we are trying to scr*w you? If you do I am sorry that we have wronged you in some way and I hope we can find a way to make it right.
Regards,
Eric Stecker
Berger Bullets
I have read several posts commenting on the BC of Berger Bullets. It is important that I relay to all of you how we calculate the BCs that we publish. It is important that I tell you up front that minds that are far more intelligent than mine have created our published BC. I will relay our methods and say up front that I cannot defend them beyond saying that I trust the individuals involved to be extremely knowledgeable in this area. Having said that we have received tremendous feedback that our methods are sound.
Our published BC is the result of running dimensional data through a program created by Bill Davis. Bill's program assumes a zero yaw environment,more on that later) and is figured using an Army Standard Metro environment. The Army Standard Metro environment is zero elevation, 59 degrees Fahrenheit, 78% humidity and 29.53 inches of mercury barometric pressure. These details are not important except for the fact that most manufacturers in the industry use them.
You may have noticed that our published BCs changed recently. This is a result of the fact that we have much better measuring equipment available to us today. The original BCs were figured based on measurements acquired using ogive gages and other rough estimates. Today we have high tech measuring equipment that is capable of finding any dimension down to the .00005,yes, four zeros). When we remeasured and Walt refigured the BC we found differences. Our website and recent brochure list the correct BCs based on this new method.
This brings me back to my statement about using a zero yaw environment. Every rifle produces an amount of yaw,those that don't are called hummers and are precious and rare). Also, each rifle has characteristics that are specific to that rifle. A shot BC is nothing more than the BC achieved when shot out of that particular rifle. It is no more accurate to your rifle than a calculated BC. We feel that it is best to provide a standard. Since dimensionally calculated BCs are always the same in relation to each other we feel this was the best way for us to produce a BC that we publish.
Now for the important question: What does this mean to me as a shooter? If you plug our published BC into a trajectory program you will produce a drop chart that is going to be very close to what you experience on the range. If you find that the realized drop at the range is different than the drop chart predicts simply rerun the trajectory chart using slightly adjusted BCs to produce the exact drop you experienced in your rifle. This will give you the exact BC for that bullet coming out of your rifle.
Example,using assumptions): A BC of .472 in your trajectory program tells you that at 1000 yards you will drop 33 MOA at 1000 yards. Establish a true zero by shooting at 100 yards first,assuming you use 100 yards as the zero in your trajectory program) then crank 33 MOA drop into your scope. Fire a shot at 1000 yards. You should impact pretty close to your horizontal cross hair. Let's assume your shot was low by 5 inches. Shoot a couple more shots,or several) to verify your findings. Assuming all shots were consistently about 5 inches below the horizontal cross hair you can go back to your trajectory program and change the BC,in this case lower it) to .469,example) and this should give you 33.5 MOA drop,assumption) on the drop chart that the program produces. This means that out of your rifle, this bullet has a BC of .469. You now have a drop chart that is hyper accurate allowing you to make MOA adjustments from muzzle to 1500 yards,or more if you want) based on this drop chart data.
Our published BC is a standard that is meant to be as accurate as possible for a large group of people shooting everything from high velocity to low velocity, fast twist to slow twist. Remember, our BC is figured assuming a zero yaw environment. If you go through the process explained above and find your drop to be considerably more than the drop chart lists using our published BC you have a situation where your rifle is producing a significant amount of yaw when the bullet exits the muzzle. You should work on,tweak) your combination of components as you are giving away quite a bit by having such an unstable situation.
There are some of you that are convinced that our published BCs are high for the purpose of selling bullets. If you believe this you do not know anything about Walt Berger, Bill Davis or myself. All of us are truly dedicated to providing you with the best shooting experience you can achieve. If you are convinced other bullets are better,or their BCs are more accurate since we have "ulterior" motives) then go ahead and shoot the other brands. Everything I have stated in this post is absolutely true and if you think our methods of producing a BC are motivated by anything other than your complete enjoyment of the shooting experience then you should think about why you feel this way. What I mean is, do you actually believe we are trying to scr*w you? If you do I am sorry that we have wronged you in some way and I hope we can find a way to make it right.
Regards,
Eric Stecker
Berger Bullets
