We all know Hornady claims their plastic tipped bullets melted in mid flight ,so they came out with a new design ELD . But what about their V-Maxs that we shoot at top speed out of our high velocity varmint rifles ? Is it a sales gimmick ,Sierra hasn't found that problem with their TMK bullets ?
Do you believe Hornady
- Thread starter Ironworker
- Start date
I believe Hornady.
dragman
Site $$ Sponsor
but I have seen the Amax's set world records @ 1000. so it seems there is more or less to the issue then they are saying.
I have personally shot Amax's out at 2K and not had or seen any issues.
I read an article describing the science regarding this very issue. As far as my uneducated brain could surmise, plastic bullets tips melting and or deforming can and does happen.
If this phenomenon didn't truly happen, Hornady's competitors would have already been ALL OVER this marketing blitz.
If this phenomenon didn't truly happen, Hornady's competitors would have already been ALL OVER this marketing blitz.
I don't think Hornady would lie about something like this, much too blatant and risky. From my own standpoint, the first thing I thought of when I saw the plastic tips the very first time was of melting tips.
The only thing that I wonder about is their timing... Pretty much after their main competitor (Sierra) finally came out with their tip King, and now Hornady has a new non-melting tip?
The only thing that I wonder about is their timing... Pretty much after their main competitor (Sierra) finally came out with their tip King, and now Hornady has a new non-melting tip?If you read their technical explanation carefully they did not say that the tips melted. They said one explanation for the BC discrepancy they were seeing would be a deformation of the tip due to the [stagnation] temperature the bullet would experience during flight. They presented a plot of stagnation temperature vs velocity and stated that the temperature could be high enough to cause tip deformation but they did not address the time it would take for the heat transfer to result in deformation. All in all a good theory but only a theory. Then they stated that they changed two things, tip material and bullet contour and the problem went away but they did not address each of these factors separately. I think we can assume that they did solve the problem and they probably know more of the technical details than were presented in the advertisement.
Thumbs up for Hornady.
Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
Hornady's new plastic tip story is 90% marketing. Most likely there is some degree of truth to it but they are spinning it to benefit themselves.
As others have said, Amaxs have set records before the change; though if one analyzes what cartridges are used for long range, we rarely see those at hyper velocity. IE see a 30-378 shooting a 208 Amax for long range yes, but not for a string for score. I would love to try, but my shoulder says otherwise. I don't see a reduction in performance at lower velocities, thus it won't hurt the target shooter save for cost. Even the 223 cartridge guide has a post about when 75 amax were $0.14 each, but the new bullet tip should perform better for those who really need to know the bullet will work at their listed speeds.
On a side note, I've seen that Hornady lists BC for many bullet as a max value, not mid range, or average over expected use. (75bthp). I wonder why they didn't expect this earlier in testing, or if a change was made to keep Manf. Costs low given sale price and the change wasn't retested.
That goes against what Hornady themselves have said. In the American Rifleman (NRA) magazine, they described the problem as occurring at maximum velocity with their polymer tips. Velocity slows as flight time extends, so the tip would be cooling.
Yes, but still supersonic, so the aero may put more focused pressure on the tip as it slows to transonic...
Grimstod
Machinist, Designer, and Shooter.
I use their older amax ans have never experiance a problem even out of fast cartradges. Personally see it as falls. Have not way to proove it though.
A lot of Hornady products are way over marketed and do not work at all. Take a look at there concentricity guage. Indexes of the rim,? What a joke.
A lot of Hornady products are way over marketed and do not work at all. Take a look at there concentricity guage. Indexes of the rim,? What a joke.
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