DLT
Silver $$ Contributor
Will be a bolt 8 twist 26”Have shot thousands of the 75 BTHP for many years and never had a poof in the multiple ARs I have shot them in.
You shooting in an AR or Boltgun?
Will be a bolt 8 twist 26”Have shot thousands of the 75 BTHP for many years and never had a poof in the multiple ARs I have shot them in.
You shooting in an AR or Boltgun?
I’d like to be able to find a local who knows what they’re doing and who has time to go through a load development with me for just one rifle. If your around cleveland county nc reach outThe dimensions and BCs of those bullets are very close. As has been noted, the Hornady 75 is a secant ogive bullet. Although tangent ogive bullets sometimes tend to be more forgiving of seating depth, that behavior is not written in stone. Secant ogive bullets can be loaded with precision fully equal to tangent ogive bullets, but may exhibit narrower seating depth optimal windows. It's generally not a big deal at all to do a fine increment seating depth test that covers a sufficiently wide window when using secant ogive bullets. That should be part of any rigorous load development process, regardless of the bullet used. In other words, secant ogive bullets can work just fine, but one has to put in the effort to optimize seating depth to optimize precision. I've had good experiences over the years with both of these bullets, so picking one over the other would have to involve some direct testing/comparison.
Not surprisingly, different people have differing opinions on bullet choice and tuning loads. It is my opinion that when we find a bullet that just doesn't seem to want to tune in with a given rifle setup as well as some other bullet, what that really means is that we haven't given that bullet what it wants/needs. That is a very different thing than simply stating a particular bullet doesn't shoot well in a given rifle. I believe that most bullets can be made to shoot reasonably well with sufficient effort. The real question is how much time/effort is one willing to devote to tuning in a load with a particular bullet, especially one that proves challenging, if another more forgiving bullet choice is available? Given everything that goes into load development, I would suggest buying a box of each bullet, doing some preliminary load development, and then determining side-by-side at the shooting range which produces the better result and seems easier to tune. Given that a well developed load may be used for quite some time, the minimal cost of two different boxes of bullets and a little time/effort/reloading components should not be the limiting factor in the decision-making process.
Will be a bolt 8 twist 26”
I'm shooting the 75 BTHP in a 7 wist 223 at 2860 FPS with 4400 rounds down the barrel, no
issues at all.
Edit: Shot a few hundred Hornady Frontier factory ammo loaded with the 75gr BTHP bullet
out of a .218 Krieger 1:7 without issue.
Saw several go poof in the last 4 years. As I said earlier it was more prevalent in the tight Kreigers with some rough spots in the bore and a batch with jackets at the lower end of the thickness spec. @SSchnd lost a match or two in XTC with proofing H75’s.There was a problem with Hornady gr BTHP and A-max bullets going poof over 20 years ago (I lost a few myself), but I've had no such issues since. Has anyone had this problem with bullets made in the last decade? I routinely shoot the 75s in a 28" 1:7 spacegun barrel with no problems.
Those are 200 yard groups?Not bad for a AR with bargain Hornady ammo, AR15 Kreiger .218/.224 100 yards bipod.
View attachment 1493272
That Barrel was special, it put five 77 SMK into .5 at 200 numerous times.
100 yards, its in my post.Those are 200 yard groups?
I’d like to switch to the 75’s but I’ve been using the same 77 load for so long I am loathe to work up another “good one”.I shoot both the 75 gr Hornady and the 77 smk from a 8" twist 20" barrel bolt gun and I can't tell the difference.
Someday's the 75 is better and other days the 77 is better, but we're splitting hairs.
I prefer the 75 Hornady because they're cheaper.
I always used the same load - IE components other than bullet, powder charge and just tested the seating depth on the H75, based on ogive I always ran the H75 in a Wylde more like 2.240-2.235 COAL vs the SMK77 at 2.250 COAL.I’d like to switch to the 75’s but I’ve been using the same 77 load for so long I am loathe to work up another “good one”.
I’m curious how your 75 and 77 powder charges etc compare?
I use the same load for both 77 smk and 75 bthp... The 75 bthp has a bit of a longer bearing surface but it didn't make any difference. Just make sure you're not in the lands with the 75 gr Hornady. I also noticed the 75 gr bthp shot as good at 2.260" COAL as they do with being closer to the lands.I’d like to switch to the 75’s but I’ve been using the same 77 load for so long I am loathe to work up another “good one”.
I’m curious how your 75 and 77 powder charges etc compare?