Hornady 75 bthp match

[DLT]

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”

 

[DLT]

The 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.

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 out

 

[whatsupdoc]

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.

 

[Rob01]

Will be a bolt 8 twist 26”

Yup you will be fine with the 75 BTHP but if wanting to go long range I would get the 75 ELD-M. I have shot them to 1150 yards in matches.

 

[Zero333]

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.

 

[urbanrifleman]

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.

How did those shoot?

 

[Jeff Porter]

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.

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.

 

[whatsupdoc]

How did those shoot?

Not bad for a AR with bargain Hornady ammo, AR15 Kreiger .218/.224 100 yards bipod.



That Barrel was special, it put five 77 SMK into .5 at 200 numerous times.

 

[urbanrifleman]

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.

Those are 200 yard groups?

 

[whatsupdoc]

Those are 200 yard groups?

100 yards, its in my post.

 

[urbanrifleman]

100 yards, its in my post.

Oops.

My bad. Sorry.

 

[SSchnd]

I love the H75 BTHP Match in a service rifle and actually feel they were about a 1/2 minute flatter than my 77SMK load for 300 Rapid.

However, when I was running a pair of uppers with 7 twist Kreiger barrels I was at a 1k rounds on a new upper headed into about the time for Camp Perry when yes, I started shucking jackets on the H75.
I was using Boretech on this new barreled upper and not using JB every 400-500 rounds.
Firing on etarget during the rapid 300 stage lost a shot on second string, and they were nice groups.
Like I said the H75 shoots X's.
I chalked it up to etarget issue and accepted a 10 and no refire. keep match rolling.

Got going at Prone slow fire (300 reduced 600 slow fire course) and well no impacts on etarget, start blaming the target, MD comes over, shoot again, nothing, again, well your bullets are blowing up about 50 yards out. I was finished that day. I have witnessed smoke trails (no not trace) smoke and others blowing up same bullet.

Spoke to Hornady tech, mailed balance of 600 count box in for testing. No issues, they did replace the box of bullets with new, still have a couple hundred left. Good service IMHO for the ask.

Further info from Tech was their jackets are in fact thinner than a Lapua, SMK and Nosler but they only were getting complaints - feedback from 4 grove users. They test in five grove.
Acknowledged they have customer complaints of this. Maybe time line 5 yrs ago give or take a couple.

I put the Boretech away and went back to Butch's, and back to the JB regimen I had always used before. Also opened the Green boxes on my shelf and never looked back.

After a bit I loaded more up in the upper for a OH practice days, snap snap had a few more poofers.

When Todd H was still at Kreiger I did contact him also. He confirmed the Kreiger bores to be tighter than my prior WOA Wilson or Shillen or RRA barrels.

If you never have had an issue good, I for one have and it cost a match win, bummer. I have moved to Shillen 7.5R the last barrel and currently back to a WOA Wilson 1/7, that is melonited by another resource.

I may test the H75 again in the Wislon but I do not know I would fire a regional or National Match and be faithful. Long line is a B80.5 unless I have not tuned a 600 load and use a SMK 77.

$.02 of experience in one upper YMMV, and for many it does/has, we round tabled this on a National Forum and same feedback and talk of RPMs and such.
Speed does not always = accuracy. Many a slower node have shot very well for me.

Carry on. keep'em in the 10 ring (or better)

 

[mic2377]

I have had good experience with the 75 BTHP's out of all of my AR's. The furthest I have stretched them out is to 900 yards. I do think they open up some when crossing transonic. No jacket issues with the mild loads and shorter (18" average) barrel lengths. No appreciable difference in accuracy in the AR between those and the Nosler clones of the Sierras (77 Custom Comp). However given they were shot out of rifles which average in the 0.75 to 1.0 MOA range, I am not sure this is a very sensitive test.

 

[jelenko]

To follow up on SSchnd post.
From my experience, reading the results of Berger's research into when their bullets were coming apart and the experience of others, I would say you are safe using H75's provided

Don't use 4 groove​

Don't use .218 bore​

Keep RPM's below 270K [Hornady tech said 280K; I threw in the extra 10K]​

Perform regular maintenance on the throat area.​

 

[LVLAaron]

One of my favorite bullets.

 

[MisterHelix]

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’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?

 

[SSchnd]

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 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.
Found the seating depth made the difference on the H75 for my load testing.

 

[Steel Mover]

I shoot the 75s in my 700 custom 1-7 twist 26 “ barrel 22-250 AI gun without issue. The barrel is a Lothar Walther computer lapped barrel so is far from rough. I made ch up to the 50 BMG trajectory and use the 50 cam.

 

[Zero333]

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.

 

[Chasin Beaver]

75s are accurate, don’t think anyone disagrees. Not sure if only certain lots or not, but they do poof. I had one poof in a EIC match. I will never shoot them in anything above a club level match now because of that. Doesn’t matter how many 1000s people on here say they shot without issue. For record, I know other shooters who have experienced poofs.