Hornady a max bullets

[spudgun]

Got a shooting buddy that came across a case of Hornady A-Max, 6.5mm, 140 gr bullets.

Noticed that they are discontinued on the website.

Also I remember about 4 years ago a Hornady rep made a statement about the tips of some of the bullets were melting due to friction and higher FPS and they were changing out the material for another.

Does anyone know when or if they made the improvement to the bullets.

Are these worth buying and using a say 2700-2800 FPS?

Any thoughts??

 

[Homerange]

Time of flight combined with high velocity was the issue and if you're not shooting long range they'll be just fine.
Yes there were some threads here about polymer tips melting and Hornady changed out the polymer they were using for a higher temp rated one.
There should be info about this still on Hornady's website.

 

[hammerjack]

If you are not running a big over bore cartridge like the 264 WinMag they should be fine at the right price .

 

[spudgun]

Time of flight combined with high velocity was the issue and if you're not shooting long range they'll be just fine.
Yes there were some threads here about polymer tips melting and Hornady changed out the polymer they were using for a higher temp rated one.
There should be info about this still on Hornady's website.

Well, that's the concern. We are shooting 600 - 1000 yds.

 

[swimster]

I have shot the 105 g Amax`s in my 6 Brx and 75g in my 223 Ai. Both are running a little over 3000 fps. Both bullets have preformed very well at the 600 yd mark on paper. And prairie dogs over 800. Great bullet I still have 500 for my 223Ai. Hope the ELDS preform as well.

 

[Rob01]

The tips weren’t melting but slightly deforming and effecting the BC. That said I shot thousands of the 140 amax in matches out to 1300 yards and never had a problem with accuracy. I ran the data on JBM and it was very close also. If the price is right and you need some bullets then buy them.

 

[spudgun]

The tips weren’t melting but slightly deforming and effecting the BC. That said I shot thousands of the 140 amax in matches out to 1300 yards and never had a problem with accuracy. I ran the data on JBM and it was very close also. If the price is right and you need some bullets then buy them.

Well, I have a 100 of them and will try them at 600 and 1000 next week.

Thanks for the info guys..

 

[Rob01]

Well, I have a 100 of them and will try them at 600 and 1000 next week.

Thanks for the info guys..

Didn't see what cartridge you were using them in but in general I found they like to be loaded about .020" off the lands. I have run them over 2900fps without issue in a Creedmoor. The AMAX was also not overly jump sensitive and when i ran factory ammo that was jumping around .070" it was still accurate.

And to answer the question in your first post, Hornady did not make any changes to the AMAX line. They discontinued most all of them and they had been developing the ELD line with better BCs and the new Heat Shield tip which replaced the AMAX.

 

[ebb]

I never had a problem with Amaxs, wish i could still get them. I was wondering about the tips, i thought they would make a tip a little more heat resistant and continue with the Amax line. But they had a solution to a problem that nobody knew existed, and guess what the solution cost twice as much as the old bullets nobody had a problem with. The same company that has convinced a whole generation that the only cartridge capable of good accuracy in todays world is a cartridge they just developed.

 

[Rob01]

The ELDs do not cost twice as much as the amax did. They do cost more but besides the tip you got a good bump in the BC from .585 for the 140 amax to .646 for the 140 ELD. They took the issue to make a good product better.

 

[normmatzen]

Prior to the introduction of the ELD-M bullets, (and elimination of the A-MAX line), I used them in my 6BRX and my 284 WIN with excellant results at 600 and 1000 yd. Never had a problem till 180gr ELD-M's started to blow up at 1000 yds in hot weather!
A shooter from Nevada has some world records with the A-MAX!

 

[ronemus]

Better to spend on the money on the A-Tips than the ELDs - I just got 500 285 gr .338 ELDs and 7 of the tips were sheared off before they reached me. That doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I'd have more confidence that the aluminum tips will stay attached. I think most of the problem is that they put 50 bullets in a box that will hold nearly 200, so there's a lot of room for them to rattle around in transit. It's funny that they individually package the A-Tips while the ELDs imitate maracas.

I'm a fan of the A-Max and have been using them for 20 years. They did have issues with blow-ups ~18 years ago, and they made undisclosed changes to the line that fixed the problem.

 

[Texas10]

I put a soldering iron to both A-max and ELD-M tips and couldn't see a difference. What I DID notice after the change was a big difference in ogive shape when comparing the 105 A-Max to the 108 ELDM. I suspect the "tip" issues was a smoke screen for a complete change in aerodynamic shape, a better drag profile and a higher price to go with it.

In marketing, you gotta do what you gotta do. Hornaday has shown us they are the king when it comes to marketing.

 

[Rob01]

I put a soldering iron to both A-max and ELD-M tips and couldn't see a difference. What I DID notice after the change was a big difference in ogive shape when comparing the 105 A-Max to the 108 ELDM. I suspect the "tip" issues was a smoke screen for a complete change in aerodynamic shape, a better drag profile and a higher price to go with it.

In marketing, you gotta do what you gotta do. Hornaday has shown us they are the king when it comes to marketing.

It’s not marketing and a soldering iron will melt both. The difference was found in Doppler testing when Hornady got their new Doppler unit. They didn’t even know it was there. There was a redesign of the elds and why they have a higher BC.

 

[MGYSGT]

I loved the A Max's. When they switched to ELD's I quit shooting Hornady 80 grainers.

 

[Zero333]

The first batch of the 30cal 208eldm's I bought had the same exact measurements as the 208amax they replaced. Only the tip was a different red colour.
I still have some of those 208amax and 105amax and 178 amax.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I loved the A Max's. When they switched to ELD's I quit shooting Hornady 80 grainers.

The 80 ELD's shoot real good.

 

[Dgd6mm]

The first batch of the 30cal 208eldm's I bought had the same exact measurements as the 208amax they replaced. Only the tip was a different red colour.
I still have some of those 208amax and 105amax and 178 amax.

Me too.

 

[spaniel]

I had no issues shooting the 105gr AMAX at 3200+ fps in my 243AI; I believe this was a marketing gimmick to justify the higher price. If shooters didn't notice an issue, a ~30% price increase wasn't justified. I don't recall anybody complaining about the AMAX until Hornady informed us of the "problem".

In fact as the AMAX was discontinued I bought enough 105s to burn out my barrel...and the next one.

 

[Rob01]

And if Hornady found the issue with their new Doppler testing and They kept it to themselves and did nothing there would be posts on here screaming for their head on a spike and boycotts. It’s a no win for them on the internet but I am glad they fixed it and gave me a bullet with a better BC.