Is Berger Now Pointing the 105 Hybrids?

[brshtr]

I've been using the Berger 6mm 105 Hybrids for a number of years. In the past, the meplats were sufficiently large and inconsistent that I pointed them. Whether I needed to, and whether it actually helped at 600 yards, are open questions, but that's what I did.

I recently opened a lot of the 105s that I bought in June of last year. The meplats are small and consistent. I compared them to an old lot I had pointed, and the new ones are as good or better than the ones I pointed.

Obviously this is a good thing. I know that Berger now produces pointed bullets in certain lines, like the 85.5 Hybrids, but I hadn't heard they were doing this with the 105s.

Is this my imagination? Has anyone else noticed this?

By the way, the median length of the new bullets is shorter. My previous lots had a median length ranging from 1.277" to 1.281", which is pretty consistent for bullets made over several years in different lots. The new ones are at 1.252". Whether the shorter length/better meplat combination is a correlation or a coincidence, I will not hazard a guess.

Dave Rabin

 

[jeffreybehr]

If you're talking about the Berger Hybrid Target 6mm, 105-grain bullet, #24433, I have several boxes from lot #P02502, purchased late last year, and they're all HPs with very small but perfectly visible openings.. If I had a macro lens, I'd take a pic for you.

 

[Ned Ludd]

I've been using the Berger 6mm 105 Hybrids for a number of years. In the past, the meplats were sufficiently large and inconsistent that I pointed them. Whether I needed to, and whether it actually helped at 600 yards, are open questions, but that's what I did.

I recently opened a lot of the 105s that I bought in June of last year. The meplats are small and consistent. I compared them to an old lot I had pointed, and the new ones are as good or better than the ones I pointed.

Obviously this is a good thing. I know that Berger now produces pointed bullets in certain lines, like the 85.5 Hybrids, but I hadn't heard they were doing this with the 105s.

Is this my imagination? Has anyone else noticed this?

By the way, the median length of the new bullets is shorter. My previous lots had a median length ranging from 1.277" to 1.281", which is pretty consistent for bullets made over several years in different lots. The new ones are at 1.252". Whether the shorter length/better meplat combination is a correlation or a coincidence, I will not hazard a guess.

Dave Rabin

Dave - this is not a direct answer to your question, but I have also been wondering whether Berger intended to eventually start pointing all of their bullet offerings during production. They have released several bullets in the last couple years that are pointed during production, including the 85.5s (.224"), and 208s/220s (.30 cal). I really hope they do NOT also start pointing their older/previous bullet designs. I have used some of the newer bullets "pointed" during production and frankly, I can generate much better and more consistent points at home using a pointing die. The factory points certainly do what they were intended to do with respect to BC. However, in the Lots I have purchased, the factory points exhibit the exact same kind of variance in size/shape/appearance that the meplats of their unpointed bullets do, something most people are trying to rectify when they point bullets.

FWIW - over the years I have observed noticeable Lot-to-Lot variance in the appearance of meplats on Berger bullets. Some have been outstanding, others terrible...very jagged and uneven. Since I point my own, it is not a concern. However, I can imagine it would be possible to mistake a Lot of bullets that merely had really consistent meplats for having been pointed, when they were not. The production "points" on the Berger bullets I have used look a little different than the points I typically generate with a Whidden pointing die at home. You can certainly see the Berger factory points with close visual inspection, but the pointed "cone" is quite short, leading to an appearance of almost being rounded off, rather than pointed. Sorry, their appearance is a little hard to describe, but they definitely look a little different . Please let us know if you find out with certainty whether Berger is going to start pointing any of their other bullets besides the latest offerings.

 

[kindabitey]

Good possibility. They do it on the 109s. If I could find some 105 hybrids to buy, I could compare the two.

 

[brshtr]

On further reflection, I don't think the new lot is pointed at the factory, as the bullets don't have that shiny portion on the nose below the meplat that I see on the factory-pointed 85.5s and on the 105s that I point on a Whidden die. They certainly have smaller, more consistent meplats than those on the 105s I've used previously. Either Berger tweaked its production process or I got lucky.

Dave Rabin

 

[Gina1]

Just wish I could find some 105 hybrids

 

[kindabitey]

Just wish I could find some 105 hybrids

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