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Keyhole at 1 mile

Made my second attempt at a mile yesterday with my 6 creed shooting 108 eldm at 3,117 fps from a 7.5 twist barrel. I made the first impact on shot 8. When i drove down to check the target it was actually completely sideways when it hit. I then made 4 more hits using the same dope and the holes were perfectly round.

Why would just 1 start to tumble?DSC_2101.jpg

DSC_2105.jpg
 
Hornady's don't like to be driven fast
(theres a reason why theyre cheaper bullets, thinner jackets = less expensive copper)
I try to stay below 3000 fps with Hornadys
try a Berger TARGET, Not Berger HUNTING, (Hunting also has thinner jackets and my 6mm blows them apart
Or Sierra 107 or a Sierra 110 and see what happens
My guess is jacket starting to come apart.
Section different bullets and see the difference. Hornady might be .023" thick and Sierra .030"
The heat and friction coupled with the velocity is what causes the jacket to come apart.
Thicker Jackets simply stay in tact better.
I dont see how you could be marginally stable with your twist
Shoot some on paper and see if you have a black comet tail swirling inward toward your bullet hole on the perimeter of the hole, this is empirical evidence of a compromised jacket
In the Long Range Game, we get what we pay for ya know, and ya gotta pay to play
Get some higher quality bullets than Hornady is my best advice
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Your twist may actually be TOO fast for those bullets
 
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Hornady's don't like to be driven fast
(theres a reason why theyre cheaper bullets, thinner jackets = less expensive copper)
I try to stay below 3000 fps with Hornadys
try a Berger TARGET, Not Berger HUNTING, (Hunting also has thinner jackets and my 6mm blows them apart
Or Sierra 107 or a Sierra 110 and see what happens
My guess is jacket starting to come apart.
Section different bullets and see the difference. Hornady might be .023" thick and Sierra .030"
The heat and friction coupled with the velocity is what causes the jacket to come apart.
Thicker Jackets simply stay in tact better.
I dont see how you could be marginally stable with your twist
Shoot some on paper and see if you have a black comet tail swirling inward toward your bullet hole on the perimeter of the hole, this is empirical evidence of a compromised jacket
In the Long Range Game, we get what we pay for ya know, and ya gotta pay to play
Get some higher quality bullets than Hornady is my best advice
----------
Your twist may actually be TOO fast for those bullets

That could be. I am shooting the eldm because its a prairie dog gun and they are more likely to come apart and not ricochet but still have a decent BC for plinking long range. I have shot a ton of em at paper at 100, prairie dogs to 630, and steel at 1100. I have never noticed anything weird. The factory load is actually just as fast out of my gun or maybe it was faster can't recall. I never thought I was going to be shooting a mile one day. I was thinking of going to the 109 berger when I run out of these.
 
That could be. I am shooting the eldm because its a prairie dog gun and they are more likely to come apart and not ricochet but still have a decent BC for plinking long range. I have shot a ton of em at paper at 100, prairie dogs to 630, and steel at 1100. I have never noticed anything weird. The factory load is actually just as fast out of my gun or maybe it was faster can't recall. I never thought I was going to be shooting a mile one day. I was thinking of going to the 109 berger when I run out of these.
I did like the 109 Berger when I tried them
I actually like 115 Dtacs and use those predominantly
 
Made my second attempt at a mile yesterday with my 6 creed shooting 108 eldm at 3,117 fps from a 7.5 twist barrel. I made the first impact on shot 8. When i drove down to check the target it was actually completely sideways when it hit. I then made 4 more hits using the same dope and the holes were perfectly round.

Why would just 1 start to tumble?View attachment 1637316

View attachment 1637317

How was your ES on your load? I am guessing the one keyhole may have been due to velocity bing a smidge slower. Speaking to transonic effect & that you are just past the point of the bullet going subsonic.

I would say quite impressive to hit your target with a bullet that is properly stabilized at that distance. Much less hitting at a bile with a sideways bullet. Try to do that twice:)
 
Have seen same results at a mile myself with not just my gun. I ASSumed they just destablized going transonic and then subsonic prior to impact... or riccochet. I know we found a few bullets in plowed black dirt and you could probably shoot them again.

Incredibly hard to spot at that range even with minimal to no mirage.

We did this as part of a challenge where we set targets from 700 to 1800 yards, 3 shots to impact for advance. Its alarming how many people go out about the 1200-1400 yard range where bullets start going transonic. You (I) literally can not reproduce or correct for an impact as they seem to go haywire, Like you dont have control anymore.

VERY neat none the less and your impact is still impressive. Keep sending them and lets see that jug popped.
 
How was your ES on your load? I am guessing the one keyhole may have been due to velocity bing a smidge slower. Speaking to transonic effect & that you are just past the point of the bullet going subsonic.

I would say quite impressive to hit your target with a bullet that is properly stabilized at that distance. Much less hitting at a bile with a sideways bullet. Try to do that twice:)

I put 20 over the magnetospeed last year and the es was 42.

Its brass from the factory eldm load and that ammo has an es of 50 to 60 something the times that I tested it.
 
I put 20 over the magnetospeed last year and the es was 42.

Its brass from the factory eldm load and that ammo has an es of 50 to 60 something the times that I tested it.
I took a quick look at JBM. At your stated muzzle velocity of 3117 FPS you are going subsonic between 1600 and 1700 yards. By the time your bullet makes the 1 mile mark it is in the mid 900 FPS range.
With a 42 FPS ES subsonic is somewhere close to the 1500 yard mark and getting very close to 900 FPS at 1 mile.
You would improve your odds for success by switching to a Berger 105 or 109 and tightening up the ES to at or very near single-digit.
 
If you are having problems correcting for drop/windage (inconsistency in corrections at distance) likely due to a change in yaw. Either an occasional bullet issue(manufacturing) or velocity caused. As the yaw changes air pressure(wind)affects the stability of the bullet, predicting poi becomes well unpredictable.
 

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