Opening meplat on Berger 90 vld UPDATE

[AndyA]

Looking for suggestions on how to test these for expansion without shooting a critter as my intent is to use these on pigs. I would like to test without crippling

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Wet newspaper. It must be soaked all the way through. I've annealed bergers before to make them open better. It works.

 

[lpreddick]

Looking for suggestions on how to test these for expansion without shooting a critter as my intent is to use these on pigs. I would like to test without crippling

Beautiful open meplats(hollowpoints). Ballistic gall will show you the difference. If no gel available, fill 1 gal milk jugs with shredded newspaper, then saturate paper and pack lightly. This gives you a test medium pretty close to animal flesh. Milk jug on the left was shot with a 105 Berger VLD from my 6x284. Jug on the right had the same bullet hollowpointed as I described and you have done.

 

[lpreddick]

There is another procedure to open a meplat that is not overly closed. Spin the bullet and very carefully insert the tip of a case chamfer tool that has a cutting feature. File the treated tip while spinning to remove burrs, then polish with 4-0 steel wool. I stuff the steel wool into a 45 cal case. A hunting bullet so treated might penetrate adequately before expanding. Weight retention after this bullets comes apart might be a problem as my varmint bullets so treated totally explode.

 

[AndyA]

Here is an update on my testing with the bullets that I opened up. Results were from a 224 Valkyrie with using 25gr CFE223 from 100 yds.

Entrance hole:



Exit side:



Second jug as it laid after being shot. It was set on the wood blocks.




I loved using the wet newspaper as it showed how you could expect damage to be spread out.

Here is the exit hole after I held the jug together.




I was unable to recover any bullets so I will set up a trap on the next test.

 

[lpreddick]

Here is an update on my testing with the bullets that I opened up. Results were from a 224 Valkyrie with using 25gr CFE223 from 100 yds.

Entrance hole:

View attachment 1076167

Exit side:
View attachment 1076168


Second jug as it laid after being shot. It was set on the wood blocks.

View attachment 1076169


I loved using the wet newspaper as it showed how you could expect damage to be spread out.

Here is the exit hole after I held the jug together.


View attachment 1076171

I was unable to recover any bullets so I will set up a trap on the next test.

Terminal ballistics! Beautiful! Several jugs in a row with the wet newspaper and one should capture whatever is left of the bullet. The second jug exterior will deformed the bullet and you might find fragments, not the mushroomed appearance. The enlarged exit suggest your bullet was mushroomed. The shock wave from bullet coming apart blew the jug apart. Nice work.

 

[Todd Morley]

I trim and (then) drill Berger hybrid-ogive target bullets using a target-shooting meplat trimmer and a 0.0465" drill bit. Procedure:

1. Trim 0.010" off the meplat.
2. Put the bullet in a hand drill and gently tighten. Stop just before it clicks, so you have just enough surface tension on the bullet jacket to hold it while it spins, but not enough to affect concentricity.
3. While spinning the bullet at low speed, pilot the meplat with a flash-hole uniforming tool just enough to create a small cone that will center the drill bit.
4. While spinning the bullet at high speed, and with the drill bit in a jeweler's handle, gently push the drlll bit into the meplat until you feel it clear the inside of the meplat.
5. While spinning the bullet at high speed, use some 0000 steel wool to deburr the outside of the trimmed meplat.

(I've found I get better concentricity by trimming first.)

Results:



I've tested the Berger 6.5mm 156-grain EOL hunting bullet and the 190-grain 7mm target bullet in 10% gel. Both performed the same way: 1.5" of penetration followed by typical Berger-hunting-bullet rapid expansion. Without the drilling both of these bullets go 6-9 inches before opening up a wound channel. Same deal with the SMK 220 grain .308. I've taken two Nilgai (bull and cow) at 200 yards, and a cow elk at 600 yards, with the trimmed/drilled SMK. One shot each, DRT. No loss of accuracy on paper.