Pointing Berger 180 hybrid or Buying Sierra 183

[1shot]

You'd think so. I can only speak to the ones I've seen in person up close, which were the 90 SMKs. Point heights were all over the map, but that was a very early batch of "pointed in the box" bullets. They may have substantially improved the process.

If you're not happy with the bullet pointing that you're doing, consider sending them to me and they will be trimmed and pointed to within .001" Consistency and uniformity is the name of the game.

 

[Ned Ludd]

If you're not happy with the bullet pointing that you're doing, consider sending them to me and they will be trimmed and pointed to within .001" Consistency and uniformity is the name of the game.

I point my own and am quite satisfied with the results. The "point" I was making was that bullet pointing is a process I'd rather do myself for consistency reasons as opposed to purchasing them pointed from the factory.

 

[kyreloader]

I recently ran a test with four bullets to track their performance at 1K. I kept the same powder charge on three of the bullets and upped on the forth charge to give an approximate equal remaining velocity at target due to its lighter weight.
The cartridge tested was a 284 Shehane using 6.5x284 Lapua brass and a 1-9 twist Brux barrel 32" long.
The powder was H-4350 lit by CCI BR-2 primers. All bullets were loaded "as is" from the box with no sorting or pointing, and all were loaded .015" off the lands.
I have only listed the amount of vertical dispersion of a 5 shot group and made no adjustments for wind during this test.
I have listed the amount of "come-ups" from my known 100yd. -0- to center up at 1K.

180 Berger Hybrid 5.2" vertical 27.50 moa up
183 SMK 2.6" vertical 25.75 moa up
180 SMK 4.9" vertical 27.50 moa up
162 Hornady Match 12.50" vertical 26 moa up

I hope this helps,

Lloyd

Did you confirm that the 100 yard zero was the same for all 4 bullets/loads? Or were the come ups from a "known" zero for one of the loads?

 

[Rogmay]

.220

1Shot, I have a new 284 build not yet shot, (waiting for temps to rise in MT) ready to try the MK183's along with a few others, I have a .231 freebore, any recommendations on where to start seating depths, I'm sure I'll try several, just wondering if you had luck with certain depths over others.

 

[1shot]

Did you confirm that the 100 yard zero was the same for all 4 bullets/loads? Or were the come ups from a "known" zero for one of the loads?

A great question, thanks.
Yes, all the loads were within a 1/4-1/2 moa at 100 yds. and at that distance all printing very close to center with the 162 gr. bullets being the highest.
Thanks,

Lloyd

 

[1shot]

1Shot, I have a new 284 build not yet shot, (waiting for temps to rise in MT) ready to try the MK183's along with a few others, I have a .231 freebore, any recommendations on where to start seating depths, I'm sure I'll try several, just wondering if you had luck with certain depths over others.

I did not fine tune for seating depth nor check primers or neck tension. This test was designed to show raw out of the box bullet accuracy with all else being equal.
That said, I don't think I hurt myself with starting with .015 off of a true touch measurement.
Thanks,

Lloyd

 

[Hengehold]

I recently ran a test with four bullets to track their performance at 1K. I kept the same powder charge on three of the bullets and upped on the forth charge to give an approximate equal remaining velocity at target due to its lighter weight.
The cartridge tested was a 284 Shehane using 6.5x284 Lapua brass and a 1-9 twist Brux barrel 32" long.
The powder was H-4350 lit by CCI BR-2 primers. All bullets were loaded "as is" from the box with no sorting or pointing, and all were loaded .015" off the lands.
I have only listed the amount of vertical dispersion of a 5 shot group and made no adjustments for wind during this test.
I have listed the amount of "come-ups" from my known 100yd. -0- to center up at 1K.

180 Berger Hybrid 5.2" vertical 27.50 moa up
183 SMK 2.6" vertical 25.75 moa up
180 SMK 4.9" vertical 27.50 moa up
162 Hornady Match 12.50" vertical 26 moa up

I hope this helps,

Lloyd

I saw your post about the groups you compared for elevation. Thanks for sharing your data.

I figured I would offer an observation I made while group testing at a 600yd range that was very protected from the wind. I kept all variables constant except for powder charge and shot 6-shot groups.

As powder charge changed I experienced tall thin groups (vertical stringing), short & wide groups (lateral stringing), and small round groups. If I had shot these groups on a windy day and only payed attention to the elevation spread then the groups with lateral stringing would have appeared to be the best group/load. However, the small/round groups were the best group/load options.

I am probably telling you something that you already know but using only the elevation measurement for group size can be dangerous because there may be a lot of lateral stringing involved.

-Trevor

 

[KenOath]

I saw your post about the groups you compared for elevation. Thanks for sharing your data.

I figured I would offer an observation I made while group testing at a 600yd range that was very protected from the wind. I kept all variables constant except for powder charge and shot 6-shot groups.

As powder charge changed I experienced tall thin groups (vertical stringing), short & wide groups (lateral stringing), and small round groups. If I had shot these groups on a windy day and only payed attention to the elevation spread then the groups with lateral stringing would have appeared to be the best group/load. However, the small/round groups were the best group/load options.

I am probably telling you something that you already know but using only the elevation measurement for group size can be dangerous because there may be a lot of lateral stringing involved.

-Trevor

Also 1Shots test could be a little misleading if Bullets weren’t tuned in that barrel and just shot at the same velocity, the Berger may have been in tune and the others not...Then again he may have tuned all Bullets to there optimum in that barrel I don’t know..Also this thread is over two years old...

 

[1shot]

@Hengehold,
As @Rushty said it was over two years ago when I did this test, but I wouldn't take the finding to seriously if there was much, if any wind so if memory serves correctly, is was sunny and calm the first thing in the morning.
All loads were tuned to a specific velocity with the exception of the 162's.
In that case I looked for an accuracy node that gave a close terminal velocity at the target. The test was never about finding the ultimate accuracy of each bullet, but rather to determine what if any BC advantage was held by any given bullet.
I have since changes to an 8.25 twist barrel and the 183 SMK's are truly amazing bullets in the wind.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd