Superb Bullet Tolerances from Berger!

[wkdickinson]

A few years ago I measured hundreds of 105 Hybrids and was taken back completely at how inconsistant the BTO was. Some were so far outside the bell curve it was truly amazing - not the majority, but certainly enough to be very concerned. I thought i was spending a bunch more money for "something", but i guess not. Consequently, I no longer shoot them.

 

[Tesoro]

In my experience, if the OAL is consistent, the BTO is consistent, and OAL is more important because BTO varies very little in good bullets and OAL has a measurable impact on BC. Perhaps this is not always true, but it has been in my experience with high BC match grade bullets.

There's only so much you can do about the OAL variation - jackets themselves vary a little, and that just gets worse when you stretch them out. The longer the bullet, the harder it is to keep them consistent. Berger (in my experience with their long range bullets) does about a good a job at that as you can with mass produced bullets (any bullets really), but they're not perfect and still benefit from sorting by OAL (for F class levels of accuracy).

I dont know much and dont shoot competition but on the match bullets I shoot the bto variance is usually less than the bullet oal ? So i only use bto ? are you saying it is best to match bullet profile over jump?

 

[saxeTshooter]

6.5mm 140 gr Elite Hunter

	Bullet #	Length
1​	26	1.4220​
2​	33	1.4200​		Average	1.4132​
3​	56	1.4200​		Max	1.4220​
4​	57	1.4200​		Min	1.4040​
5​	90	1.4200​		ES	0.0180​
6​	1	1.4190​		SD	0.0036​
7​	20	1.4190​
8​	83	1.4190​
9​	5	1.4185​
10​	80	1.4180​
11​	91	1.4175​
12​	43	1.4170​
13​	17	1.4165​
14​	30	1.4165​
15​	35	1.4165​
16​	64	1.4165​
17​	75	1.4165​
18​	99	1.4165​
19​	13	1.4160​
20​	24	1.4160​
21​	52	1.4160​
22​	65	1.4160​
23​	77	1.4160​
24​	94	1.4160​
25​	10	1.4155​
26​	19	1.4155​
27​	37	1.4155​
28​	67	1.4155​
29​	84	1.4155​
30​	22	1.4150​
31​	25	1.4150​
32​	40	1.4150​
33​	47	1.4150​
34​	50	1.4150​
35​	66	1.4150​
36​	70	1.4150​
37​	18	1.4145​
38​	51	1.4145​
39​	88	1.4145​
40​	3	1.4140​
41​	48	1.4140​
42​	62	1.4140​
43​	69	1.4140​
44​	87	1.4140​
45​	11	1.4135​
46​	14	1.4135​
47​	59	1.4135​
48​	68	1.4135​
49​	12	1.4130​
50​	28	1.4130​
51​	85	1.4130​
52​	4	1.4125​
53​	23	1.4125​
54​	42	1.4125​
55​	61	1.4125​
56​	76	1.4125​
57​	21	1.4120​
58​	27	1.4120​
59​	38	1.4120​
60​	49	1.4120​
61​	60	1.4120​
62​	71	1.4120​
63​	73	1.4120​
64​	78	1.4120​
65​	93	1.4120​
66​	96	1.4120​
67​	97	1.4120​
68​	6	1.4115​
69​	44	1.4115​
70​	79	1.4115​
71​	81	1.4115​
72​	95	1.4115​
73​	9	1.4110​
74​	15	1.4110​
75​	32	1.4110​
76​	54	1.4110​
77​	55	1.4110​
78​	63	1.4105​
79​	7	1.4100​
80​	16	1.4100​
81​	29	1.4100​
82​	58	1.4100​
83​	2	1.4095​
84​	36	1.4095​
85​	53	1.4095​
86​	86	1.4095​
87​	8	1.4090​
88​	41	1.4090​
89​	72	1.4090​
90​	89	1.4090​
91​	39	1.4085​
92​	92	1.4080​
93​	45	1.4075​
94​	74	1.4075​
95​	82	1.4075​
96​	46	1.4060​
97​	34	1.4055​
98​	98	1.4055​
99​	31	1.4040​

 

[dcali]

I dont know much and dont shoot competition but on the match bullets I shoot the bto variance is usually less than the bullet oal ? So i only use bto ? are you saying it is best to match bullet profile over jump?

Yes, generally speaking the BTO variance should be pretty small on match bullets. Small enough to ignore in my opinion. But the OAL can vary a fair amount - .020" isn't uncommon. The shortest and longest OALs will have a measurable, but small difference in BC that can matter at long range F Class/Benchrest type competitions. So it's worth sorting your bullets by OAL for that type of shooting and are trying to wring the last bit of accuracy out of them.

 

[Tesoro]

Yes, generally speaking the BTO variance should be pretty small on match bullets. Small enough to ignore in my opinion. But the OAL can vary a fair amount - .020" isn't uncommon. The shortest and longest OALs will have a measurable, but small difference in BC that can matter at long range F Class/Benchrest type competitions. So it's worth sorting your bullets by OAL for that type of shooting and are trying to wring the last bit of accuracy out of them.

Okay thanks. I will check this out with a batch of 112g Barnes burners I have on hand. I just put together my first 1000yd shooter.