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Post by elkman1310 on Aug 14, 2021 17:39:44 GMT -5
Well trying to find Berger 6.5 140grs these days is tough. Same goes for a lot of other 6.5 bullets of makes and weights. The Hornady 140gr bthp doesn't get the respect many of the other fancy plastic tip bullets do so that's one reason I was able to find and buy some of these through Blue Collar reloading they had boxes of 500 for $136.00 that's less than .03 cents per bullet I bought the box of 500 in hopes that they would all fall into the same lot number which they did.
I ran my usual checks on these bullets and was really surprised how well they checked out. I counted out 50 for my first tests. The Ogive was spot on the AOL was really close at 1.338 on the short side to 1.346 on the long side the bulk were either 1.338 to 39 or 1.340 to 1.343 to 1.345 the weights were surprisingly close with most 139.98 grs to 140.025 grs the meplate was on the large size so I used my Whidden bullet pointer and closed the tip on these 50 bullets
I loaded up my accuracy load of 49.5 grs of RL16 and a BR2 primer in a Lapua case in my 6.5/284 my first tests were at 365 yards to find a good seating depth. I tried Into the lands just touching and .010 off. They didn't like jamming the just touch and the .010 shot the best the just touching had no vertical at 365yrds that's what I wanted to see. I reloaded everything for a test at 600 yards going with just touching .005 off .010 and .020 off . It rained really hard last night so when we went to the 1k range this morning it was to wet to go out to the 600 yard target so I decided to test at 1k my intention is to shoot them for our 600 yard matches not for 1k competition conditions were good the first 5 shot group with the bullet just touching shot 4.8 inches for 5 shots with one shot opening up the group or it would have been really nice 5,10,15 off didn't group well .020 off came back into grouping almost as well as touching very little vertical just some windage.
So for a economical match grade bullet they are hard to beat they don't have the high BC of other bullets but BC doesn't make a bullet shoot any better than any other it might help in the wind only if they shot smaller than a lower BC bullet
So if your looking for a good accurate bullet at a crazy low price give them a try. Blue Collar has them in smaller quanities |
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Post by fatfred on Aug 15, 2021 4:43:36 GMT -5
That's 27 cents a shot, not 3 cents right?
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Post by elkman1310 on Aug 15, 2021 11:38:35 GMT -5
My bad calculator error yes you are correct looked at 2.7 it should have been 0.27 even at that price they are a very good bullet. I even ran some on my old Vern Junkie machine the worse ones I found only had 3 lines of deviation some ran dead nuts perfect and most I tested only had the needle move off center by one digit that is almost as good as the very best hand made custom Vapor Trail and JLK bullets.
Nobody really knows what this machine is reading and I don't use it very often since I run custom hand made bullets. I just want to see if I can get these Hornady's to be competitive at 600 yrds.
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Post by bkm on Aug 16, 2021 20:02:48 GMT -5
Someone mentioned that Hornady had stepped up their game here on this forum a few months ago but they got taken to the woodshed for suggesting such a thing.
I remember back in the 70’s that u couldn’t buy anything if it was made in Japan. It was junk.
Also, I remember when people felt sorry for u if u drove a Dodge truck.
The times have changed. I still don’t drive a Dodge truck but I do shoot lots of Hornady bullets.
If u haven’t tried them for a few yrs give them a look.
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Post by elkman1310 on Aug 16, 2021 21:45:38 GMT -5
I have not been a Hornady fan for a long time for one reason they bring out a new bullet and it would work great and low and behold they would change it or drop it. I shoot 1,000 yard bench rest and 90% of my shooting is done with a 6mm Dasher and custom JLK or Vapor Trail bullets as I have posted before we average 90 shooters for light gun on Sat and about 60 on Sunday I don't know of anyone shooting a single Hornady bullet in any caliber and winning a relay let alone a match. I tried the 140gr bthp because it is a simple jacketed hollow point boat tail bullet not a two piece plastic tip bullet.
I have tried the ELDM and ELDX and the A-Tip they all check out great in static tests but when you send them down range to 1,000 yards they simply don't group small enough to win relays or matches on our range. For guys that shot steal they are fine but to break a record of 2.6 inches for 10 shots it ain't going to happen.
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Post by elkman1310 on Sept 8, 2021 9:05:17 GMT -5
I have tested these twice at 600 yards on two different days using my 6.5/284. On both outings conditions were not great windy on one day bad mirage yesterday. But yesterday I had 10 shots in exactly 3 inches. I believe it could have been smaller the mirage made it difficult to know exactly where you are aiming. The group was mostly vertical;
So bottom line I believe Hornady is making a good bullet at a really good price. I doesn't have a high BC but for 600yards its perfectly fine.
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