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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Rifles, Bullets, Barrels & Ballistics
Berger Bullets Announces Launch of a New Ammo Company
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<blockquote data-quote="Michael Courtney" data-source="post: 983525" data-attributes="member: 28191"><p>Predicting drop is one goal of having accurate BCs. Depending on the application, accurate BCs are also important for accurately predicting wind drift and retained energy/retained velocity.</p><p></p><p>I first became interested in independently testing BC, not because of errant drop predictions but because of inadequate terminal performance. I had loaded a 115 grain VLD in my 25-06 Sendero, measured the muzzle velocity, and determined the drops out to 550 yards (the longest shot available at the farm I hunted). The predicted drops were slightly off when I shot the load at different ranges, but it was a simple matter to determine the proper scope adjustments. It was also difficult to be sure whether the difference in drops were due to imperfect scope adjustments, approximations in the scope height above the bore, or other factors that make bullet drop a poor choice for computing BCs.</p><p></p><p>When the day came for the 550 yard shot on a deer, there was no wind, I dialed in the elevation, and I put the 115 grain VLD right through both lungs of the deer, a perfect center punch. But when I drove over to where the deer stood, I couldn't find the deer and there was no blood trail. I looked around for a while and then gave up. The deer was found a few days later on a neighboring property. Inspecting the wounds showed that the bullet had penciled through the lungs without expanding. </p><p></p><p>We later measured the BC from this box of bullets to be 0.419 rather than the advertised 0.523. This gives a much smaller retained velocity at 550 yards, and even though the drop and shot were perfect, the bullet failed to expand resulting in a lost deer. The problem with the bullet was twofold: at the time Berger was using predicted rather than measured BCs. Later, Berger revised the BC of that bullet to be 0.466. Berger also determined that the bullets we were using had been made on an old die and were out of spec dimensionally. They sent us two new boxes of bullets, and we confirmed that the new boxes met their new BC spec. </p><p></p><p>Curiously, these are the only Berger Bullets we've tested that met their BC spec. All the Berger Bullets we've purchased from vendors have been a bit low, which is why I suspect they may have manufacturing issues leading to dimensional and BC variations over time.</p><p></p><p>We've done a lot of work in terminal performance, and impact velocity is a very important aspect of having accurate BCs.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Michael Courtney, post: 983525, member: 28191"] Predicting drop is one goal of having accurate BCs. Depending on the application, accurate BCs are also important for accurately predicting wind drift and retained energy/retained velocity. I first became interested in independently testing BC, not because of errant drop predictions but because of inadequate terminal performance. I had loaded a 115 grain VLD in my 25-06 Sendero, measured the muzzle velocity, and determined the drops out to 550 yards (the longest shot available at the farm I hunted). The predicted drops were slightly off when I shot the load at different ranges, but it was a simple matter to determine the proper scope adjustments. It was also difficult to be sure whether the difference in drops were due to imperfect scope adjustments, approximations in the scope height above the bore, or other factors that make bullet drop a poor choice for computing BCs. When the day came for the 550 yard shot on a deer, there was no wind, I dialed in the elevation, and I put the 115 grain VLD right through both lungs of the deer, a perfect center punch. But when I drove over to where the deer stood, I couldn't find the deer and there was no blood trail. I looked around for a while and then gave up. The deer was found a few days later on a neighboring property. Inspecting the wounds showed that the bullet had penciled through the lungs without expanding. We later measured the BC from this box of bullets to be 0.419 rather than the advertised 0.523. This gives a much smaller retained velocity at 550 yards, and even though the drop and shot were perfect, the bullet failed to expand resulting in a lost deer. The problem with the bullet was twofold: at the time Berger was using predicted rather than measured BCs. Later, Berger revised the BC of that bullet to be 0.466. Berger also determined that the bullets we were using had been made on an old die and were out of spec dimensionally. They sent us two new boxes of bullets, and we confirmed that the new boxes met their new BC spec. Curiously, these are the only Berger Bullets we've tested that met their BC spec. All the Berger Bullets we've purchased from vendors have been a bit low, which is why I suspect they may have manufacturing issues leading to dimensional and BC variations over time. We've done a lot of work in terminal performance, and impact velocity is a very important aspect of having accurate BCs. [/QUOTE]
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Berger Bullets Announces Launch of a New Ammo Company
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