LongBomber
Well-Known Member
Was sitting around this afternoon so I broke out the calipers and went to work on a few boxes of bullets. Setup with two hornady comparators so measuring is simple and quick. Ran through a box of each all 6.5mm - 143eldx, 147eldm, 130 game changer, 129 and 142 lrab. My actual measurement number is only based off my two inserts so basically meaningless but the variation in bearing length was interesting. I broke out some sorted bullets to test groups and es later.
143eldx 90 bullets fell within .003" window, then 6 were .008" shorter than the average, 3 were .005" longer than average. One zinger that was .012" longer.
147eldm similar to the 143's, only had 70 bullets. 68 were within .003" two were .007" longer. Both of the 143/147 measured out much better than the 338" 230's I measured, those varied as much as .020" with very few around an average length.
130 game changer's- these definitely mix two production lines in a box. Broke the seal on a box of 100. I had two distinct length groups that were .007" apart. But all the bullets fell within .001" of a length "node". Very consistent but definitely mixed production.
129lrab 60 bullets - 59 fell within a .004" range. But one bullet was a full .021" short of the average.
142 lrab - 96 fell within .007", I split them into two groups for doing some testing. Four bullets were .010" short of the average.
I was impressed with the consistency of the hornady, thats the best I have measured from them.
The game changers were a bit of a disappointment, I think to get the best from them length sorting is definetly needed. I haven't shot any of these yet so I am going to do some testing with each length and with a mixed batch, see what the paper says.
143eldx 90 bullets fell within .003" window, then 6 were .008" shorter than the average, 3 were .005" longer than average. One zinger that was .012" longer.
147eldm similar to the 143's, only had 70 bullets. 68 were within .003" two were .007" longer. Both of the 143/147 measured out much better than the 338" 230's I measured, those varied as much as .020" with very few around an average length.
130 game changer's- these definitely mix two production lines in a box. Broke the seal on a box of 100. I had two distinct length groups that were .007" apart. But all the bullets fell within .001" of a length "node". Very consistent but definitely mixed production.
129lrab 60 bullets - 59 fell within a .004" range. But one bullet was a full .021" short of the average.
142 lrab - 96 fell within .007", I split them into two groups for doing some testing. Four bullets were .010" short of the average.
I was impressed with the consistency of the hornady, thats the best I have measured from them.
The game changers were a bit of a disappointment, I think to get the best from them length sorting is definetly needed. I haven't shot any of these yet so I am going to do some testing with each length and with a mixed batch, see what the paper says.