140g amax blow up?

LDO

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i have been doing some research on the 6.5 140 amax and have read alot of posts on bullets not making it to the target.has anyone experienced this phenomenon?tia-dave
 
Dave,
Dad has shot about 100 of them out of his 6.5 WSM at 200 and 300 yards at pretty high MV, they all make it to the target. His is a 9 twist Pac-Nor. They shot better than the 142 SMK too. Them and the 140 SMK do the best in his barrel.
 
You might be get some feedback over on long-range.com at the forums, or perhaps floridahighpower.com. From what I gathered, a few years ago, there was a rash of the 6.5mm 140gr A-Max bullets disintegrating en route to the target. Since that was 10pts a whack, people abandoned them almost completely.

I think I came across some info (somewhere) that Hornady got the hint and toughened up the jackets on the more recent production runs. They do shoot well in a lot of people's guns, by all accounts.

HTH,

Monte
 
YES!!!! I HAVE HAD THIS PROBLEM! I have a couple boxes of these from the same lot and, if they are shot at very high velocities, they WILL disintegrate. They have to be kept under a certain speed to function correctly, and, even then, they do not seem to be very accurate. Guess it's just a bad batch or something.

TH
 
In an effort to reduce stress on the A-Max's thin jacket, I'd suggest 2 things.

1. Moly coat the bullets
2. Load the moly coated bullets so that they are a few thousandths INTO the rifling.

This should greatly ease the bullets entry into the rifling and reduce excess stress on the jackets.

If this doesn't work than you need less twist, a smoother barrel or lower velocity.
frown.gif


VH
 
About 4 years back Hornady discontinued the old style 6.5 Amax's and went to the new ones. All the new ones have a small polymer tip. The old style, very much liked by hunters (in cold weather they work well) just disintigrate game at long range so people liked them for that. I had a 6.5/300Wby that shot them fine in the winter but blew em up bad in the summer heat.

A while back on some forum, I remember someone asking if anyone had any of the old style "blow up" bullets for use in hunting season.

As a comparison, standing them side by side the bullets are the same length to the end of the jacket. The new bullets have an exposed tip that's about .115 in diameter and about .140 in length. The old style bullets have a tip that's .155 in diameter and .250 in exposed length, making the bullet about .100 longer than the new ones. The tips were poorly installed and these even have a seam between the copper and the poly.

The boattail on the old ones was about .060 longer also and it appears to have a little different ogive, though that's hard to distinguish. There is also more bearing surface on the old ones. To look at them side by side, you'd swear the old ones were 270's. They are either more empty (voids in the lead) or have lead that's less dense. They are considerably larger in exterior size.

I have about 40 of em left and perhaps someday I'll use em. I have no 6.5 now for a while yet, so they're safe for the time being.

FWIW, I haven't had the new ones blow up unless they were at 3400 in a 9 twist and in the heat.
 
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