225gr. Hornady bullets coming apart

[September life]

I have a 300 prc shooting hornady to 225 ELD-Match that are coming apart after 1000 yards in the air. I never had this problem before this lot number. I have shot this gun out to a mile with the same ammo with no issues. There was no impact in the dirt wall on video anywhere around the rock we shoot at. It's a straight wall easy to see where you hit if you miss the target. Had the phone scope recording. We couldn't see bullet vapor trail or impact after 600 yards. This lot also jumped from 2890-2920fps to 3050fps 1 round was really slow at 2663fps. Hornady said they have not had any issues with this round or heard of any issues? Has anyone else experienced this round coming apart? Thanks!

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Thats strange. Most bullets ive seen come apart happen pretty early on. Like the first 100 yards.

 

[Steves1911]

That is very odd that its happening that far out. Seems factory ammo from multiple manufacturers is having some real qc issues these days. Multiple threads here and elsewhere with factory ammo problems lately. I've had bullets spin themselves apart after leaving the muzzle from too fast a twist but nothing like what you describe.

 

[CA48]

I know several guys it's happened to with ELDs but came apart right out of the muzzle. They switched to Bergers to solve the problem.

 

[September life]

Yes very strange. I have 120 rounds of that ammo with no issues last 40 rounds lots of frustration. Just ordered 245gr. Bergers going to hopefully work a good load up with those and adg brass. I desperately need to find vithavouri n570 That is going to be a challenge.

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Never a bad idea to inspect the throat when you have bullet/jacket issue. Its not unusual for a worn throat to be the straw that breaks the camels back so to say.

A lot of shooters discover this problem when a worn throat fails to engage the jacket early on, and the bullets added forward travel results in shallow fire-cracked rifling smearing the jacket. Obviously thicker jackets tolerate this better than thinner ones.

Again, ive only seen this happen at short range, your issue may be different. However, if youre gonna work up new loads to fix it, id give the barrel a good cleaning and scope it.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I know several guys it's happened to with ELDs but came apart right out of the muzzle. They switched to Bergers to solve the problem.

in my 7rum the 175 eld-x is the only one that will stay together... I've had both heavy berger and heavy sierra pop their noses off by 200 yards... I'm running a short throated 7rum (3.8" ish oal max.) with a 8" twist Brux...

 

[CA48]

I had no specifics like barrel make, twist, or bore dimensions just remember 2 of 3 rifles Im referencing were 6.5 PRCs. The first time we got a call about it we recommended the guy try a different bullet, he tried bergers and they worked so when it happened again I asked those guys to try bergers and they stayed together for them as well. I use berger and Hornady bullets in several of my personal setups and have never experienced this but I'm not running them in hot cartridges either with those 2 bullet brands.

 

[September life]

I cleaned the barrel and looked everything over still same issues. I now have a total of 170 rounds through this barrel. I wouldn't expect to see any issues with the throat or barrel this early. I used a good copper remover. I'm going to shoot the last rounds see what they look like at 300 yards on paper. Thanks for all the suggestions. Happy holidays everyone! I will get back with what I find. Here's a pic of a group before this lot.

 

[Jerry M]

Check the barrel with a bore scope. It could have a flaw that is cutting the bullet jackets. This happens to a gunsmith/shooter I know. Shooting at a 600 class match, bullets were blowing up before reaching the target. This is what it turned out to be. Also a was a new barrel...