royinidaho
Well-Known Member
In 2011 I posted on a thread regarding Matrix bullets. The #5 post of this thread. http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f28/277-matrix-bullets-81079/
Marshall @ Matrix seems to have come of age since then.
I am running low on Wildcat 169.5 bullets which is, to me, the optimum weigh range for the 270 Allen Magnum. With enough whining Marshall sent some 165 grain VLDs for testing.
In 2011 it seemed probable that Matrix offerings would would not hold together out of a 3 groove 8 twist barrel at Allen Mag velocities.
It was gracious of Marshall to allow me to put them through the paces.
Upon opening the box I was more than impressed with the bullet's appearance. They flat reeked of quality. As far as looks go, I've never seen better. By anyone.
Meplat is very small. Almost dainty. And sufficiently uniform that I would give no consideration to any repointing efforts. When I can shoot 350 SMKs out of a 375 Allen Magnum repointed with brass tips up to 0.008 inches of wobble into the same group size as unfiddled with 350 SMKs I'm certainly not going to obsess over the tiny variations in the Matrix VLD points.
First quest was to see if they would hold together. This called for a push to distruction test. Something I'm pretty good at.
I settled on a load of 7828ssc as that is the powder I use with 150 grain offerings. I reached pressure limits at around 3350 FPS with all bullets forming nice round holes @ 100 yds.
My standard 169.5 grain Wildcat load is 94 grains of US-869 for a little less than 3300 FPS MV. I can push to 99 grains and 3500+ FPS but 3 shots on Remmy brass and they're done. Simply can't afford the money, time or effort to go through brass at that rate.
Result is that there is no way these bullets are going to dust or wobble or do anything but be stable at any velocity I can push them to with this li'l pecker wood cartridge.gun)
I spent no time "tuning" seating depth. Simply letting the chamber set the seating depth to touch the lead and backing off 0.010"
I ran velocities up to the 3550 FPS range with no adverse effects on the Matrix VLDs.
The first 3 shot group @ 100 went just under MOA at 3500+ FPS. Good enough consistency for my purposes. Pressures were up there but not nearly as high as with the same powder charge and 169.5 Wildcats.
The Matrix is slightly shorter overall than the Wildcat with may 0.10" shorter bearing surface. The goto load I settled on is 98 gr of US-869 and a velocity of 3450 FPS.
I ran out of bullets before being able to tweak group size by varying seating depth. However, several 3-shot groups @ 100, 200 and 300 yards never exceeded 1 MOA.
I can see no cons to this bullet. I use a bc of 0.72 for the Wildcat. If the Matrix is anything over 0.59 or so it'll flat out perform the Wildcat at these velocities. Again I ran out of bullets before being to do long range drops. From the 200 and 300 yard drops I'm guessing that at my elevation the published static bc may well be conservative. Here's hoping.
Another plus is that it appears that with the pressures generated by the 98 grains of US-869 I may well be able to use that soft Nosler brass. Remmy brass in non-existent around here.
Net result is that I went to the local store I favor, Bob & Tom's Big Boar Gun Store in Blackfoot Idaho and ordered several hundred of these bullets. I suppose I could order directly from Matrix but hey more people than just me should know about these offerings. We'll see if they can make an arrangement with Matrix and get some stock.
I'm elated to not be cringing every time I run a bullet though that rifle.
Now to bag a woof!!
A special shout out to Marshall for his willingness to take the risk of providing bullets so some yokel could beat the H out of 'em. They passed all tests with flying colors….
Marshall @ Matrix seems to have come of age since then.
I am running low on Wildcat 169.5 bullets which is, to me, the optimum weigh range for the 270 Allen Magnum. With enough whining Marshall sent some 165 grain VLDs for testing.
In 2011 it seemed probable that Matrix offerings would would not hold together out of a 3 groove 8 twist barrel at Allen Mag velocities.
It was gracious of Marshall to allow me to put them through the paces.
Upon opening the box I was more than impressed with the bullet's appearance. They flat reeked of quality. As far as looks go, I've never seen better. By anyone.
Meplat is very small. Almost dainty. And sufficiently uniform that I would give no consideration to any repointing efforts. When I can shoot 350 SMKs out of a 375 Allen Magnum repointed with brass tips up to 0.008 inches of wobble into the same group size as unfiddled with 350 SMKs I'm certainly not going to obsess over the tiny variations in the Matrix VLD points.
First quest was to see if they would hold together. This called for a push to distruction test. Something I'm pretty good at.
I settled on a load of 7828ssc as that is the powder I use with 150 grain offerings. I reached pressure limits at around 3350 FPS with all bullets forming nice round holes @ 100 yds.
My standard 169.5 grain Wildcat load is 94 grains of US-869 for a little less than 3300 FPS MV. I can push to 99 grains and 3500+ FPS but 3 shots on Remmy brass and they're done. Simply can't afford the money, time or effort to go through brass at that rate.
Result is that there is no way these bullets are going to dust or wobble or do anything but be stable at any velocity I can push them to with this li'l pecker wood cartridge.gun)
I spent no time "tuning" seating depth. Simply letting the chamber set the seating depth to touch the lead and backing off 0.010"
I ran velocities up to the 3550 FPS range with no adverse effects on the Matrix VLDs.
The first 3 shot group @ 100 went just under MOA at 3500+ FPS. Good enough consistency for my purposes. Pressures were up there but not nearly as high as with the same powder charge and 169.5 Wildcats.
The Matrix is slightly shorter overall than the Wildcat with may 0.10" shorter bearing surface. The goto load I settled on is 98 gr of US-869 and a velocity of 3450 FPS.
I ran out of bullets before being able to tweak group size by varying seating depth. However, several 3-shot groups @ 100, 200 and 300 yards never exceeded 1 MOA.
I can see no cons to this bullet. I use a bc of 0.72 for the Wildcat. If the Matrix is anything over 0.59 or so it'll flat out perform the Wildcat at these velocities. Again I ran out of bullets before being to do long range drops. From the 200 and 300 yard drops I'm guessing that at my elevation the published static bc may well be conservative. Here's hoping.
Another plus is that it appears that with the pressures generated by the 98 grains of US-869 I may well be able to use that soft Nosler brass. Remmy brass in non-existent around here.
Net result is that I went to the local store I favor, Bob & Tom's Big Boar Gun Store in Blackfoot Idaho and ordered several hundred of these bullets. I suppose I could order directly from Matrix but hey more people than just me should know about these offerings. We'll see if they can make an arrangement with Matrix and get some stock.
I'm elated to not be cringing every time I run a bullet though that rifle.
Now to bag a woof!!
A special shout out to Marshall for his willingness to take the risk of providing bullets so some yokel could beat the H out of 'em. They passed all tests with flying colors….
