300gr .338 Berger. any info?

[Eric Stecker]

We are setting up our machine to produce more 338 cal jackets right now. We have run into some tooling issues as we are making jackets with a few modifications that didn't work out with the first set of tooling we tried. I am confident that we are on the right track now and should be making more jackets by next week.

To be clear, these jackets are different than the jackets we used to make the original bullets. I won't go into the differences as the first of these jackets will be thoroughly tested to see if we've resolved the "high pressure/velocity" issue. If these jackets don't make a difference then they will never see production and we will go in another direction. We'll know more soon.

RDM416,

One of the most challenging aspects of this situation is that it is not occuring at a consistent velocity and/or pressure. We have some people reporting diminished trajectories (consistent with a lower BC) and poor precision at velocity as low as 2850 fps. Then there are others who report the ability to go faster without any problems.

In our own testing we were not able to make the bullets perform poorly even with loads that we believe were pushing the limits of being safe. We have not officially eliminated the possibilty of nose slump but given these inconsistencies in results it makes it far less likely that nose slump is the true root cause.

I'll add that the reports of poor performance are few and far between but some of these reports are coming from people who we know to be very capable so we regard them as genuine. I am not suggesting that others reports are not factual but if a few the folks involved told me that the sky was green I'd have to figure out what was wrong with my eyes because they are that capable and I trust their abilities and powers of observation that much.

If you or anyone has a chance to shoot our bullets at higher velocities (using safe loads) and posts their findings I will be grateful as the more data the better.

Regards,
Eric

 

[LongBomber]

Thanks for the update, have you ever seen another manufacturer discuss how they are working on a problem on a public form?? I am the curious type, and far from an engineer, but it is interesting to see what you are doing with bullet construction to solve the "problem" with the 300 hybrid.

 

[Eric Stecker]

I appreciate your comments and would normally be quietly grateful for them and not respond but some recent developments compel me to communicate the reason why I am so comfortable with these discussions on the forums.

If everything we do at Berger is consistent with everything we say then I have nothing to hide and nothing can be used against me later if someone throws up the BS flag. Other brands choose a marketing approach of making over the top claims that frankly are either partially or entirely BS. They can't stand in the glaring light of the forums because the truth is forced to the surface.

Every statement we make in our ads, brochures and website are true and can be scientifically proven. My conscience is clean and I can speak freely on such subjects because I know that we have never manipulated anyone with marketing hype. We use what we describe internally as "science based marketing" which to us means "no BS".

Admittedly, there have been a few occasions when we learned that we were mistaken on a particular item. One example is when we adjusted all our BCs. We learned that our fired BC was slightly lower than our dimensional BC. We did not deliberately mislead everyone by publishing a higher BC that we knew to be lower. Our published BC was the best and most accurate number that we could produce at that time. As soon as we understood that our BCs were off we changed them immediately and stood openly and honestly in front of everyone explaining the change.

I apologize for high jacking this thread but I have strong opinions about this subject because I believe false information negatively impacts the shooting sports. Misinformation is the one stain on the otherwise genuine success of the forums in being a source of credible data for the shooting sports enthusiasts. However, much of this misinformation on the forums comes from a lack of knowledge on a subject. Few are deliberately trying to mislead shooter (but they are out there).

When certain bullet brands use marketing hype rather than scientifically proven facts, I know that they know that they are full of BS but they have decided to communicate this false message anyways. This action is far worse than misinformation from shooters on the forums because as the source of the product we are considered "experts" who should be worthy of trust. It is a shame that some believe that they have to do this to be successful.

Regards,
Eric

 

[cody finch]

is there any new info on this bullet they shoot great in my rifle. i just cant find themany more for sale. thank you cody

 

[RDM416]

Cody, I have not heard anything on the "new" version in a while. The last time I checked 3rd Generation Shooting Supply still had some in stock (they are an advertiser on this site). I just got another 250 in from them a week or so ago just to add to my stockpile.

 

[snake]

I can't comment for everyone on here but at a mild 2650fps the old style 300gr Bergers' group at .5moa at 100yrds in my EDGE. at the local range i hit our gong at 400yrds 10 out of 10 times dialing in my scope on the first shot. im not a experienced shooter. im a novice to some of you guys and im happy. I can't wait for the updated version and hope to have some fun on vacation this year.

I run mild loads cause i don't have 1000yrds to shoot and i don't want to waste my barrel on fast loads out to 100yrds-500yrds.

 

[cody finch]

3rd gen is out have searched the net dont see any. cody

 

[Eric Stecker]

We've made some progress. We have successfully made more jackets and will be forming these into bullets by the middle of next week. If all goes well these bullets will be shipped to a few specific folks who will be able to test them to see if we have successfully increased the velocities at which they perform well.

If we have been successful then we will start making many more 338 cal right away. If this test shows that the changes have no affect on performance we will go back to making the original version as it is working very well for most 338 cal shooters.

Admittedly, if this latest change does not allow these bullets to be shot at the higher velocities then we will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out what to do next. Either way we will be making one version of the 338 cal or the other in large quantities in the next few months.

Regards,
Eric

 

[jmden]

We've made some progress. We have successfully made more jackets and will be forming these into bullets by the middle of next week. If all goes well these bullets will be shipped to a few specific folks who will be able to test them to see if we have successfully increased the velocities at which they perform well.

If we have been successful then we will start making many more 338 cal right away. If this test shows that the changes have no affect on performance we will go back to making the original version as it is working very well for most 338 cal shooters.

Admittedly, if this latest change does not allow these bullets to be shot at the higher velocities then we will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out what to do next. Either way we will be making one version of the 338 cal or the other in large quantities in the next few months.

Regards,
Eric

What's the latest, Eric? Any results from the testing?

Thanks,

Jon