I puchased a Meplat Uniforming tool from Kevin Cram, Montour County Rifles in the fall of 2010. That fall I meplat trimmed/uniformed approximately 400 Berger VLD bullets. ~1/2 were 168gr 7mm VLDs, and ~1/2 were 210gr .308 VLDs. Of those bullets, I encountered maybe 10 with no hollow in the tip of the bullet jackets. The tips had beem sealed (pinched) shut during manufacture in their bullet forming dies. I reported this to Erik Stecker on this forum, and my suspicion that these closed tip bullets were a cause of non-expansion on game. Erik said he was interested in investigating this. That they might cull some closed tip bullets from their production line and expansion test them to see if the closed tip bullets expanded less reliably than open tipped bullets. I've never heard or read anything further on this matter.
Four plus years later (about 7 days ago) I meplat uniformed ~175 of the 215gr .308 Berger Hybrid target bullets. None of those bullets had sealed tips. Every bullet had a hollow tip. Nice. I also noted the meplats were more uniform in length than the meplats on the VLDs from the fall of 2010.
Today I meplat uniformed 250 of the 300gr .338 Berger OTMs. Again, not a single bullet tip was sealed off. None of the jacket tips on these bullets were pinched closed. All bullets had a hollow opening in the point of the jackets. And the meplats from the factory were exceptionally uniform. Less than 10 bullets had meplats that were notably slanted, or uneven in length. I was way impressed.
When using the meplat uniforming tool, each bullet meplat gets a quick inspection prior to trimming, and the meplat trimming process allows for a good evaluation of the uniformity of the meplats. This type of improvement doesn't happen by accident. I don't know if Berger is culling some bullets that have sealed tips prior to packaging, or if they've refined their jacket preparation process prior to running these bullets into their bullet forming dies. I know what I've observed, and the uniformity of the meplats on these recent production bullets were much improved compared to the VLDs from 4 1/2 years ago. My 215gr .308s and the 300gr .338s were purchased in December, 2014.
The meplat uniforming of the 300gr .338 bullets wouldn't have been worth the effort, simply to improve meplat uniformity. That's how good the meplats were right out of the box. However, in addition to improving meplat uniformity and consistency from bullet to bullet, I meplat uniform these style bullets to increase the diameter of the meplats slightly, in an effort to improve the certainty of expansion on game animals. I believe the larger meplats reduce the odds of a bullet failing to expand on game. Other knowledgeable hunters that have experimented with this seem to agree. I sacrifice a little BC value due to the increased meplat diameter, but I gain consistency of BC value from bullet to bullet, and improve the odds that every bullet will expand.
I understand that Berger cautions against modifying the tips fo their bullets, but I'd rather have my bullets expand too aggessively than not expand at all, especially at longer yardages and reduced impact velocities.
Four plus years later (about 7 days ago) I meplat uniformed ~175 of the 215gr .308 Berger Hybrid target bullets. None of those bullets had sealed tips. Every bullet had a hollow tip. Nice. I also noted the meplats were more uniform in length than the meplats on the VLDs from the fall of 2010.
Today I meplat uniformed 250 of the 300gr .338 Berger OTMs. Again, not a single bullet tip was sealed off. None of the jacket tips on these bullets were pinched closed. All bullets had a hollow opening in the point of the jackets. And the meplats from the factory were exceptionally uniform. Less than 10 bullets had meplats that were notably slanted, or uneven in length. I was way impressed.
When using the meplat uniforming tool, each bullet meplat gets a quick inspection prior to trimming, and the meplat trimming process allows for a good evaluation of the uniformity of the meplats. This type of improvement doesn't happen by accident. I don't know if Berger is culling some bullets that have sealed tips prior to packaging, or if they've refined their jacket preparation process prior to running these bullets into their bullet forming dies. I know what I've observed, and the uniformity of the meplats on these recent production bullets were much improved compared to the VLDs from 4 1/2 years ago. My 215gr .308s and the 300gr .338s were purchased in December, 2014.
The meplat uniforming of the 300gr .338 bullets wouldn't have been worth the effort, simply to improve meplat uniformity. That's how good the meplats were right out of the box. However, in addition to improving meplat uniformity and consistency from bullet to bullet, I meplat uniform these style bullets to increase the diameter of the meplats slightly, in an effort to improve the certainty of expansion on game animals. I believe the larger meplats reduce the odds of a bullet failing to expand on game. Other knowledgeable hunters that have experimented with this seem to agree. I sacrifice a little BC value due to the increased meplat diameter, but I gain consistency of BC value from bullet to bullet, and improve the odds that every bullet will expand.
I understand that Berger cautions against modifying the tips fo their bullets, but I'd rather have my bullets expand too aggessively than not expand at all, especially at longer yardages and reduced impact velocities.
