Hornady bullets harder to seat?

[Huntnful]

I've loaded up quite a few bergers and hornady ELDM's lately. In cases pretty exactly the same, the ELDM's take significantly more force to seat into the case compared to the bergers. Anyone know EXACTLY why this is. I can theorize, but i'm curious if someone actually knows lol. Mic'd them at the exact same OD and some instances the ELDM is actually .0005 smaller OD.

 

[wasskeet]

Berger Hybrid vs Berger VLD

So I finally got to dissecting a Berger Hybrid not too long ago. What I found confirms my long suspicion as well as others I've talked to about them and their performance. There's an enormous cavity below the open tip and before the core. Not all OTM style bullets are like this, at least not to...

www.longrangehunting.com

ELDM vs ELDX (construction-wise)

It seems like this is always a common debate and topic. So I wanted to make my own thread on the matter, showing the comparisons between the Hornady ELDX and ELDM. They’re not the same and are actually both improvements on two other Hornady bullets. The ELDX is simply just an improved SST and...

www.longrangehunting.com

Based upon findings of the above threads in regard to jacket thickness of each - the Berger being thicker, I cannot say EXACTLY, but my opinion would be that the Hornady lead has more antimony in it. This would make it harder than the lead in the Berger, thereby less susceptible to pressure applied.
I apologize for less than the exact answer

Disclaimer: I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.

 

[Huntnful]

Berger Hybrid vs Berger VLD

So I finally got to dissecting a Berger Hybrid not too long ago. What I found confirms my long suspicion as well as others I've talked to about them and their performance. There's an enormous cavity below the open tip and before the core. Not all OTM style bullets are like this, at least not to...

www.longrangehunting.com

ELDM vs ELDX (construction-wise)

It seems like this is always a common debate and topic. So I wanted to make my own thread on the matter, showing the comparisons between the Hornady ELDX and ELDM. They’re not the same and are actually both improvements on two other Hornady bullets. The ELDX is simply just an improved SST and...

www.longrangehunting.com

Based upon findings of the above threads in regard to jacket thickness of each - the Berger being thicker, I cannot say EXACTLY, but my opinion would be that the Hornady lead has more antimony in it. This would make it harder than the lead in the Berger, thereby less susceptible to pressure applied.
I apologize for less than the exact answer

Disclaimer: I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night.

Hahaha Thank you!! I appreciate the insight!!

 

[wasskeet]

Yes Sir - I base that theory off of the large difference in different brands of lead shot back in my shotgunning days. Harder shot always patterned better as it deformed less. Lead shot that a friend made was more "egg-shaped" than round, but it patterned even tighter than the best commercial brands. You could tell simply by looking at it there was more antimony in it - more shiny/bright appearance vs. others.
Maybe @Petey308 can chime in here with a hardness test on the internals.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Did you measure the bullet diameter at the pressure ring?

 

[MagnumManiac]

Are you chamfering with a VLD tool?
This helped me with Nosler CC and Berger bullets some time ago.

Have no idea with Hornady bullets, never use them.

Cheers.

 

[Huntnful]

Did you measure the bullet diameter at the pressure ring?

Just lengthwise along the whole bullet.

 

[Huntnful]

Are you chamfering with a VLD tool?
This helped me with Nosler CC and Berger bullets some time ago.

Have no idea with Hornady bullets, never use them.

Cheers.

I do chamfer the insides of the necks a decent amount

 

[bamban]

We had issues on other Hornady bullets for our ARs. One batch was slightly larger than nominal 0.2240. Wylde chamber if done properly the freebore diameter would be 0.2240. That's Wylde spec. We were trying to find touch, we were getting erroneously different readings, much shorter than previous data.

Bullet ogive is hitting the 0.2240 freebore entrance When gently pushed.

 

[MagnumManiac]

I do chamfer the insides of the necks a decent amount

I would try a VLD style chamfering tool, it made my seating easier in my Redding Comp seater dies. Difficult bullets and compressed loads are bad for those dies…they get a 'bell' on the seating stem if you force anything.

Cheers.

 

[xsn10s]

I would try a VLD style chamfering tool, it made my seating easier in my Redding Comp seater dies. Difficult bullets and compressed loads are bad for those dies…they get a 'bell' on the seating stem if you force anything.

Cheers.

That's what I did. Worked with both ELDM's and Nosler bullets that were more difficult to seat.