Hornady ELDX inconsistency in construction

[Gamesniper19]

I post this to help others with an issue I have noticed becoming more acute as of late. Some time ago I began measure base to ogive size while reloading and noticed some inconsistencies with Hornady. I had no time to go through process for a recent hunt and loaded without measuring. noticed every 3rd or 4th round I had a flyer that was outside sub 1/2 MOA. It is acceptable to me to see maybe .003 or maybe up to .006 per bullet in same lots.

In this case I have some 175 ELDX for my 7/300 PRC wildcat and when measuring bullets - I now have 5 different lengths. Again .003 to .006 or so, no big deal; but now I have lengths from 1.875 down to 1.861!!! That is a .014 spread from same box. Talk about flyers!!!!

What are you seeing?

 

[DoneNOut]

I see Hammer Bullets...

 

[parshal]

Have you been able to determine which ones are the flyers? I've got Bergers that I use in competition that have that much variation and haven't been able to find a correlation to different ogive lengths.

 

[bultinkle]

I don't measure bullets anymore

I think it would be fun to test large sample size groups of those differences and show what change there is if any.

 

[Gamesniper19]

Have you been able to determine which ones are the flyers? I've got Bergers that I use in competition that have that much variation and haven't been able to find a correlation to different ogive lengths.

that would be a good test for sure. Maybe mark and track.

I measure now so that I can make micro adjust seating to exact - once I do that it seems to go away

 

[hydehunter]

I see Hammer Bullets...

you blind?

 

[DoneNOut]

you blind?

There wasn't a picture when I commented. So, I was inferring I see my machined Hammer bullets at uniform length.

 

[b6graham]

this would be useful info...if you shot the same length bullets together in a separate test to determine if it's the length that produced the flyer or just you/rifle combo

i'd also never waste time measuring bullets nor have i seen this flyer issue (nosler RDF don't count) with any number of manufacturers i've shot in the past

 

[ARlife4me]

Are they yhe oal or just ogives? Check ogive to base and ogive to tip ir just subtract the difference.

 

[Gamesniper19]

Are they yhe oal or just ogives? Check ogive to base and ogive to tip ir just subtract the difference.

This is all Ogive to base

 

[DustThroughaFan]

I ran into this a couple years ago with the 7mm 150 eld-x I was loading for a 280AI. I'd be getting really close on a load then it would fling one off in no man's land. Best I could get it down to was about ½ moa. Still plenty good for the hunting gun that it is but it is capable of more.

I always ran seating depth test at .010-.020 increments and I thought people were crazy running seating depth them at .003, until I tried it.

I measured some bullets and found base to ogive running out by .012-.015 on average and I thought, well there's my problem.

I think I'm pretty well done with hornady bullets at this point. Exception being the 208 eldm. My last box of them had very little variation base to ogive. But they were several years old. The new stock may not be worth a flip either.

 

[eoperator]

Jump them .025 - .06 and you will forget about length inconsistencies.

 

[VinceMule]

A barrel will prefer a particular bullet jump in tuning accuracy. For a guy that is in pursuit of 1/4"(100 yds) or smaller, a simple technique is employed by many.

No matter what brand of bullets you shoot, you sort by ogive length, and I have not measured hammer bullets.

Sorting requires a quantity.

Test seating depths in .003 increments shot on a ladder in three-shot groups, preferably at 300 yards. In commercial bullets, several machines often make the same kind and weight of the bullet. They dump the bullets into the same lot#, thus you end up with different ogive length bullets. When a single machine is producing bullets in the same lot number, ogive lengths are usually very uniform.

Sierra, Noser, and Hornady all need to be sorted, and Bergers can vary as well.

Most of my 7mm and 6mm rifles like for the bullets to just touch the lands or be no more than .003 off the lands for bug hole accuracy. So, if I do not sort the bullets, one will jam hard while another may jump.

So, take your reloading techniques up a notch, sort bullets by ogive length IF you want super accuracy.

 

[MagnumManiac]

Isn't it amazing that manufacturing from Hornady NEVER matches the advertised HYPE!
Simply why I don't use Hornady…

Cheers.