I've had a long standing suspicion that a cannelured bullet isn't as precise (group size) as the same smooth bullet. The two bullets I'm questioning are .224 55 gr. VMax and 68 gr. Hornady HPBT but wonder if the HR group has experience with others as well.
I've shot quite a few 55 VMax through both AR's and my Savage M10 Precision Carbine with great results. Quite a few years ago I bought 500 55 VMax's with cannelure, must have had a bad day with them, and stashed them in the back of my cabinet. Last summer I became involved with an informal bench rest league at my club which I shot with the M10PC. With the component shortage I eventually had to dig out the box of 55's I had stashed that had at least 400 bullets left in it. I gave them a try and the following is my test target.
I'm going to give the bullet the benefit of the doubt and assume the 8 o'clock "flyer" was my fault. My conclusion is that it didn't matter as much as I had thought, and maybe not at all. Now I can't wait until next year's competition starts.
As for the Hornady 68's, that's my go to bullet for 200 yd. Service Rifle. About 10 to 15 years ago I bought a box of 500 from Pat's Reloading. Pat buys bullets from Hornady in bulk and repackages them to sell a little bit cheaper than the factory packs. The box was labeled 68 gr. HPBT w/c. The only 68 HPBT Match bullet I know of is Hornady. When I opened the box I immediately noticed the ogive was significantly different than the bare 68 Hornady's that I was used to and figured they were an off brand. When I finally shot some I wasn't pleased with the results and chalked it up to a bad decision on my part. I've been loading a few of them recently in every batch I do to shoot in the standing phase of matches to stretch my supplies. Top is the bullet from Pat's, and the bottom is a Hornady 68 HPBT.
That box got stashed in my cabinet too. Recently, when I was surfing Midway for bullets, I came upon this:
https://www.midwayusa.com/bullets/b...&Diameter=0.224+Inches&Grain+Weight=68+Grains
The image shows the the ogives aren't the same for the bare and cannelured versions and looks very similar to the bullets I have. Is anybody else aware of this difference ?
I'd better shoot some off of the bench to see if they too are decent bullets. Maybe I just had another bad day when I shot them in the past?
I've shot quite a few 55 VMax through both AR's and my Savage M10 Precision Carbine with great results. Quite a few years ago I bought 500 55 VMax's with cannelure, must have had a bad day with them, and stashed them in the back of my cabinet. Last summer I became involved with an informal bench rest league at my club which I shot with the M10PC. With the component shortage I eventually had to dig out the box of 55's I had stashed that had at least 400 bullets left in it. I gave them a try and the following is my test target.
I'm going to give the bullet the benefit of the doubt and assume the 8 o'clock "flyer" was my fault. My conclusion is that it didn't matter as much as I had thought, and maybe not at all. Now I can't wait until next year's competition starts.
As for the Hornady 68's, that's my go to bullet for 200 yd. Service Rifle. About 10 to 15 years ago I bought a box of 500 from Pat's Reloading. Pat buys bullets from Hornady in bulk and repackages them to sell a little bit cheaper than the factory packs. The box was labeled 68 gr. HPBT w/c. The only 68 HPBT Match bullet I know of is Hornady. When I opened the box I immediately noticed the ogive was significantly different than the bare 68 Hornady's that I was used to and figured they were an off brand. When I finally shot some I wasn't pleased with the results and chalked it up to a bad decision on my part. I've been loading a few of them recently in every batch I do to shoot in the standing phase of matches to stretch my supplies. Top is the bullet from Pat's, and the bottom is a Hornady 68 HPBT.
That box got stashed in my cabinet too. Recently, when I was surfing Midway for bullets, I came upon this:
https://www.midwayusa.com/bullets/b...&Diameter=0.224+Inches&Grain+Weight=68+Grains
The image shows the the ogives aren't the same for the bare and cannelured versions and looks very similar to the bullets I have. Is anybody else aware of this difference ?
I'd better shoot some off of the bench to see if they too are decent bullets. Maybe I just had another bad day when I shot them in the past?