What could cause a bullet to land about 2 feet high in 500 m?

[JFrank]

All the brass was fire formed, decapped, wet tumbled in SS pins, annealed with a Giraud annealer, lubricated, shoulder pushed back 0.002" with a Redding body die, size the neck with a Redding neck bushing die, clean lube off with 99% isopropyl alcohol, chamfer and deburr, no trimming required.
Primed and charged with an AutoTrickler V4.Accurate to +/- 0.02gr
This last lot of Hornady ELD-M's had a greater weight variation than older lots.
The lightest was 139.64gr with the heaviest being 140.42gr.
I weight sorted them into 0.2gr lots. The outliers are used for foulers or to check the alignment of the LabRadar.

This was the ladder test which I used to decide to go with 40.2gr

Just as an armchair critic I’ll note a couple things and hope I’m not out of line.
Those may not be the best bullets to start with, I personally sort by overall length and compare by base to ogive and base to seater stem.
I’m also curious towards the charge ladder posted in that I can’t see where the load goes out of tune. Are you just using chrono data to choose the charge weight ?

 

[thump_rrr]

Problem #1 was that the barrel is barely broken in.
I had less than 120 rounds down the pipe when I started load development.
Ideally I would have liked to start after 200 rounds when the barrel has time to settle down. A barrel usually shoots a little faster after a couple hundred rounds.

Problem #2 was that I didn’t have time to go to the range I wanted to so I was limited to 100m and only 2 free days to test before this week.
The second day I got there at 5:30pm and we can’t shoot after 7:00 or 1/2 hour before sunset.

Problem #3 was that the first day of load development I had an 18mph wind with 30mph gusts.
The range has trees off to the right down to about 25m then there is nothing so it is typical to have a cross wind down range.

39.0 was the low load and 40.2 was the faster load where the groups were smallest and the ES was 15 or less. Everything else looked like a soup sandwich.

Now that the barrel has about 250 rounds down it I will try to get to at least 200m and do another ladder test.

 

[JFrank]

Thx I get ya, those charges don’t look that bad I was just curious as to what you were looking at, I’m just trying to pick your brain.

 

[Varminterror]

I’m not familiar with those bullets but If the jacket did fail, why would the core continue to elevate rather than scatter ?

Plainly - "scatter" includes "up".

The physics of it is straight forward - a BUTTLOAD of energy was imparted onto a mass, so it WANTS to go the direction it was told to go. The centrifugal force throws some stuff outwards, and you might imagine that causes 1) imbalance and 2) uneven drag. How those new, uneven forces act on the remaining mass "is what it is". I've blown up a lot of bullets (especially early production 6.5mm ELD's), and it's pretty common to see splash "near the target," but what direction is always a crap shoot. Hell, we figured out one of the shooters on my squad at a PRS match 2yrs ago was blowing up bullets about halfway through the first day, we could SEE the spall indication on the field (especially when shooting through trees), and he was ALWAYS hitting near target, and frankly, he still even HIT a lot of the targets.

 

[JFrank]

Ya’ll need to buy better bullets. Lol

 

[Varminterror]

Ya’ll need to buy better bullets. Lol

I only saw that happening with early production 140 ELD's, and early production 147's - but it has been several years since I've seen a 140 blow up, even in 6.5 PRC at much higher speeds. I shoot quite a few ELDm/x's in multiple calibers, and haven't had any blow ups in 73 or 75 22cals, 108 and 109's in 6mm, 123's in 6.5mm, 162's in 7mm, 168's, 175's, 200's, 208's, 212's, and 220's in 30 cal.

ELD's are what they are - they're cheaper than most target bullets and far better than most hunting bullets, with higher BC's than most bullets overall. They're not Bergers, they're not lathe turned monometals, and they don't cost as much either. Around half of the shooters at our Regional matches are shooting ELDm's, so about every other weekend or so, I get to be around ~1000-2500 of them flying downrange. I got to watch a guy shredding 109H Bergers with a 6 PRC last fall - that made it through the whole half-mile long firing line within about 3 stages... I blew apart a ton of bullets with 243 AI and 6-06 years ago, 204Ruger was another which had the case capacity and standard twist to get it done pretty easily, I shredded 32's - cut rifling and fast twist, it's pretty easy to damage jackets and then spin them apart. We hear about bullets blowing up, and it does happen, because it's not magic, it's really just math, but it's pretty harsh to condemn the ELD's when they're being fired more than any other bullet out there.

 

[Varminterror]

I think we kinda need to circle the wagons a little bit here, because I do think we're tending to chase the wrong rabbits.

1) It's not errant velocity - we're only shooting 500yrds and the deviation was 24" (in whatever direction). Without breaking out the calculator, just spitballing off of numbers I know and doing some math off the top of my head, 30fps on my 6mm's means 6" of vertical shift at 1,000yrds, and I have ~8mils elevation at 1,000yrds, only 2.5mils at 500... So proportionately, that 6" difference would shrink by 2.5/8 (knowing 5/16" is .3125"), so 6*.3125 = ~1.8"... So 30fps only moves our waterline less than 2" at 500yrds, 24" would be something like 24/1.8 = 4/.3 = ~12*1.1 = 13.33333, 13.3333 * 30fps which gave us the 6" reference = 400fps... So... to get 24" of vertical shift at 500yrds, we'd have to be either 400fps slow to fall under or 400fps fast to fly over the target... How do we think that happened? We know we can stabilize velocity by lubricating necks, and we know we can influence velocity stability with neck tension, but we also know that usually only moves the needle a dozen or couple dozen fps at most (we have another thread going right now with multiple data points to that end provided by known experts in the craft). So I'm saying the "velocity fluke" isn't getting us fed...

2) Node fluke - how many times have you fired a 500yrd ladder, which includes the ANTI-nodes as well as the nodes, which have ever been >24" tall? I usually shoot my 600yrd ladders on one or two sheets of 11x17" paper (I print a lot of P&ID's, which are standard on 11x17"), so I only use a 17x17" square, or a vertical 11x17" rectangle to catch my bullets. Usually, they end up something around 9" to maybe as much as 12-13" tall. I can't recall the last time I sent a bullet off of the top of 17" - only missing by >8.5", not 24". We can see the group sizes and consistency in the POI in the load development tests provided in this thread - 24" at 500 is a BIG shift, 5MOA off center, meaning a potentially 10moa group - NONE of those loads are showing 10moa groups, and the variability from one load to the next isn't 5moa either... So I'm pretty comfortable "node fluke" isn't the rabbit which going to get us fed either...

3) We're not talking about some rookie with a $300 rifle with a $50 scope in $20 rings here pumping out some unproven, unassessed factory load here. ONE dramatically errant bullet doesn't point towards lose rings, bedding shift, bouncing erector tube, loose reticle lens, etc... "Weird gear issue" isn't the rabbit which is gonna get us fed...

4) Wind gust - my Dasher is likely pretty close to your 6.5 on wind drift, and my load is a 6.5mph gun, meaning shooting a 6.5mph wind, I get 0.1mils drift per hundred yards from 200 to 1000yrds. Quick reminder - 24" at 500yrds is 1.3mils - not of wind hold, but of wind ERROR. So if 6.5mph means 0.5 drift at 500, 1.3 mils would be 2.6x the wind, so 16.25mph GUST over the prevailing wind call... That can and does happen, but we wouldn't be having this conversation, because all of the shooters would have been fighting wind gusts like that all day, and nobody would be surprised when a shot slipped off of the SIDES of the target, which defies the observation from the spotter in the butts. Having an unexpected and unidentified 16mph GUST over the prevailing wind is 1) pretty uncommon on low wind days, and 2) pretty obvious - like a tidal wave on a calm beach. So I'm betting this ain't the right rabbit either...

5) Ogive inconsistency, and I'll lump bullet variance and incorrect neck tension in here as well - referring to the same "error magnitudes" and "error sensitivities" mentioned above, this doesn't fit for me either. How many times have we changed bullets, changed seating depth, changed brass, changed brakes, removed or installed suppressors, hell, even changed BARRELS and end up with our zero within a couple of clicks of our old zero? I can't think of the last time I made any change which caused my zero to move by 1.3mils. I mention my 6 creed match rifle here often - I've shot more than a handful of barrels from 4 different makers with 3 different twists and 3 different contours, shot 108 and 109 eld's, 105 and 109 Hybrids, Lapua and Hornady brass, 5 thou through 140 thou jump, suppressed and unsuppressed, 3 different brakes, and I've not moved my zero in the scope 1.3 mils. I'm not sure I've even had a zero shift of 1/2mil, and certain I've never moved 1.0, let alone 1.3 - even with MASSIVE changes to the rifle. Definitely never that much from changing jump or changing neck bushings. The can moves it the most. But just jump distance or variable neck tension shifting >1.3mils, which somehow only happened for ONE bullet and none of the others, eh, I'm not chasing that rabbit...

Frankly, I'm a hell of a lot more willing to bet that your balls itched and you wiggled and shanked one shot than anything else above here.

So what are we talking about as real possibilities?

6) Jacket separation - something came apart and the prevailing mass still understood the assignment, but the failure was enough to drive it off course

7) Errant impact on grass/twig/bug/whatever - skipped the bullet off of SOMETHING in flight

8) Bad bullet - something imbalanced, so it might not have come apart, but she was yawing and spiraling or otherwise just flying wrong and wasn't willing to follow the pack like the others

8b) WRONG bullet - I DID find a tipped matchking once in a box of SMK's - I suppose a bullet the wrong weight could potentially account for 1.3mils high flying at 500. It's a stretch, but it could be a thing

9) Shooter error - whether it's itchy balls, jerking a trigger, punching recoil, holding wrong in the scope, whatever, this is still more likely than any of 1-5

But, at the end of the day, it doesn't sound like it's terribly pertinent - it was ONE bullet. If you can make it repeat, propagating a trend, then we worry.

 

[crstrode]

Could it have been caused by neck tension or bullet setback or something?

Neck tension: No.
Must have been something.

 

[JFrank]

I only saw that happening with early production 140 ELD's, and early production 147's - but it has been several years since I've seen a 140 blow up, even in 6.5 PRC at much higher speeds. I shoot quite a few ELDm/x's in multiple calibers, and haven't had any blow ups in 73 or 75 22cals, 108 and 109's in 6mm, 123's in 6.5mm, 162's in 7mm, 168's, 175's, 200's, 208's, 212's, and 220's in 30 cal.

ELD's are what they are - they're cheaper than most target bullets and far better than most hunting bullets, with higher BC's than most bullets overall. They're not Bergers, they're not lathe turned monometals, and they don't cost as much either. Around half of the shooters at our Regional matches are shooting ELDm's, so about every other weekend or so, I get to be around ~1000-2500 of them flying downrange. I got to watch a guy shredding 109H Bergers with a 6 PRC last fall - that made it through the whole half-mile long firing line within about 3 stages... I blew apart a ton of bullets with 243 AI and 6-06 years ago, 204Ruger was another which had the case capacity and standard twist to get it done pretty easily, I shredded 32's - cut rifling and fast twist, it's pretty easy to damage jackets and then spin them apart. We hear about bullets blowing up, and it does happen, because it's not magic, it's really just math, but it's pretty harsh to condemn the ELD's when they're being fired more than any other bullet out there.

Hopefully this ( doesn’t) sound combative’ and my apologies to the prs fellas.lol but I don’t really care if it’s harsh I’m just calling it like I see it and I’m definitely not spending tons of money on tools , reloading equipment , rifles, scopes and cheap out on bullets because someone else does. I personally don’t know why the errant shot but I also doubt this round was over spun at 2700 fps. out of a creedmoor- more likely the itchy thing.

 

[AJC1]

I think we kinda need to circle the wagons a little bit here, because I do think we're tending to chase the wrong rabbits.

1) It's not errant velocity - we're only shooting 500yrds and the deviation was 24" (in whatever direction). Without breaking out the calculator, just spitballing off of numbers I know and doing some math off the top of my head, 30fps on my 6mm's means 6" of vertical shift at 1,000yrds, and I have ~8mils elevation at 1,000yrds, only 2.5mils at 500... So proportionately, that 6" difference would shrink by 2.5/8 (knowing 5/16" is .3125"), so 6*.3125 = ~1.8"... So 30fps only moves our waterline less than 2" at 500yrds, 24" would be something like 24/1.8 = 4/.3 = ~12*1.1 = 13.33333, 13.3333 * 30fps which gave us the 6" reference = 400fps... So... to get 24" of vertical shift at 500yrds, we'd have to be either 400fps slow to fall under or 400fps fast to fly over the target... How do we think that happened? We know we can stabilize velocity by lubricating necks, and we know we can influence velocity stability with neck tension, but we also know that usually only moves the needle a dozen or couple dozen fps at most (we have another thread going right now with multiple data points to that end provided by known experts in the craft). So I'm saying the "velocity fluke" isn't getting us fed...

2) Node fluke - how many times have you fired a 500yrd ladder, which includes the ANTI-nodes as well as the nodes, which have ever been >24" tall? I usually shoot my 600yrd ladders on one or two sheets of 11x17" paper (I print a lot of P&ID's, which are standard on 11x17"), so I only use a 17x17" square, or a vertical 11x17" rectangle to catch my bullets. Usually, they end up something around 9" to maybe as much as 12-13" tall. I can't recall the last time I sent a bullet off of the top of 17" - only missing by >8.5", not 24". We can see the group sizes and consistency in the POI in the load development tests provided in this thread - 24" at 500 is a BIG shift, 5MOA off center, meaning a potentially 10moa group - NONE of those loads are showing 10moa groups, and the variability from one load to the next isn't 5moa either... So I'm pretty comfortable "node fluke" isn't the rabbit which going to get us fed either...

3) We're not talking about some rookie with a $300 rifle with a $50 scope in $20 rings here pumping out some unproven, unassessed factory load here. ONE dramatically errant bullet doesn't point towards lose rings, bedding shift, bouncing erector tube, loose reticle lens, etc... "Weird gear issue" isn't the rabbit which is gonna get us fed...

4) Wind gust - my Dasher is likely pretty close to your 6.5 on wind drift, and my load is a 6.5mph gun, meaning shooting a 6.5mph wind, I get 0.1mils drift per hundred yards from 200 to 1000yrds. Quick reminder - 24" at 500yrds is 1.3mils - not of wind hold, but of wind ERROR. So if 6.5mph means 0.5 drift at 500, 1.3 mils would be 2.6x the wind, so 16.25mph GUST over the prevailing wind call... That can and does happen, but we wouldn't be having this conversation, because all of the shooters would have been fighting wind gusts like that all day, and nobody would be surprised when a shot slipped off of the SIDES of the target, which defies the observation from the spotter in the butts. Having an unexpected and unidentified 16mph GUST over the prevailing wind is 1) pretty uncommon on low wind days, and 2) pretty obvious - like a tidal wave on a calm beach. So I'm betting this ain't the right rabbit either...

5) Ogive inconsistency, and I'll lump bullet variance and incorrect neck tension in here as well - referring to the same "error magnitudes" and "error sensitivities" mentioned above, this doesn't fit for me either. How many times have we changed bullets, changed seating depth, changed brass, changed brakes, removed or installed suppressors, hell, even changed BARRELS and end up with our zero within a couple of clicks of our old zero? I can't think of the last time I made any change which caused my zero to move by 1.3mils. I mention my 6 creed match rifle here often - I've shot more than a handful of barrels from 4 different makers with 3 different twists and 3 different contours, shot 108 and 109 eld's, 105 and 109 Hybrids, Lapua and Hornady brass, 5 thou through 140 thou jump, suppressed and unsuppressed, 3 different brakes, and I've not moved my zero in the scope 1.3 mils. I'm not sure I've even had a zero shift of 1/2mil, and certain I've never moved 1.0, let alone 1.3 - even with MASSIVE changes to the rifle. Definitely never that much from changing jump or changing neck bushings. The can moves it the most. But just jump distance or variable neck tension shifting >1.3mils, which somehow only happened for ONE bullet and none of the others, eh, I'm not chasing that rabbit...

Frankly, I'm a hell of a lot more willing to bet that your balls itched and you wiggled and shanked one shot than anything else above here.

So what are we talking about as real possibilities?

6) Jacket separation - something came apart and the prevailing mass still understood the assignment, but the failure was enough to drive it off course

7) Errant impact on grass/twig/bug/whatever - skipped the bullet off of SOMETHING in flight

8) Bad bullet - something imbalanced, so it might not have come apart, but she was yawing and spiraling or otherwise just flying wrong and wasn't willing to follow the pack like the others

8b) WRONG bullet - I DID find a tipped matchking once in a box of SMK's - I suppose a bullet the wrong weight could potentially account for 1.3mils high flying at 500. It's a stretch, but it could be a thing

9) Shooter error - whether it's itchy balls, jerking a trigger, punching recoil, holding wrong in the scope, whatever, this is still more likely than any of 1-5

But, at the end of the day, it doesn't sound like it's terribly pertinent - it was ONE bullet. If you can make it repeat, propagating a trend, then we worry.

You win by the numbers as I haven't considered nor eliminated but half your list. If I was playing poker 6, 8 or 9 seems logical and barring a repeat it would be statistical to say shooter error over jacket problems if it's a one of. If it repeats in that box of bullets but not again the jacket would also be a good fit. In trouble shooting a one of is basically impossible to define call. Only an intermittent problem is more agitating

 

[Varminterror]

I’m definitely not spending tons of money on tools , reloading equipment , rifles, scopes and cheap out on bullets because someone else does.

Without intending to sound harsh - nobody is asking you to, and shooting ELD's in your particular game wouldn't be a smart move - but the penalty of shooting ELD's in most other applications evaporates. I simply answered to confirm that a lot of bullets can blow up, but Hornady is the internet's favorite whipping boy, just like Lee when it comes to reloading gear, or Toyota when it comes to pickups.

PRS is an expensive game, and plainly, BR doesn't come close. The rifles cost the same, but we're shooting 100-200 rounds per weekend, and guys can shoot 3-4 matches per month. Every time data has been captured at our finale, the top guys are reporting 4-10,000 rounds per year through their rifles, multiple barrels. I'm not practicing or competing nearly as much as I'd like, and I'll still pass over 5,000 this season. And in a game where our smallest 2-4 targets out of 200 are 1/2moa, with the rest typically 1-3moa, it's pretty defensible that we don't NEED lathe turned bullets to do the job. Frankly, I can't defend that Berger Hybrids actually shoot better than ELD's, not enough to justify the 10-15cents/bullet extra I spend for them - it doesn't show up on my scoresheets, ever. If I shot matches where I never had to move, and my targets never moved, and a match was only 30rnds instead of 200 (plus sighters/zero confirmation in both), we know the game would be different, and the tools for the task would be different. But when I'm already 1500 bullets into my year, and the difference between shooting a 32cent ELD or a 45cent Berger, or a 65 cent A-tip, or a full dollar lathe turned solid doesn't mean more or less points on the board, but DOES mean $3400 difference in how much I'll spend this season... Even just shooting ELD's instead of Hybrids is $650 I COULD be saving this season... Guess which bullet my son shoots, and why...

 

[Walkalong]

But, at the end of the day, it doesn't sound like it's terribly pertinent - it was ONE bullet. If you can make it repeat, propagating a trend, then we worry.

Agreed

 

[Walkalong]

PRS or Benchrest can be expensive, I knew Benchrest guys who shot matches almost every weekend and practiced in between. This young married man with two young kids shot 4 to 6 matches a year, all I could afford, and those were in driving distance, just get a cheap hotel room.

I shoot a few PRS and NRL-22 matches a year, can't afford to run with the big dogs.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

PRS or Benchrest can be expensive, I knew Benchrest guys who shot matches almost every weekend and practiced in between. This young married man with two young kids shot 4 to 6 matches a year, all I could afford, and those were in driving distance, just get a cheap hotel room.

I shoot a few PRS and NRL-22 matches a year, can't afford to run with the big dogs.

The time factor is the great decider for me Time is the only non-renewable resource

 

[Varminterror]

I shoot a few PRS and NRL-22 matches a year, can't afford to run with the big dogs.

I chatted a bit with Clay Blacketter and Austin’s Buschman and Orgain last fall about the change in PRS - a handful of years ago, we had like 15-20 pro series matches to choose from, and a guy could win the Pro Series shooting only 5-6 Pro Series matches (3 scores count, but currency of competition refines performance, practice with the elite squad mates beside you, and luck for which match you’re hot and the other guy is not), but they commented that they didn’t think a guy could be in the running any more if they only shot that many. So now the top guys need to be shooting 10-15 Pro Series matches per season. Which is 2000-3000 rounds by itself, plus their Regional match volume, and practice (and load development). Buschman is pretty straight - he mentioned if you’re not touching the rifle every weekend in some kind of stress scenario, you’re not going to make it onto the edge of the map. Interestingly enough, those guys don’t “enter” the regional series matches they shoot - they show and pay, but don’t mark themselves in the standings.

 

[Palladan44]

Yup, the random weird stuff that happens.....
That sounds like an extreme underweight bullet, possibly misplaced into your batch.
I'm fairly certain it's happened to me with AR bullets.

 

[Slamfire]

This young married man with two young kids shot 4 to 6 matches a year, all I could afford, and those were in driving distance, just get a cheap hotel room.

Cheap motels seem to be the natural roosting places of highpower shooters. I don't see the logic of spending hundreds on a room which I will only see the insides after sunset. Exterior corridors, pull up, drop the tailgate, open the door, and toss everything inside. Reverse the process in the morning. Seems to me, most of the ones I stayed in, have been bulldozed, and the land repurposed for something else.

 

[thump_rrr]

Yup, the random weird stuff that happens.....
That sounds like an extreme underweight bullet, possibly misplaced into your batch.
I'm fairly certain it's happened to me with AR bullets.

Every bullet was weighed.
No bullet loaded that day was below 139.78gr or above 140.22
They were divided into 2 groups exactly at 140.00.

I like Varminterror's assessment that it was jacket failure or itchy balls the best.
Second place goes to cloaked ship.

 

[thump_rrr]

Cheap motels seem to be the natural roosting places of highpower shooters. I don't see the logic of spending hundreds on a room which I will only see the insides after sunset. Exterior corridors, pull up, drop the tailgate, open the door, and toss everything inside. Reverse the process in the morning. Seems to me, most of the ones I stayed in, have been bulldozed, and the land repurposed for something else.

I have a friend who never took a vacation till the age of 35.
Not even a weekend getaway.
I had planned to drive from Montreal to Frankfort Ky to pick up a race engine for my Mustang.
I didn't want to send 5K to some random dude on the internet.
I invited him to tag along.

We drove late into the night past Cleveland and began to look for a motel.
The first place we stopped had 3 motels that were all booked because of the Labor Day weekend.
The only place we found was a Day's Inn that had a room with 2 beds.
We pull up and get into the room at 1:00AM dead tired and the room reeks of smoke and the carpet is nasty.
We slept on the beds with our clothes on.
By 6:00AM neither of us was sleeping and we got the hell out of there.

My friend is very frugal and doesn't waste money on anything but has learnt not to skimp on hotel/motel rooms.

This weekend we stayed at the Quality Inn which is where we usually stay.
They have a nice continental breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, the giant waffle maker, bagels etc.
It's $159 Canadian a night or $115USD.
They have nice beds, a 55" tv and clean bathrooms.
One of the other guys stayed in the fleabag motel for $115 a night and had to go spend another $10 for breakfast.
It would have cost us $135 with breakfast for 2 for the fleabag motel.
I'll spend the extra $25 each for 2 nights and get a nice comfortable bed and a clean modern bathroom.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Every bullet was weighed.
No bullet loaded that day was below 139.78gr or above 140.22
They were divided into 2 groups exactly at 140.00.

I like Varminterror's assessment that it was jacket failure or itchy balls the best.
Second place goes to cloaked ship.

Nogo on the solar flares, huh? That’s okay, I was going to say weather balloon but that’s just not as funny as it used to be.

 

[thump_rrr]

I’m definitely not spending tons of money on tools , reloading equipment , rifles, scopes and cheap out on bullets because someone else does. more likely the itchy thing.

I bought my first and only 6.5 in October of 2020.
The Hornady 140 ELD-M was the first bullet I tried because they were on the shelf at Cabela's that day.
I have yet to see a Berger in 6.5 out in the wild.
This was my initial load development target with the factory barrel. It was shot in 0F weather on New Years Eve.
With these results there was no need to look for another bullet.

 

[Random 8]

I've put a lot of rounds downrange at 600 yard high-power targets. I've had exactly 2 incidences of what I suspect was a jacket failure, both with Nosler 80 gr .223, and one of the bullet striking something in-between. All were slow fire prone, with a good hold and call. Even if I were way off on the wind and got a little twitchy, they should have at least been 8s. One was a high "miss" (2 or 3 ring I believe), <ETA..was thinking of the INT target, they were 5 or 6. I shouldn't type posts at 05:00! > one never made the target. The one that impacted something vaporized the seed head of a single blade of tall grass that the mower had missed. It was waving back and forth across my sight picture, and was no longer waving after the shot. I believe that one went primarily L or R, can't remember which, and scored a spotted miss.

 

[243winxb]

Butt stock slipped lower on shoulder at time of firing. Use less cheek pressure on stock.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I had a 6 shot string at the Talladega CMP out of a 5 shot mag, 6.5CM 129gr bullets, I suspected bullet separation. I hope you figure out the cause and report back here so I will have another theory why I miss my target

 

[JFrank]

I bought my first and only 6.5 in October of 2020.
The Hornady 140 ELD-M was the first bullet I tried because they were on the shelf at Cabela's that day.
I have yet to see a Berger in 6.5 out in the wild.
This was my initial load development target with the factory barrel. It was shot in 0F weather on New Years Eve.
With these results there was no need to look for another bullet.
View attachment 1148010

If you’re satisfied with Hornday bullets due to their 100 yard performance ,price point and availability than that’s great. Other fellas on this thread speak of a few problems and you yourself are asking about an unexplained shot. I’m just trying to help figure it out..( my comment after that was y’all need better bullets)
Are you buying in bulk like 500 count boxes or 100 count boxes ?
Have you tried sorting by overall length ?
Heck, I sort Berger 108 gr BT three different ways to be sure I’m not leaving accuracy behind. Or have one of those errant shots.