entoptics
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2018
- Messages
- 878
Bought a 264 WM barrel (24", 1:8, 5R, heavy sporter) from X-Caliber on Black Friday sale...Last year!
Finally got her installed on an OEM Savage receiver and Accustock that a member (@nkyshooter) kindly sold me a couple months back. Whole thing was less than $1K with scope rail, barrel nut, recoil lug, kydex cheek riser, and muzzle brake (MBM 3 port Super Baby beast).
Went out today with 3 bullets and 3 powders, just to get an idea of where to begin with loading. Forgot my front rest and "chin/chest" pillow, so I had to get a bit creative with my rest setup. Also, there was a 10 mph crosswind, and the new scope I bought has a nearly half MOA center dot (returning it ASAP), so this wasn't exactly ideal conditions.
147 ELDM was stellar, with 3 groups (only 3 shots each) averaging 0.56 MOA. The BC wasn't quite what Hornady quotes (0.697 G1), and came in at 0.669 ± 0.014 according to LabRadar tracks and JBM's BC calculator.
143 ELDX was pretty dang good too. 2 groups averaged 0.67 MOA. BC was better than Hornady claims (0.625 G1) and came out to 0.643 ± 0.014.
156 Berger EOL...Not so hot... 3 groups averaged 0.89 MOA. All three groups had 2 good, then 1 flier. Still acceptable accuracy, but what bothered me was the calculated G1 BC was 0.607 ± 0.033, which is 0.07 less than Berger quotes (worse than the 143 ELDX?!?!) and extremely variable. 2 of the 3 fliers also coincided with very low calculated B.C.s. When loading, I noticed that the bullet OAL was pretty variable (ES of ~0.006"), and the tips weren't very uniform.
All in all, I'm VERY happy with my "new" FrankenRifle, but was pretty disappointed in the Bergers. These came from a sample pack from submoashooting.com (as did the Hornadys), but I have another 100 in a regular retail box, so I'll reserve judgment till I have a bigger data set. Still, I was pretty surprised at how much visible and measurable variation there was. I've not got much experience with Berger, but I've shot a few thousand Hornady bullets in 556, 308 Win, 300WM, and 7mm Mag, and measured the B.C, BTO, and OAL of dozens and dozens of them, and have never seen the amount of variation I saw in 9 Bergers today. Heck, the 3000 or so Hornady 62 gr HPBT I've run as my "bulk" load for the last 3 years in my AR15s has showed better uniformity. Those come loose in a carboard box and are $0.11 each...
Even if the Bergers are crappy (is 0.9 MOA really crappy?), I should still have a sweet deer slayer, for my wide open wheat fields, with either of the ELD offerings.
Finally got her installed on an OEM Savage receiver and Accustock that a member (@nkyshooter) kindly sold me a couple months back. Whole thing was less than $1K with scope rail, barrel nut, recoil lug, kydex cheek riser, and muzzle brake (MBM 3 port Super Baby beast).
Went out today with 3 bullets and 3 powders, just to get an idea of where to begin with loading. Forgot my front rest and "chin/chest" pillow, so I had to get a bit creative with my rest setup. Also, there was a 10 mph crosswind, and the new scope I bought has a nearly half MOA center dot (returning it ASAP), so this wasn't exactly ideal conditions.
147 ELDM was stellar, with 3 groups (only 3 shots each) averaging 0.56 MOA. The BC wasn't quite what Hornady quotes (0.697 G1), and came in at 0.669 ± 0.014 according to LabRadar tracks and JBM's BC calculator.
143 ELDX was pretty dang good too. 2 groups averaged 0.67 MOA. BC was better than Hornady claims (0.625 G1) and came out to 0.643 ± 0.014.
156 Berger EOL...Not so hot... 3 groups averaged 0.89 MOA. All three groups had 2 good, then 1 flier. Still acceptable accuracy, but what bothered me was the calculated G1 BC was 0.607 ± 0.033, which is 0.07 less than Berger quotes (worse than the 143 ELDX?!?!) and extremely variable. 2 of the 3 fliers also coincided with very low calculated B.C.s. When loading, I noticed that the bullet OAL was pretty variable (ES of ~0.006"), and the tips weren't very uniform.
All in all, I'm VERY happy with my "new" FrankenRifle, but was pretty disappointed in the Bergers. These came from a sample pack from submoashooting.com (as did the Hornadys), but I have another 100 in a regular retail box, so I'll reserve judgment till I have a bigger data set. Still, I was pretty surprised at how much visible and measurable variation there was. I've not got much experience with Berger, but I've shot a few thousand Hornady bullets in 556, 308 Win, 300WM, and 7mm Mag, and measured the B.C, BTO, and OAL of dozens and dozens of them, and have never seen the amount of variation I saw in 9 Bergers today. Heck, the 3000 or so Hornady 62 gr HPBT I've run as my "bulk" load for the last 3 years in my AR15s has showed better uniformity. Those come loose in a carboard box and are $0.11 each...
Even if the Bergers are crappy (is 0.9 MOA really crappy?), I should still have a sweet deer slayer, for my wide open wheat fields, with either of the ELD offerings.
