i am starting to load for my 338 edge and noticed that when seating 300g otm berger's that the bullet's vary as much as .020 oal. does anyone shooting the 300grainers trim or point the tips of these monsters to get more consistent and uniform ammo?
meplat trimming and pointing bullets
- Thread starter oneshotkyle
- Start date
I had some Bergers before I started my Edge Build (not complete yet) so I am familiar with the in consistency of the meplat.
I got a Whidden trimmer kit with 338 bushing and an Accuracy One pointing die and punch set Bullet Tipping Die from Bob Hoover.
The quality of the Whidden, not so much but it works as advertized. Easy to setup, easy to use. "Some day" I will make a "better" version for my Forster Original.
The bullet tipper, oh yeah. I punched them down to .050. So far very consistent length and hollow point closing. It just "looks right".
I got a Whidden trimmer kit with 338 bushing and an Accuracy One pointing die and punch set Bullet Tipping Die from Bob Hoover.
The quality of the Whidden, not so much but it works as advertized. Easy to setup, easy to use. "Some day" I will make a "better" version for my Forster Original.
The bullet tipper, oh yeah. I punched them down to .050. So far very consistent length and hollow point closing. It just "looks right".
My 6.5 Bergers vary as much as .03 OAL. Just because I can, I would like to point them and have more overall consistent tips and this more consistant OAL ....except for my woodchuck loads, the hollow point is fun for them! I need to do more research on pointing and me plate trimming. I'm intrigued.
The bigger the caliber, the less it matters. The area of the meplat as a percentage of the total bullet frontal area is smaller for large calibers.
Seems like a great deal of work for little improvement. From what I have read so far, me plat trimming and repointing gives such a small improvement that field type tactical shooters usually won't notice an improvement. Long range bench rest shooters may notice some improvement. The problems associated with length variation can be mitigated by seating bullets by length to ogive rather than overall length.
I would be very interested to see some additional testing before and after trimming and repointing. If the change is 25-30%, that would make the work worthwhile. If the improvement is 1-3%, I would have to consider whether all the work and expense offsets my groups going from 1 moa to .9 moa. Although any improvement at 1000 yards is helpful, everything is a trade off.
There are all sorts of things I could use to improve accuracy, I just have to choose those that have the greatest cost/work/time return ratio. I have to draw the line somewhere, just as I did with weighing cases and bullets.
Seeing actual testing results would go a long way at convincing me that the extra work and cost is worthwhile.
I would be very interested to see some additional testing before and after trimming and repointing. If the change is 25-30%, that would make the work worthwhile. If the improvement is 1-3%, I would have to consider whether all the work and expense offsets my groups going from 1 moa to .9 moa. Although any improvement at 1000 yards is helpful, everything is a trade off.
There are all sorts of things I could use to improve accuracy, I just have to choose those that have the greatest cost/work/time return ratio. I have to draw the line somewhere, just as I did with weighing cases and bullets.
Seeing actual testing results would go a long way at convincing me that the extra work and cost is worthwhile.
Are you measuring the bullets prior to seating by using a bullet comparator?
Rather than trimming or pointing now, I merely measure the base to meplat distance and group my bullet supply accordingly. The "shorts" and "longs" are just used for fun shooting or fouler/sighters. Only time I bother with the meplat trimmer anymore is if the meplat is rough and shaped like a lop-sided volcano rim.
Rather than trimming or pointing now, I merely measure the base to meplat distance and group my bullet supply accordingly. The "shorts" and "longs" are just used for fun shooting or fouler/sighters. Only time I bother with the meplat trimmer anymore is if the meplat is rough and shaped like a lop-sided volcano rim.
I tried repointing and trimming 300SMKs and was rewarded with a near 20" increase in drop @1000...I saw a small decrease in vertical, but with the drop in BC I figured I would just loose that advantage in the wind.
I then tried repointing without the trimming. This proved just as accurate as the trim. BC was improved over factory...Maybe 4-6 inches...Hard to say.
With the OTM Bergers I doubt you would see any improvement at all until well beyond 1000.
I then tried repointing without the trimming. This proved just as accurate as the trim. BC was improved over factory...Maybe 4-6 inches...Hard to say.
With the OTM Bergers I doubt you would see any improvement at all until well beyond 1000.
Hard to believe Berger bullets would as much as .020" longer than one another, I think so more important than the tips is the length of the ogives, I segregate my longrange bullets according to that length, some 6mm VLDs Ive measured theyre only off by .002"(ogive) in a box of 100, and the tips are almost always all perfect, so as with Nosler ball. tips & Hornady AMAXs the oal wont vary by more than .002".
jkonzal- 600yds is gonna be my minimum distance, i built this cannon to play 1000-2500yds.
deadshot2-the bullet's measure within .0013 out of the box. so some of the issue is oal of bullet and some is ogive to tip. i was just thinking that the extra step of trimming and pointing such a big ass bullet would help overall accuracy.
i have read that trimming lowers the b.c. and pointing can up the b.c., i just want to make everything as uniform as possible and take out all
the variables. this rifle will be strictly a long range play gun so i am trying to get everything out of it i can. most of what i have read about trimming and pointing is on smaller calibers so i figured i would ask the big guns on SH.
deadshot2-the bullet's measure within .0013 out of the box. so some of the issue is oal of bullet and some is ogive to tip. i was just thinking that the extra step of trimming and pointing such a big ass bullet would help overall accuracy.
i have read that trimming lowers the b.c. and pointing can up the b.c., i just want to make everything as uniform as possible and take out all
the variables. this rifle will be strictly a long range play gun so i am trying to get everything out of it i can. most of what i have read about trimming and pointing is on smaller calibers so i figured i would ask the big guns on SH.
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I just got ahold of the comparator insert I needed for taking ogive measurements rather than overall cartridge measurements, and wow, my loads are good to the thousandths. So my above post stating my bergers vary by .03 was before I was taking ogive measurements. AT the ogive the bergers are incredibly consistent.
Yes, my 115DTACs are physically longer and have some increased variability in COAL. If you're seating to magazine length, then you might have to seat them 0.010" or so deeper to clear the magazine (if your bullets are getting really longer, then consider adjusting your die to get minimum meplat closure. The advantage (theoretically) is greater uniforminy in BC, which should increase slightly.
