Building a 300 norma and deciding if they increase in BC of the 250 is worth the velocity penalty over the 230. Also is seems like the 230's I could get away with a 9 twist and also shoot 230 and 215 Hybrids if they A-tips didn't work out. The 250 I'll likely need to throat longer and get a 8 twist which makes the choice a bit more risky if the 250s don't work out. Curious is anyone has either of these bullets yet and what your experience has been? Also curious if anyone has tried them on game to see if they expand or just pencil through because of the aluminium tips.
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Anyone have the 230/250 A-tips yet?
- Thread starter generalzip
- Start date
So if you were to shoot 230 bergers and s-tips would you go 8 or 9 twist? I'm at sea level and temps can get as low as the 30s
What's your elevation and winter temps? I guess we will have to wait until winter to see how they do in the cold. I went ahead and ordered an 8 twist just to be on the safe side. I decided to go 230s because I don't think the BC benefit outweighs the velocity penalty I'd likely see. The 8 twist will allow me to try the 230 SMKs as well. I emailed Hornady and Berger to see their thoughts and I'll post back when I hear back.
Response from Berger
There are a couple things than can happen if you over twist a bullet too much. The first is accuracy related and usually is due to the bullet’s jacket not being concentric and causing a weight imbalance that is magnified when spun harder than needed. Shouldn’t really be an issue with our bullets or any other quality manufacturer. The other issue that people talk about is actual blowups. There is no hard and fast rule of thumb but we like to recommend you keep the RPMs under 300,000 if possible to try to avoid issues. Other factors like sharp rifling and hot barrels due to long strings of fire can hurt you here too but RPMs are the easiest to control. Even with a 1:8” twist at 3000fps, you are still well under 300k so I wouldn’t expect any issues.
There are a couple things than can happen if you over twist a bullet too much. The first is accuracy related and usually is due to the bullet’s jacket not being concentric and causing a weight imbalance that is magnified when spun harder than needed. Shouldn’t really be an issue with our bullets or any other quality manufacturer. The other issue that people talk about is actual blowups. There is no hard and fast rule of thumb but we like to recommend you keep the RPMs under 300,000 if possible to try to avoid issues. Other factors like sharp rifling and hot barrels due to long strings of fire can hurt you here too but RPMs are the easiest to control. Even with a 1:8” twist at 3000fps, you are still well under 300k so I wouldn’t expect any issues.
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Response from hornady
“Thank you for the email. We usually will recommend a 1-8" twist as we have seen great results but the projectile will stabilize in the 1:9" twist barrels. Also you would be able to stabilize the 250gr A-Tips down the road if this is something you would ever be interested in.”
Glad I got an 8 twist after all
“Thank you for the email. We usually will recommend a 1-8" twist as we have seen great results but the projectile will stabilize in the 1:9" twist barrels. Also you would be able to stabilize the 250gr A-Tips down the road if this is something you would ever be interested in.”
Glad I got an 8 twist after all
Hornady had a bunch of boxes of reject 230 A-tips in their reject area last week when I was in there. I try to stop a couple times a week looking for 6.5's and .338's. Never any of those. That's the nice thing about living here, I can stop anytime and look at slugs.
Finally got a replacement extractor in Aus after a 4 month wait. Dug some old ammo out of the
locker and went to check zero before some ELR next week.
This is 3 shots with the 230, out of a 9 twist Bartlein, after over 1000 rounds down a 300 NM Imp.
Love the 230 Berger, tunes easily and seems to run fine in my rather tired barrel . Some impromptu
off roading with the rifle in the back seems to have moved the zero a click tho : ) .
locker and went to check zero before some ELR next week.
This is 3 shots with the 230, out of a 9 twist Bartlein, after over 1000 rounds down a 300 NM Imp.
Love the 230 Berger, tunes easily and seems to run fine in my rather tired barrel . Some impromptu
off roading with the rifle in the back seems to have moved the zero a click tho : ) .
84.7 of H1000 . Brass used in group above was on its 11th cycle (Norma). I found the Norma brass
could not take repeated cycles of the high node without loose pockets, so dropped down to this
lower node. New barrel coming up will run newly aquired Lap brass.
