Black Thoughts subtopic; the Ammunition.

[Greg Langelius *]

Black Thoughts discussions about the Ammunition go here.

Let's start out by developing the bare bones definite truths on the subject.

 

[Fursniper]

The truth here is bullet design and manufacture keep evolving and getting better & better for long range giving us all more capability at greater and greater distances. The continual evolution is exciting and keeps the sport moving forward as accuracy at distance keeps marching on. Look at what's happened to 1000 yd shooting. It used to be a benchmark or threshold if you will. Now it's a comman occurrence for many and I think that "threshold" has subsequently moved out to a mile and beyond. Powders, cases & equipment is not currently evolving as quickly as bullet design. The average shooter can buy factory ammunition today with reach and accuracy that far surpasses what was not even close to possible just a few years ago. The development of solid bullets is currently undergoing advancements that are really quatum leaps in capability. Same with plated bullets. Many shooter who used to think in terms of "hundreds of yards" now think in terms of "thousands!

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Today, we live in an enlightened age of firearms capability, and a great bulk of that enhancement has it origin in better ammunition. The truth of this statement is based on what has grown over the intervening years, but this must always be viewed in the light of one question, 'What have they done for us lately?".

I think, quite a bit

For example, the Hornady research that gives way to the Heat Shield Tip is still being underappreciated. It's not just an evolution, it's a revolution. It has completely skewed my appreciation of Hornady's place in the industry, and changed my preferences toward factory ammunition and handloading components. IMHO, everybody else who uses a polymer bullet tip is going to have to play catch-up; and the key point I see with Hornady is that they have not simply stopped there. They had a great product, the ELD-M, but they bootstrapped that into another, IMHO even better one, The ELD-X. With the ELD-X, not only does the bullet go further, and get there more reliably; it can do more when it arrives. As Berger proved, and Hornady confirmed, the match bullet can now be a reliable hunting bullet, too. No longer do my best loads need to end their flights at a paper barrier; they can now be one stop shopper solutions to several more of our shooting applications.

These days, my workload has inflated. I now intend to redevelop pet loads for my rifles that employ more Hornady bullets, and I'm concentrating on using the ELD-X for most of my applications. Why not; in many of my situations, the ELD-X has the better BC as well as the better terminal performance potential. I am even looking at the .308 110 GMX as a hedge on extending the effective range of the 7.62x39 in a .308 bore rifles. Wherever my projects lead me, Hornady is striding alongside me all that way.

It used to be that I thought of Hornady as the company that always packed one flyer in every box. Well, true or not, they addressed the question, found a very credible answer, and the whole industry, we shooters as well, have benefited from their timely and relevant works.

Greg

 

[CRT2]

To achieve tolerable accuracy, hand load and chronograph the loads. With factory ammunition, the projectile may be improving; however, performance of the rounds within a box or within a lot are suspect - variance of 100 feet per second for Match rounds.

 

[Fursniper]

Nosler has made a significant inroad advancement as well with the recent addition of their RDF line. Pointing the bullets at the factory (as well as the new design) really improved on their previous HPBT design. The shooter is reaping the benefit of all this competition to continually improve the flight characteristics of the projectiles we are using. I'm hoping Berger catches on to the "pointing at the factory thing." Since I don't see shoulder fired laser type star wars weapons in our future anytime soon, this is all good stuff. Bullet design is definately leading the current charge in LR. I've had to change long standing reliable loads in some of my rigs as a result of these advancements but the improvements (hits on target) have been well worth the effort and cost. Keeps it all interesting too!