Hornady 106gr A-tip factory seconds

I noticed something… and ordered more:

IMG_7818.jpegIMG_7817.jpeg
 
Dammit I just sold 2500 of these for 53¢ each as that's what I paid from PV. I ever even shot any of em. Now they near half the price! I'm probably gonna need order some more.
 
All loaded up with 30.2gr Varget 0.01" off using KM Arbor and L.E. Wilson inline chamber Micrometer seating die with their optional VLD seating stem..

Length is dead on consistent round to round measuring base to ogive...


Heading to the range here shortly to shoot them in my 28" Bartlein 1-7.5 6BR.







padom,

I see a chamber seating die, $82, and I see a micrometer seating die, $140, but I do not see a chamber micrometer seating die.


Which one is it?
 
padom,

I see a chamber seating die, $82, and I see a micrometer seating die, $140, but I do not see a chamber micrometer seating die.


Which one is it?

I use the LE Wilson Chamber Micrometer Seating Dies for all my calibers now. They are just plain awesome. Remember, these are for an arbor press. Here you go. Just select your caliber from the list


I also have their VLD 6mm stem installed in my 6BR die for seating these 106 Atips

 
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I keep looking at your picture, and it kind of looks like the stainless steel bullet seater with micrometer adjustment, but there is nothing on LE Wilson's website that puts "chamber type" together with the micrometer.

The picture in the midwayUSA link is "similar" to the product, so I cannot compare.

Is LE Wilson no longer making the type you have, or is their web site description maybe just not the same?
 
kindabitey,

So that is the same thing as the "chamber type?"


I use the LE Wilson Chamber Micrometer Seating Dies for all my calibers now. They are just plain awesome. Remember, these are for an arbor press. Here you go. Just select your caliber from the list


I also have their VLD 6mm stem installed in my 6BR die for seating these 106 Atips

 
Ultimate Reloader calls it a chamber type seater, too, see starting at 2:55. There are some really good views of the die for comparison to see if I can figure out which one.

It may be that LE Wilson just does not call the micrometer one that.

If all else fails I can LE Wilson call and see if I can get somebody on the phone who knows.

 
@Malum Prohibitum inline seating dies are great, but they’re also kind of slow and one needs an arbor press too.

Another way of getting the same seating consistency is to just use a small press (so you get better feel and it’s not so brutish).

I bought one of these a few years back for $100, originally just for seating bullets… but I’ve ended up using it for everything and do all my precision ammo on it, turns out it’s great for all/any of it, it’s just a great single-stage press:


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Back on topic...

For the price, it's hard to resist going bananas on these when, even if one has to cull 1/3 of them, they're still kind of a good deal compared to what A-tips usually go for.

I'm sort of a rare bird around here in that I hate paying $0.50+ for the top-shelf bullets. I don't think it matters as much as some guys make it seem (at least from what I've seen at my local club that only goes out to 1250 yards).

Personally I feel like it's more about the indian than the arrow (as they say) and having enough of the same "ingredients" around to have a repeatable "recipe". So I'd rather have a shitload of Match Burners all from the same lot, so I can shoot the same thing for a long time in order to work on getting better at shooting (instead of reloading), over hunting down a couple/few hundred Berger Hybrids here and there like some guys do (especially for what they cost).

Most of the time I miss because I suck at shooting, not because of what bullet I'm using, but I guess having the latest-greatest bullet tech can't hurt. So I hope these keep popping up now and then for us cheap fuckers lol.
 
:oops:

Wow, I hope that's not what I will have to do!

Earlier in the thread guys were finding them consistent and shooting them with great precision.

There's always the chance of getting screwed whenever buying "seconds" of anything.

That said, I'm sure Hornady (and other companies) are well aware by now that if they let anything too terrible get out of the factory... their asses will get lit up by gun nerds on forums such as this one. They don't want that.

The ones the others and I got last time were pretty dang good, so I'm not too worried. They won't be perfect, but that's ok.

I think mine are showing up tomorrow... I'll report back on how they look.
 
So, my order from MS came in today. I randomly pulled 10, and pulled 10 from the PV order. Not really scientific but for me, a decent comparison.
The PV order for the 10 was +/- .006 on length (bro) and +/- .1 gr in weight.
The 10 from MS were exactly same length and +/- .04 gr in weight.
I will add the PV lot was roughly .010 longer than the MS lot.
All in all, the seem pretty consistent. It’d be nice if they made these on a regular basis. Next time they pop up I’ll get enough for a complete barrel life.
 
I could just kick myself for not ordering on Tuesday night while in stock. Decided to wait on CK1 to receive his order and report back. Of course Wednesday morning MS was out of stock.

I know it's a long shot so don't laugh, but any of you that ordered and or have MANY in stock be willing to part with a box so I can test in my rifle? At least that way I would know what to do next time these become available. I can Venmo to make life easy.

Jeff
 
Well, got my boxes today - plain jane brown cardboard and clearly labeled seconds. Visual looks good at first pass, no messed up tips or off colour jackets or anything. I randomly pulled 15 from two randomly selected boxes just to see how they measured - I'm blown away. My previous box of 110 atip seconds had a much larger spread of lengths and BTO, even within just the same box. These are right there with the custom bullets I had measured previously.

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I didn't get stellar accuracy out of my other H seconds, but these already look way more promising. I'm probably going to use them in the next barrel though, so I don't expect to shoot any soon.
 
I loaded 300 yesterday and then put on a new barrel today, decided these A-Tips are all this new barrel will see...

These are rounds #4, then 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (5-shot group) through it today.

I showed up while the range was hot, so I put 3 rounds on a big 6' x 6' plate seeing if I could get it close before the range went cold and I could put up a target.

After putting a target up I sent 1 round into the top dot to see how close I was to having it zeroed... I stopped, looked at it, and decided it was close enough to where before adjusting anything I should send another, then another, then another, etc.

I'm kind of shocked. I wish I'd bought more.




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They look good downrange too.







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I loaded 300 yesterday and then put on a new barrel today, decided these A-Tips are all this new barrel will see...

These are rounds #4, then 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (5-shot group) through it today.

I showed up while the range was hot, so I put 3 rounds on a big 6' x 6' plate seeing if I could get it close before the range went cold and I could put up a target.

After putting a target up I sent 1 round into the top dot to see how close I was to having it zeroed... I stopped, looked at it, and decided it was close enough to where before adjusting anything I should send another, then another, then another, etc.

I'm kind of shocked. I wish I'd bought more.




View attachment 8375049View attachment 8375047View attachment 8375046

They look good downrange too.







View attachment 8375060View attachment 8375061View attachment 8375065

Load data and jump?
 
Load data and jump?

Alpha case ("Gay Tiger" headstamp), trim length 1.710", CCI450, 33gn Shooters World Precision Rifle, 1.965" BTO (jumping ~.010" I think, I haven't measured the distance to the lands yet, and not sure I care anymore lol).

I generally don't even think about MV/SD/ES numbers until after ~150 rounds down the pipe, but FWIW, I couldn't resist putting 3 rounds over a buddy's Xero (somewhere between rounds ~#30-60) and the MV was 2844/2849/2851fps, SD 5.8.

It's still speeding up, but ~2850fps is right where I'd like to be.
 
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Received mine the other day - they look great, wouldn't really be able to tell they are 2nds. Might be a while before I get around to shooting with them, but definitely encouraged by all the reports.
 
Alpha case ("Gay Tiger" headstamp), trim length 1.710", CCI450, 33gn Shooters World Precision Rifle, 1.965" BTO (jumping ~.010" I think, I haven't measured the distance to the lands yet, and not sure I care anymore lol).

I generally don't even think about MV/SD/ES numbers until after ~150 rounds down the pipe, but FWIW, I couldn't resist putting 3 rounds over a buddy's Xero (somewhere between rounds ~#30-60) and the MV was 2844/2849/2851fps, SD 5.8.

It's still speeding up, but ~2850fps is right where I'd like to be.

What's your barrel length on the 6GT? Seems slow.

I'm 2872 with these, 30.2gr Varget out of my 28" Bartlein 6BR.
 
What's your barrel length on the 6GT? Seems slow.

I'm 2872 with these, 30.2gr Varget out of my 28" Bartlein 6BR.

26" SS Proof (7.5T).

Shooters World Precision Rifle (SWPR, aka Lovex SO62) is kind of slow as compared to Varget IME... though, it's about as close as one can get. The load data is almost interchangeable between the two, though the SWPR is generally a little slower and shows pressure sooner than Varget. IME it takes a couple/few more grains of SWPR to hit the same MV one is used to with Varget (SWPR can be arguably better if one is looking for a little more case fill vs speed).
 
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6gt with 105-107 shoots well at 2850 and 2950, he's in the lower node. Nothing wrong with that! I recently switched the womans rifle from N150 to varget and dropped to the mid 2800 node with 109s. Es/SD are much better with varg. 300y paper groups are about the same, 1/3 moa, but the N150 load had horrible ES, varget is much better. N150 doesn't like low case fill I'm finding in the 6gt and 22gt cases.
 
Demand was too high last time and they sold too fast, better bump that price up! You guys shouldn't have let the cat out of the bag! 😂
I mean this is kinda what has driven prices of powder to near double in 5 years, primers too. Brass and bullets only up 30-40% but this whole game has gotten a LOT more expensive on the hand loading side since the Chyna vyrus plandemic.