Hornady ELD Match 140gr

[bfm1851]

So being stuck at home with this weather (East Texas) I decided to open a new box of 140gr EDL match bullets and do come measuring. To start with I/m using a RCBS 1500 scale for weighing and Hornady bullet comparator (5-26) for length. I would consider myself competent using calibers though not an expert. I was not looking for exact numbers but more for consistency. What I found surprised me. I had length varying by as much as 0.015 Base to ogive but weights were within plus or minus 0.3gr. I would have thought that there would not be as much difference in "matched" bullets and maybe its really not much. Although when loading to a certain length 0.015 is quite a bit. I shoot out to 600yds and with what would say are good results. Certainly not bench rest class but hold my own with most at the range.

My question is do you guys worry more about weight, length to ogive or both? What measurement makes you cull bullets? Last maybe these bullets are not worth the cost and I should look for better bullets? What are y'all using? I realize right now you shoot what you can get.

Thanks in advance for you help.

 

[Steel head]

Just load them up and shoot them.
Don’t buy Hornandy’s and then get picky with them.

 

[spife7980]

What do they seat too? I bet they will make a consistent number there.

 

[Skg_Mre_Lght]

I don't shoot benchrest, so I don't sort anything by weight, or any of that other tedious benchrest type stuff.

I do well at Precision Rifle matches trickling powder, and loading every bullet in the box. Practice and dry firing matters more than weight sorting brass or projectiles for everything but benchrest matches.

 

[bfm1851]

​

spife7980 - yes loading they will all be within 0.001 but I was wondering if the extra length would do anything with pressure ??

Skg_Mre_Lght - my goal is personal, just want to shoot as good as I can with the equipment I have. My problem is reading, every time I read something someone is doing I think "I should do that too"
My best day to date was at 600yds, 10 shot group - 9 10's with 5 X's and a 9. Got too excited thinking all 10's and pulled a 9 for last shot. Of course I have not been able to duplicate since but you got to keep swinging to hit it right? Maybe that was one of those longer bullets

 

[fxdrider]

but I was wondering if the extra length would do anything with pressure ??​

No doubt length variances will affect pressure, but so do variances in brass volume, powder charge, primer seating depth, bullet base shape, etc. And yet somehow we still manage (sometimes anyway) to get good groups, extreme spreads and standard deviations.
That said, .015 variance does seem like a lot. I measured 10 pieces of 147 gr. ELD-M and the variance was .0025. I don't know why the 140's would have such a comparatively wide variance. Seems a bit odd.

 

[bfm1851]

Yeah I'm sure that there is a lot in my reloading process that I need to worry about more then those bullets. Truth be known I only found 3 bullets that far out of spec. Just wondering if there are better bullets out there? Couple guys I shoot with use Barnes and they like them. I started with these and never looked at anything else. Bought 500 so ....
I've tried weighting brass, bullets and changing primers. Use Hornady match bushing dies and trickle powder. I don't anneal the brass (yet) but may in the near future. I am fairly happy with my shooting but there is always room for improvement. Have a local 600yd range I belong to and had one range that went out to 800yds but that has since closed.
There is a range about an hour and half away that goes to 1000yd and I want to shoot there this year and looking for some help. With supplies being so hard to come by no sense wasting primers

 

[47guy]

improvement will come more from trigger time than worrying about base to ogive measurements of your bullets.

i started loading almost 17yrs ago...i went on line and started looking for reloading gear...i needed EVERY gadget known to man because that was what was going to make these tiny groups i was seeing posted everywhere....or so i thought....

ive weigh and bearing surface sorted bullets..primers and brass...brass with H2o
ive turned necks...once when new then a clean up after firing
uniformed primer pockets and flash holes
trimmed meplats and tipped bullets
checked and corrected run out
pulled or added 1 kernel of powder to make sure the charges were EXACT
ive ran HBN
and probably a few things im missing but this none sense got to be so much work to load i hated shooting and stopped for a few months.

best thing i ever did was sell all that useless shit and went back to basics...i have not checked run out in 10yrs..if the scale is within a 10th or 2 its goes in the case...i have not turned a neck...uniformed a primer pocket or flash hole in 10yrs...shit i havent cleaned a primer pocket in 10 yrs LOL.

like ive said a million times now...reloading is the most over thought thing on the planet!!

 

[PFG]

improvement will come more from trigger time than worrying about base to ogive measurements of your bullets.

i started loading almost 17yrs ago...i went on line and started looking for reloading gear...i needed EVERY gadget known to man because that was what was going to make these tiny groups i was seeing posted everywhere....or so i thought....

ive weigh and bearing surface sorted bullets..primers and brass...brass with H2o
ive turned necks...once when new then a clean up after firing
uniformed primer pockets and flash holes
trimmed meplats and tipped bullets
checked and corrected run out
pulled or added 1 kernel of powder to make sure the charges were EXACT
ive ran HBN
and probably a few things im missing but this none sense got to be so much work to load i hated shooting and stopped for a few months.

best thing i ever did was sell all that useless shit and went back to basics...i have not checked run out in 10yrs..if the scale is within a 10th or 2 its goes in the case...i have not turned a neck...uniformed a primer pocket or flash hole in 10yrs...shit i havent cleaned a primer pocket in 10 yrs LOL.

like ive said a million times now...reloading is the most over thought thing on the planet!!

Curious minds want to know...Annealing? Trimming/chamfering?

I'm always interested to hear from guys who've been down the rabbit hole, then come back up for air. When they come back up (and stay up), what brass prep steps do they keep vs trash.

 

[supercorndogs]

I have had to clean primer pockets because there was so much gunk at the bottom the primers wouldn't seat all the way in.

 

[demolitionman]

Curious minds want to know...Annealing? Trimming/chamfering?

I'm always interested to hear from guys who've been down the rabbit hole, then come back up for air. When they come back up (and stay up), what brass prep steps do they keep vs trash.

You have to trim occasionally to keep brass In Spec for your chamber dimensions otherwise you could end up with brass too long which may end up clamping the bullet in the mouth when chambering causing dangerous pressures. And when you trim you should at least chamfer and debur the case neck inside and out. I do not anneal. I do not clean primer pockets. Hell I don’t even clean my barrels unless there is an obvious problem lol

 

[Rob01]

Stop measuring and weighing bullets. Load them and shoot them. I never ever did any bullet measuring and can load very accurate ammo without much work. Hell factory ammo can shoot as good as most people load. LOL

Brass prep is FL bushing size, trim/chamfer/deburr with Giraud, and hit primer pocket with uniformer on a drill more to clean than uniform. That's it. No weighing or turning etc. Pretty simple and easy process.

 

[37L1]

Yeah I'm sure that there is a lot in my reloading process that I need to worry about more then those bullets. Truth be known I only found 3 bullets that far out of spec. Just wondering if there are better bullets out there? Couple guys I shoot with use Barnes and they like them. I started with these and never looked at anything else. Bought 500 so ....
I've tried weighting brass, bullets and changing primers. Use Hornady match bushing dies and trickle powder. I don't anneal the brass (yet) but may in the near future. I am fairly happy with my shooting but there is always room for improvement. Have a local 600yd range I belong to and had one range that went out to 800yds but that has since closed.
There is a range about an hour and half away that goes to 1000yd and I want to shoot there this year and looking for some help. With supplies being so hard to come by no sense wasting primers

Berger.

 

[47guy]

Curious minds want to know...Annealing? Trimming/chamfering?

I'm always interested to hear from guys who've been down the rabbit hole, then come back up for air. When they come back up (and stay up), what brass prep steps do they keep vs trash.

for me its ALL ABOUT minimizing time spent at the loading bench but still produce 1/4" ammo which is very easy to do but gets a little spendy...

the best pieces of reloading equipment ive ever bought are the...dillon 750...this thing frees up so much time that im able to do other steps and not hate reloading....second best thing id say was the FX120 and auto trickler and not so much because it weighs to the kernel but more so because of the speed but i honestly think that a charge master would work just fine.....3rd would be the amp annealer and lastly the guarid trimmer

the dillon....i can size 130 cases in 10 mins...a little less if i push...i loaded 50 rounds this morning in 30 minutes...that includes from the time i take the cover off the dillon until i put the cover back on.

the amp...im a firm believer in annealing and something i played with for awhile...i anneal every firing and the amp makes this very simple because i can do it right at my bench.

the guarid...trims chamfers and deburrs all in one shot and is fast

i wet tumbled for 7yrs and stopped and started dry tumbling to save time...ive recent went back to wet tumbling because i anneal every time and annealing every time if you dont clean the necks after firing they start turning black...i was chucking them up in a drill and using steel wool and this got old quick and wet tumbling with pins takes care of 2 things at once...plus im puerto rican on my moms side so i like shinny shit LOL!

this is my process now.....this is every firing...
deprime on the dillon...10mins
wet tumble...20mins
dry...i made a drying table that uses a hair drier takes about 10mins
anneal...15ish minutes never timed this
dump cases in a gallon bag and spray with one shot
FL size on the dillon...10 minutes
dry tumble 10mins to remove lube
trim...15 minutes never timed this either
brush necks with a nylon brush on a laymann case prep center...part of trimming

thats it...i do not do any other case prep...i havent checked my seating depth in 1800 rounds....and above may sound like a lot of time but its really not with the right tools...again i DO NOT do any case prep or check run out or weigh bullets or any other thing like that....its all trigger time and learning your equipment that will make the biggest difference in your scores.

 

[fxdrider]

My reloading process: (Press I'm using is Forster Co-Ax)

- I clean the brass in a vibratory case cleaner (Dillon) with corncob or walnut media. That's IF it needs it. And most of the time it doesn't.
- Spray-lube cases with Hornady one-shot on an old cookie baking sheet.
- Resize with Redding body die, bumping shoulder .002 back.
- Deprime and neck mandrel size with Lee Collet die.
- Prime cases. I'm using the priming section of the Forster Co-Ax.
- Charge cases. Thrown charges with Harrel powder measue. Weigh on Dillon balance beam scale (which apparently, they no longer sell) Trickle up to desired charge if needed.
- Seat bullet with Forster Ultra Micrometer seater die.
- Check random sample of finished rounds for Base-to-ogive length conststency.

That's it.

 

[PFG]

and above may sound like a lot of time but its really not with the right tools

that's the thing...right tools to speed up the process require some good tools.