PRS Talk Vapor trail or Barts bullets

[5Baize]

I don't hear much about people shooting matches with custom shop bullets like Vapor trail or Bart's.

Any good reason for that?

Quite a few seems to be shooting 110 A-tips that are probably more expensive, so price should not be the reason.

 

[Stuey]

I have tried Vapor Trails and could not get them to work. I have been shooting ATIPs 110 but the last match I have shot, they seem to have issues out past 700 yards. They seem to have more of a drop than what my Kestrel tells me it should. It has been very frustrating.

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

Because they are as expensive as Bergers and have a lead time.

I shoot barts, and have a stack on the shelf next to a stack of 109 bergers. Are they better than bergers, IMHO yes, but does it make a difference in PRS loading? probably not enough to move the needle for a lot of people. They’re very popular in the “other” disciplines…

 

[5Baize]

Thanks for your reply.

Are the custom bullet not more sensitive to seating depth than 109gr LRHT or 110 Atip?

This may be a good reason to stick with the non custom. Can't really be chasing the lands in PRS.

 

[Kfive73]

A few years ago I tried Barts 103 hammers to try in my dasher. My best groups on paper at 100 yards and 300 yards, ever, were with these bullets. However, going beyond 600 yard everything fell apart. When I first ordered them from Bart, he didn’t sell in small lots. So he sold me 140 from 2 or 3 lots. Reloading was troublesome. With one lot, the base to ogive would have the perfect tension. With what I’m assuming was another lot mixed in…. The same base to ogive would be loose enough that I could push the bullet into the case with my finger. I’m assuming different bearing surface length between the two lots?

Going to 980 yards…. I couldn’t hit a 2moa target to save my life. Impacts would be over the target, then under, then over, etc…. In that same session, I shot some leftover Berger 105s and had no troubles.

I’m assuming the lot to lot variation contributed to the reloading issue and longer distance issue.

But if I were just wanting to poke holes in paper out to 300 yards or so, I’d buy more

 

[Rexwagon]

Hottenstein bullets hammer. Bullet central offers a 6mm 105 and 108. Barn burner and barn stormer. Applied ballistics have cdm for them and Hornady 4 dof will soon as well.

 

[b6graham]

love me some JLKs

 

[MDof2]

I run my 6GT with 105 Hybrids a long side a buddy who's been running the 103s from Tom and they're pretty hard to tell the difference on. We can damn near share dope and or at least verify one another for sanity checks for wind, elevation, etc.
If 105s don't start showing up soon, I'll move to the 103s without much hesitation.

 

[MakeSawdust]

I think for the most part it is the wait and lack of available info on bc or drag models. Also, no marketing. Most probably don't even know of their existence.

Lastly, Bergers are good enough to shoot 1/4 moa at close range easily. I doubt many people can tell the difference from shooting in the zeros to shooting 1/4 minute, especially from the positions utilized in prs shooting.

If you want to try them, I am sure the reputable ones are awesome.

 

[TackDriver2]

The Vapors shoots darn good as the Hybrids for me, during fireforming Lapua brass, it shot into the .1's @ 100 with virgin brass. Tested at 725 yards, shot into a 1.75 inch group on steel. After fireforming all 200 pieces, I redid the load development, added an extra grain of powder and shoots .060" @ 100. Going to order 1000 bullets from Tom. A little cheaper than Berger Hybrids, after finding a sweet load, I may not go back to Hybrids.

 

[MDof2]

The Vapors shoots darn good as the Hybrids for me, during fireforming Lapua brass, it shot into the .1's @ 100 with virgin brass. Tested at 725 yards, shot into a 1.75 inch group on steel. After fireforming all 200 pieces, I redid the load development, added an extra grain of powder and shoots .060" @ 100. Going to order 1000 bullets from Tom. A little cheaper than Berger Hybrids, after finding a sweet load, I may not go back to Hybrids.View attachment 8375441

How fast are you running them?

 

[dhuf]

I'll say upfront I'm a 600/1000 yard BR shooter who dabbles in PRS so I'm not claiming I have any custom bullet experience in PRS

I've shot several thousands of both the Bart's & Vapor Trails and know both Tom & Bart personally.
Both bullets hold LR records and are in high demand.
Your first obstacle with either bullet is going to be lead time. Even bullets that show up in classifieds sell immediately if priced reasonable.

My son shot a full PRS season using Tom's Vtacs machine made 103s and did well with them and is shooting them again this season. They shoot well enough in several of our guns between 5-15 thou off the lands we've never looked at any other seating depths.

Tom has them in stock, $40 per hundred last time I bought any plus shipping. I picked up 4k of them in September at that price so that was then obviously but I haven't heard they went up either.

Hornady has bc data and possibly a drag model in 4 dof.

https://vaportrailbullet.com/bullets/6mm-v-tac/

 

[markl323]

The Vapors shoots darn good as the Hybrids for me, during fireforming Lapua brass, it shot into the .1's @ 100 with virgin brass. Tested at 725 yards, shot into a 1.75 inch group on steel. After fireforming all 200 pieces, I redid the load development, added an extra grain of powder and shoots .060" @ 100. Going to order 1000 bullets from Tom. A little cheaper than Berger Hybrids, after finding a sweet load, I may not go back to Hybrids.View attachment 8375441

nice groups. what caliber? and have you tried longer distances?

 

[Tokay444]

nice groups. what caliber? and have you tried longer distances?

Based on the discussion, if I was a betting man, 6mm.