123gr A-max Variation in ogive to base length

Just been out in the cold of the garage loading up some ammo for a NZDA range shoot this weekend.

While loading up some 123gr Amax for the 260 Rem I discovered that my OAL was all over the place?? The OAL length from the tip, compared to the OAL to the ogive seem to vary more than i have ever noticed before loading other proji's.

So i started measursing just the projectiles for length from base to ogive, arha, there seems to be two different groups of bullet length, about 10 thou difference.

I would imagine this would definitely make a noticeably difference in POI etc - I have split the ammo into two different groups and will test on Sat.

For interests sake I compared the Base to ogive length of some Nosler BT's and they were all within 1-2 thou.

Has anyone else noticed this with the 6.5mm 123gr Amax's??

Bit of a pain in the arse - And if this is what they are normally like i'll look to use another projectile.

Measure just the projectiles (before you seat them in the case) with your ogive comparator.

Are you still getting 2 groups ?

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Originally Posted by ebf

Measure just the projectiles (before you seat them in the case) with your ogive comparator.

Are you still getting 2 groups ?

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Yep, see paragraph 3 above ;-)

That's just shit quality control. I have heard of this happening before with other calibre Amax's but I haven't experienced with the ones I've used. I can tell you that Berger's quality control is fantastic to the point where I gave up batching my ammo on ogive length because it was just so consistent. You can get an ogive change between batches but shouldn't from the same box!

Sounds like shit but as above you should be fine if all your case head to o give measurements are equal. But you probably don't want take then back to the shop so why not batch the projectiles?

What scoped said.
Hence having micrometer style seating dies allows you to easily adjust for any ogive variances.

Although saying that, I don't bother anymore unless I'm loading some specialist long range rounds. Standard hunting rounds with minute of arm/breathing wobble at 100m won't matter.

GWH, for interest sake is there any noticeable weight diff in the projectiles only for the two groups ?

I have found variations in .30 cal A max's up to 3 thou from memory but still shot excellent. I think I actually loaded some rounds that were sorted and some that were just pulled from the box and loaded, I didn't notice any change in group size or POI. This was only at 100m though.

After I posted this last night I did a quick google on it. Found a thread on accurate shooter talking about same issue with the 123gr amax. Poster also mentioned how good the bergers were in this regard.

Can't really be bothered pissing around with inconsistencies like this. Just a PITA. Might try some 130 VLD's

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Originally Posted by LJP

That's just shit quality control. I have heard of this happening before with other calibre Amax's but I haven't experienced with the ones I've used. I can tell you that Berger's quality control is fantastic to the point where I gave up batching my ammo on ogive length because it was just so consistent. You can get an ogive change between batches but shouldn't from the same box!

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I had a bad batch of berger 6.5 130s that were all over the place when sorting.
They shot bloody well when load testing. Didn't have confidence in them at LR so went another way.

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Originally Posted by R93

I had a bad batch of berger 6.5 130s that were all over the place when sorting.
They shot bloody well when load testing. Didn't have confidence in them at LR so went another way.

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And after all i have read about them, they were going to be the next bullet i went to if i get totally over these Amaxs.

Have the amaxes worked for you @GWH? Is it just finding out they are not all the same length putting you off?

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Originally Posted by Toby

Have the amaxes worked for you @GWH? Is it just finding out they are not all the same length putting you off?

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Only just really started loading them for testing, have only done one ladder and a couple at gongs out to 600 yards. From the very limited testing thus far they showed promise. Haven't tested on game yet. Need to get onto some longer range goats ;-)

But yeah when we are trying to keep every part of our reloading consistent then you find big irregularities with the bullets it doesn't inspire confidence in precision eh.

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Originally Posted by GWH

Only just really started loading them for testing, have only done one ladder and a couple at gongs out to 600 yards. From the very limited testing thus far they showed promise. Haven't tested on game yet. Need to get onto some longer range goats ;-)

But yeah when we are trying to keep every part of our reloading consistent then you find big irregularities with the bullets it doesn't inspire confidence in precision eh.

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Try reloading Remmie corelocks then!

:D

No thanks, I started hand loading to get away from them ;-)

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Originally Posted by dogmatix

Try reloading Remmie corelocks then!

:D

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Why would you do that?

Remington corelokts shot worse in my gun than Barnaul steel case crap. You wouldn't think it was possible.

So far we have heard of at least one batch of Amaxs that were not overly consistent and one batch of Bergers.
I'd bet there is someone out there who has had a bad batch of Sierra and Lapua projectiles too.

I think it's just inevitable that there will be some bad batches of anything a company produces, and you have to hope like hell it's not you who get's it.

If you can test the two groups you have made at a decent range, at least 300m and there is little to no obvious variation then I wouldn't worry about it.
If it did make a difference, well I'd consider my options then lol. Perhaps contact Hornady and find out what variation there should be.