Thread: 308 ELD-X 178gr experiment - bullet or powder manufacturer?

Originally Posted by winaa

What BC did you use in Strelock+?
Hornady list a G7 BC of 0.275 but Applied Ballistics list a G7 BC of 0.284, this would have been tested by Brian Litz and his team so will be closer to the truth.
Usually the quoted BC's from bullet manufacturer's drop when tested by Applied Ballistics but not in this case.
BTW the 7mm 150Gr ELD-X tests higher than Hornady's quoted BC too.

I’ve been using the Hornady numbers.

Reason being they switched to doppler radar for the ELDs and that’s a highly accurate method. I hear you on Litz’s numbers. At some point I considered changing it but clearly never got round to it because what in Strelock now is the original Hornady number. I agree that traditionally Brian Litz has pooh-poohed many BC claims with his methods, Nosler being in his sights in particular. In this instance I have found the ELD-X to generally drop less than I am expecting. But not this much less, for the .308. Spent a fair bit of time on it this week but I need to adjust the load because a full case of 2206H, a 178gr bullet and a light rifle is making recoil quite lively and to be honest I’m not shooting it very well, 1.5MOA at best. Will revert to 2208 and see how I fare. Can’t do anything in these bloody gales though.

What I would say in response to @Marty Henry is that yes, there always seems to be some variability between chrono, ballistic app, manufacturer’s claimed numbers, and drop tests. I have found that by validating the 300m, 400m and 500m trajectory in Strelock, and generating a corrected muzzle velocity, from that point forward the load delivers accurate shooting for medium-range hunting purposes.

I have found out that I’ve needed to check each batch of re-loads. For every 100, 10 go into two 5 shot groups at 300m for am accuracy and drop test. Assuming roughly equal environmental conditions and me being on form there’s always a little bit of variability especially from batch to batch of ADI powder.

I like the sound of a predictive decay curve though... once I’ve worked out what one of those is. I think I need a predictve decay curve for my body, as the rate at which things are wearing out is changing this side of 50, alarmingly fast!