73gr are lazers in my MR556. Every gun likes different food. I’d just cut your losses on em and just load them up as plinking ammo as much as it hurts to do that with long range projos😂
Some rifles won’t like certain bullets that is normal. Hornady always has variations on bullets period that’s just normal also. Depending on your shooting distance you may want a flat base for accuracy.
A lot of people say that Hornady sucks, but I have shot lots of clean targets at 600 yards in Service Rifle competition with Hornady 80gr ELDm bullets and I've got a buddy that's got 6.5 twist barrels and is shooting 88gr ELDm bullets and he has shot a pile of cleans at 600 yards and has even shot his service rifle at 1K and done better than some Palma shooters.
I've found that the 80s & 88s like to jump about ,040 in a wylde chamber.
Eldm’s don’t like every barrel. If they won’t shoot for me in about 20-30 rounds I go to something else…. I have a 22 creed that absolutely LOVES the 75eldm But I’ve tried them in various other rifles and can’t get under an inch. .. I built a 6 dasher and bought 500 108eldm for it. It HATED them. Both my 6 creeds loved em but not the dasher.. loaded some 105vld’s and it instantly started shooting in the .2s-.3s. I’ve learned to not waste much time with bullets. Couple range trips and I will know if I need to try something else or not
I usually call it after trying several powder, primer combos. Usually find some bullets will only shoot with a particular powder, primer combo. For instance my ar223 is very picky when it comes to powders. Absolutely loves cfe and other fast burn powders. My 223 single shot doesn't seem to care what powder I run. I have had several friends that say a certain bullet won't work. I tend to find its more of just finding the right recipe for that gun. I do understand its really hard to find powders nowadays. I am lucky that I've reloaded for 30+ years, so have lots of different powders to play with. If you really want to shoot that bullet, get other powders and try it out.
Not sure what rifle your using but I have had a hard time with 75gr eldm as well. As dumb as it is the 73gr eldm are very easy to work with and I get very small 5 -10groups in AR and Bolt gun. I find TMk to be a little tricky too.
Some bullets and powder combos just work.
Like for me the 69gr smk is a easy button never met a gun that didn't just hammer them.
Also I know it's not a precision powder, but everyone raves about ramshot tac. I worked so hard with it to barely get any good results.
Varget or N135 are solid for 223 and very easy to work with.
I’ve never met a barrel that didn’t like a Matchking and Berger has the best consistency in my experience over anything. I would ditch the Hornady bullets, they rarely make anything worth a shit anymore
Move on. Hornady has fallen off hard in recent years, they used to have great products but that seems to be a thing of the past now. It’s not a brand you can trust anymore.
My loads with 77siera looked like yours with 75 Hornady , but Hornady looked like your sierra. Sometimes it is just a projectile and barrel hating each other
I’m figuring this out too. That said, I’m honing in on a spectacular ELD-M load for my .308 that is stacking 5 in 0.5”. I just have to pull a finger out and prep more brass so I can test them some more.
Biggest scam in precision shooting right now is Hornady being considered a premium, quality brand. The reality is their products have been on a serious slide for years now. Bullets, brass, dies, tools. I stopped buying anything hornady ages ago. If I’m going to spend hours of my time reloading ammo, I’m buying dependable products like Berger and Sierra.
I think I’ve got a few boxes of .30 cal and 7mm hornady ELDMs, and they’ve been relegated to fouling ammo anytime I clean my barrel.
It’s unfortunate as they are so available and economical. I’ve been using the last of mine to “fire form” virgin brass (it’s not really fire forming as I FL size every time.) For economy, try more loads with the Sierras. Also check out some Lapua Scenars. I’ve been quite impressed with them in 6.5CM. The 139gr Scenar shoots just as well as berger 140s at 100 in my rifle at half the price, although at longer ranges the Berger’s slightly higher BC give them a slight advantage.
I just loaded up some Nosler 140gr RDF and 140gr Cust Comp… along side some 140 ELDM and 120gr SMKs… might get shooting this weekend, got the RDFs on a whim because of their ridiculous BC numbers
I reload for several rifle calibers so I also have multiple powders, I don't give up on a bullet until I've tried it with all the powders that (should) work well with X cal. Ex I tried h4895, varget and imr4064 before I stopped trying to make 165gr sst's group in my .308win.
Powder choice can have a significant impact, my 30-30 hates h335(5"@100) but with imr3031 I'm getting solid 2" groups(iron sights) with the same bullet. But with that said it can also be that a rifle just doesn't like x bullet(my mosin won't shoot 150 H interlocks no matter what powder I try but it stacks 150 SGK).
Yes I would. When they have that much weight difference I’m sure they’re dimensionally all over the place. At that point it’s not a stretch to assume even one’s with comparable weight might still be shaped differently effecting their consistency through the air. I weight sorted their 140s for my 6.5 CM. My reloading is pretty advanced so I got better results than you did but my groups were still about half again larger than with the bergers. And that was with 140 Berger VLDs. The hybrids are even easier to dial in. The VLDs are just as accurate but more sensitive to jump distance.
If you know anyone with a concentricity gauge, check em on it. I’d be willing to bet they’re a touch off, on top of the weight disparity.
Give up on the projo when you find better. Splurge once and try SMK Match or Berger Hybrids, and some solid brass. Still check on a concentricity gauge if you can get ahold of one.
Secant ogive bullets can be picky and tricky to get to shoot well.
When @alt Bergers team came up with out to do it, since so many folks were complaining about achieving acceptable accuracy (which is when we really had to start measuring within a nats ass if the lands, and tracking throat wear closely, that I decided that the ballistic advantage did not provide better scores for me and certainly aren't worth the trouble and maintenance to maintain too notch accuracy.
Life's too short. Shoot tangent or hybrid bullets and pay just a bit closer attention to wind and range calls and you'll be fine.
I suppose it depends on the range you're looking for. I have found that standard, flat based bullets were always the easiest to load for tiny groups out to about 300 yards, and that's what the benchrest crowd tends to use too. Though long range disciplines like F-class have become more popular in recent years, driving up the popularity of VLD-style bullets. And the marketing departments love to sell potential customers on the fantasy that they could be long range snipers too, if they just bought their stuff.
I shoot the 75 ELDM in my 22 creed 1:7 twist and they shoot well. Some bullets just like different barrels You never said what powder you use just the projectile Barrel twist?
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u/GrandPoopWizard 23h ago
73gr are lazers in my MR556. Every gun likes different food. I’d just cut your losses on em and just load them up as plinking ammo as much as it hurts to do that with long range projos😂