Made you look!

Well, I'm only half teasing. I hit the lottery, my weeks-backordered 325gr, recent 265gr order, and sabots came in the same day:


From left to right: 325gr .458, .458 in sabot, 265gr .430, .430 in sabot, 325gr .458, 300gr .45 SW, 265gr .430, 250gr Precision Rifle QT, 250gr SST, 200gr .40 SW

Initial impression is that both will be far superior (ballistically) to the 250gr SST/SW. I am guessing that, if driven fast enough, both of these bullets should be capable of matching or beating the trajectory of my 200gr SW load if they can be pushed fast enough accurately (their BC should be higher). Also, their curved base is such that they sit in the sabots better than a SW.

I threw the QT in there (didn't want to open a pack of Dead Centers) to point out the length of Precision Rifle's heavier .40 bullets. These new Hornadys should be the first jacketed bullets to approach the BC of Precision Rifle's bullets. The difference is that an all-lead Precision Rifle bullet has a maximum accurate speed of 1800-2000 fps in any gun I have ever personally seen them fired in, but the jacketed bullets can go faster (I shoot the 200 SW at 2100 fps with a modest 110gr 777 load).

I'm going to set the bar high and try these bullets at 130gr FFg 777 this weekend if I can find time. If the first 3-shot group at 100 yds is decent, I'll dial to center and fire a fourth to confirm, then go right out to 300 yds to check the drop. I should have enough powder left to do this for both bullets (IF they shoot accurately at such a stiff charge without monkeying around).

If that doesn't work I'll start dropping the charge until I find a sweet spot.

Those sure are some nice looking bullets !!!!!

Are those the ones you can buy in bulk? Looks like a lot of fun shooting there.

Go for it Spaniel. Looking forward to the report.

Nice looking line-up

Will be very interested in the results of the PR bullets

Yes....Midway and Cabelas have had them in stock for a couple weeks, I ordered the 325gr's through Midsouth before that because they said they'd comein first and ended up backordered. FYI some weights are going out of stock and they've only had them a short while!!

I tested all the PR bullets year ago, tell me what you want to know and I've probably explored it at one time or another. They are good bullets, but from a performance perspective their speed limit disadvantage negates their BC superiority. They only look good if you compare them to something else shot slow.

I had good luck a few weekends ago with the .430/265 gr. FTX and 110gr. of BH209. I hope they perform as well on game as they did on paper.

Got an hour and an unusually calm day, so I was able to hit the range quick before dark.

I'll post the targets when I finish, as I have to re-shoot the 300 yd one (I'll explain).

I shot one 325gr .458 over 130gr 777, basically a max charge with the 15% conversion of BP/pyrodex to 777. It hit virtually right on my zero for 110gr 777 and a 200 SW. Interesting....

I fired two more. The whole group was about 1.5", but the last two were within .75". Since the first shot was off a clean, shiny barrel I was tempted to fire a fourth shot to prove that, after fouling, I was sub-MOA but didn't have time. It was enough to prove to me this load will be a roughly MOA load -- the first I've ever found at such a stiff charge with any bullet.

I'd already hung paper at 300yds so I dialed the scope up 15 MOA (the drop for my 200gr SW load) and fired. That shot hit about an inch right of point-of-aim, right on vertically. I fired two more shots, but both misfired on the first primer and hang-fired on the second, so they made a huge meaningless group. I need to give my breechplug some TLC with a drill bit and torch cleaner and go back out tomorrow and reshoot that group.

So it appears from what I extrapolate from this that my MV is around 1850 fps. I am essentially duplicating the trajectory of the little 200gr bullet with one more than 50% heavier, and with significantly less wind drift (in a 10mph wind, 8 inches less at 400 yds and 10 inches less at 500 yds if I ever shoot that far). And delivering just shy of TWICE the downrange energy.

I'll finish running this bullet through the paces, but I'm almost sold on switching my load for the first time in about 5-6 years. They load nice in the MMP orange sabot despite the slightly tight bore on my Omega and the recoil isn't as bad as I imagined (MAYBE 300WM level).

As usual around here, the calm weather was good for a single night. Today was colder and very windy, gusty and quite variable at almost a perfect 90 degrees across my range. Typically I would not have even bothered trying to shoot today, but I may not get another chance for a couple weeks so I pulled out the wind meter and decided to give it a shot.

After posting at 300 yds I fired the first shot (.458 325gr FTX 130gr 777), realized I'd forgotten to dial in wind and dialed in a correction before firing a group. By now my hands were quite cold, I was ready to pull my target and be done. I went to check it; one hole to the right where I'd expect the first shot to go, but no others! WTH?!?!? OOPS...should have got more sleep, it dawned on me I dialed the WRONG WAY!!!

Well, I fixed that and fired three more shots. I tried to pick times the wind was roughly the same but I had no flags, it was changing rapidly, and the wind where my bench is is way less than 100 yds and further down the range (more open). This was a worst case scenario setup -- I'd never consider shooting at a deer with that kind of crosswind.

I then loaded up my standard load, 200gr SW and 110gr 777:

First, the 100 yd target from last night:

First shot was on a squeaky clean barrel and not expected to print with the next two, so with the second two within 3/4" I'll take it as a great group.

Now the 300 yd target from today:


The shot near center was from last night. You can see the group strung out about 6" from left to right, but only about 3/4" vertical variation. I wanted the 200gr SW on there to demonstrate how it drifted a lot further, but it wasn't a fair test; when I shot it I got a lull in the wind and it experienced less wind than any of the other three shots yet drifted the furthest. For reference, I had 4.5 MOA (about 14 inches) of wind drift dialed into the scope.

Normally, I would hardly admit to a 6" group at 300 yds but given the crappy conditions and the fact that it was virtually all horizontal wind spread, I am VERY happy with the result!! This is honestly the worst conditions I've ever tried to shoot 300 yds.

VERDICT: My old load was 200gr SW and 110gr 777, which chrono'd 2040 today. This 325gr FTX 130gr 777 load chrono'd 1900 fps, +/- 20fps across all shots fired today. The result is that, at 300 yds, I have virtually the exact same trajectory as my old load, with less wind drift, and deliver almost twice as much energy. I have a new hunting load, we'll see how these bullets do on deer next fall.

I'm going to punch some ballistics calculations now.

edited to add: Typically I get 15 MOA drop at this range, for some reason today I got an extra 1.25 MOA drop (notice the difference between the center impact from last night and where they were printing today).