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Cleanest meplat?

midmoguy

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 13, 2013
158
0
Eastern KC
Im interested in what brand of bullets has the cleanest meplats in your opinion. I have only ran 155 Scenars through my Kimber so far, and while they shoot excellent I have to say i definitely wasnt impressed with the finish of the bullets.The meplats are very irregular, in size and shape. I will add that it may be Midways fault, due to them being only packaged in a sealed vinyl envelope when i received them. Im sure they were beat around in the mail. I have heard that Bergers are excellent bullets as far as craftmanship and quality just dont have much experience with them. Im not interested in pointing them or trimming them since im not shooting competitions. Let me know your experiences.
 
Thanks for the advice on the amaxs, im just not impressed with their design these days. They dont appear to be the same quality of Lapua and Bergers.
 
Thanks for the advice on the amaxs, im just not impressed with their design these days. They dont appear to be the same quality of Lapua and Bergers.

They're not, but the cost isn't the same either. Plus they are typically available.
 
midmoguy,

This has been discussed before, but it bears repeating; the meplat is probably the least important aspect of the bullet, as far as performance and/or accuracy are concerened. The meplat's uniformity can vary from lot to lot, due to minor differences in the hardness of the jacket material, the amount of lube in the form die, etc.. This is true of all manufacturers, and I really can't say that one has consistently "better" meplat uniformity than another. Not consistently, as it varys from lot to lot, as I mentioned. If you're truly concerned about this, then uniforming and tipping is the solution. I would recommend this for 1,000 yard competition, but think it's probably not going to show that much improvement at 600 yards. At distances closer than thius, I'd say it's a waste of time, as there are other factors that have far greater influence on accuracy that need to be addressed first.
 
Montour country trimmer and widen pointing die and don't look back... Coupled with sorting bullets base to ogive in .001 groups and proper load development helped me asertain sub .5 moa at 1000 yards in good conditions...
 
Don't worry about the meplats. Most of us won't ever see a difference even when trimmed. It's just not that important. If it was; manufacturers wouldn't produce irregular meplats on MATCH bullets.
 
Hi,

I don't want to store up any conflict. It is my experience that one has to minimize any difference in one's bullets.

Several months ago, I was shooting a new lot of SMK 175 bullets with my pet load. My groups went from sub MOA to 1.5 to 2 MOA. I was at a lost. I measured my velocity. I'd get a few good ones and then a drop of 100 fps.

When I got home, I measure the ogive to base, there was as much as .022" difference in the same lot. The overall lengths were .025" differences.

Now, I sort by weight, length, and ogive to base. Then I trim with a Whidden meplat trimmer and point with a Whidden pointing die. This is the only way to have a consistent BC and velocity.
 
Hi,

I don't want to store up any conflict. It is my experience that one has to minimize any difference in one's bullets.

Several months ago, I was shooting a new lot of SMK 175 bullets with my pet load. My groups went from sub MOA to 1.5 to 2 MOA. I was at a lost. I measured my velocity. I'd get a few good ones and then a drop of 100 fps.

When I got home, I measure the ogive to base, there was as much as .022" difference in the same lot. The overall lengths were .025" differences.

Now, I sort by weight, length, and ogive to base. Then I trim with a Whidden meplat trimmer and point with a Whidden pointing die. This is the only way to have a consistent BC and velocity.

If there is .022 difference could there have been a mix up of different lots or groups of bullets?
 
JLK makes very nice bullets, very high quality, all VLD's.
 
I like my Berger 140 hybrids. They are pretty consistent. I will have to see about sorting by base to ogive measurement.

I did get some of the JLK's in, and they are probably the nicest and most uniform meplats that I have seen.
 
I like my Berger 140 hybrids. They are pretty consistent. I will have to see about sorting by base to ogive measurement.

I did get some of the JLK's in, and they are probably the nicest and most uniform meplats that I have seen.

I have found Berger's to be rather consistent from ogive to base. I still measure each one.

If there are inconsistent base to ogive differences and you load from the head to the ogive, you will have wild velocity variations.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
The Bergers are probably the best out there off the shelf, pre-trimmed. The Sierra Match Kings and the Nosler Custom Competitions are pretty ugly in comparison.. but they fly really well still.

I snapped a quick pic of the Berger 168gr OTM Tactical Hybrid next to a 168gr SMK and a 150gr SST (not that it matters in this comparison of the meplats with its ballistic tip and all)

9179814701_b708eaac2e_b.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. And as usual that was excellent information Kevin. I suppose i'm just a little too ocd sometimes for the ranges i'm shooting. The scenars shoot great out of my gun so I will probably just stick with them. I would really like to try the scenar-l but they aren't easy to find and there still isn't any info on them.
 
In short, all open tips I've looked at vary and there were bullets in the box that were not perfect. Since this is all for fun, I spend time to look at or fix them. That's what I want to do.
I shoot:
A-Max and other tipped bullets, not an issue.
Sierra and Nosler CC, obvious meplat deviation. Was already sorted weight and ogive. Trimmed and groups tighten.
Berger, 6mm target are perfect but the 338's seem to vary a little. I'm setup to trim and point them. Something that big a little variable has an effect. When I'm throwing $3 out the front of a gun, a little more time and an excuse for another tool is well spent if only for the peace of mind.