Hornady vs. Nosler

[jumbopanda]

I just got my hands on some Hornady 75gr BTHPs, and some Nosler 69gr BTHPs. I weighed a handful of each to determine how consistent each bullet was, and found that the Hornady ones had an extreme spread of 0.8gn (74.8-75.6). This surprised me considering that Hornady's 55gr FMJs had an extreme spread of only 0.2gn (could be even less than that, but I wouldn't be able to determine that with my cheap scale). The Noslers had an extreme spread of 0.35gn with about 95% of them within 0.2gn. This seemed a little more reasonable than 0.8. I emailed Hornady and they said this:

"The components for the 55 gr FMJ bullet may have been easer to hold the weight of the lead core.
The 75 gr has a larger core so it may have been a little harder to control the weight of the core or the jackets."

Do you guys have any thoughts on this? Hornady bullets generally get very good reviews, which is why this surprised me.

[bobke]

you've got me wondering. i just picked up 600 75gr hornady's from a member here, so should be able to verify your findings, as well. another poster here or over on 1911forum had issues with inconsistent seating depth for this hornady. again, should be able to verify same with an ogive gauge.
all said, there could be something in scales and/or die setups that might yield these findings. just curious, what kind of scale did you weigh bullets on and what is it's guaranteed range of accuracy within a weight range? might not be scale, as nosler's std deviation is a bunch lower than the hornday's, but curious, no less.

[MadcapMagician]

Load and shoot them. Let us know how it works. If the difference is great enough to affect accuracy we'll know. Take good notes.

[shootist~]

Seems like a lot on the 75s. What kind and how accurate is your scale?

[jumbopanda]

Seems like a lot on the 75s. What kind and how accurate is your scale?

Digital with readability of 0.02gn, although I'd say accuracy closer to +/- 0.06gn

[shootist~]

Digital with readability of 0.02gn, although I'd say accuracy closer to +/- 0.06gn

A small sample of my Hornady 75s shows everything to be a hair under 75 grains. Sample of a few and for my specific lot.

I'm not sure what "gn" stand for, but my digital "reads" to 0.1 grain or .01 grams. It's not necessarily accurate to those levels and will get twitchy during high static periods. I use a balance beam at such times.

Accuracy of .02 grains would indicate you have a very expensive scientific quality scale, but maybe that's the case.

[markm]

Load and shoot them. Let us know how it works. If the difference is great enough to affect accuracy we'll know. Take good notes.

I agree.

[jumbopanda]

A small sample of my Hornady 75s shows everything to be a hair under 75 grains. Sample of a few and for my specific lot.

I'm not sure what "gn" stand for, but my digital "reads" to 0.1 grain or .01 grams. It's not necessarily accurate to those levels and will get twitchy during high static periods. I use a balance beam at such times.

Accuracy of .02 grains would indicate you have a very expensive scientific quality scale, but maybe that's the case.

gn=grains

It's not an expensive scale, it has a very low capacity (20 grams) and like I said, it's not accurate to 0.02gn, even though that's the readability.

[SteadyUp]

gn=grains

Proper abbreviation would be "gr".

Just for the record.

[Wayne Dobbs]

You have OWII, which is Obsession with Inconsequential Increments! LOL

Worry about this kind of thing when you can outshoot the components, the load and your rifle. That is not likely to happen for very many of us.

If you want to continue with the disorder, start miking and weighing primers and cases.

All in fun, bro! It's not a big deal for the variation you see in the various components out there for 98% of the shooting we do.

[AJS]

How many did you weigh? I would try at least 20 of each BUT accuracy is more important. If they are accurate I wouldnt worry.
I bet if you batched them up and shot them blind you couldn't tell either :)

[Nightvisionary]

I worked up several different loads using 300 Hornady 75 grain bullets. My best accuracy was 3 MOA, worst 7 MOA. 77 grain Nosler and SMK give me pretty consistent 1.75 MOA through my Spikes mid length. I have since settled on Nosler for my heavy match loads.

[Snake Plissken]

I have no personal experience with Nosler bullets. I have used Hornady for a couple years now. While they vary a bit and sometimes I may have seating issues, accuracy has always been better than my capabilities and their prices are highly competitive. Brands such as Sierra heavily market their low tolerances in bullet weight and shapes and their prices reflect that.


I stopped shooting for groups a long time ago as it's hard to see more than 300 m anywhere in my area.

[jumbopanda]

I've weighed 50 samples of Hornady, Nosler, and Pvri Partizan Match bullets and came up with the following data:

Hornady 75gr BTHP

Mean: 75.1016
Std Dev: 0.219083061
Min: 74.6
Max: 75.66

Prvi Partizan Match 75gr BTHP

Mean: 75.17
Std Dev: 0.178348432
Min: 74.76
Max: 75.58

Nosler Custom Competition 69gr BTHP

Mean: 68.9804
Std Dev: 0.064205029
Min: 68.88
Max: 69.14

[Suwannee Tim]

I have an ultra-precise scale which can resolve 1/10 of a milligram or 0.001 grains. It also does statistics which it communicates to a computer. When I first got it I played around weighing bullets. I was amazed at the weight consistency I found, almost every bullet was within +- 0.1 grain of the mean. This is several types from several brands. Particularly I weighed several hundred 500 grain Hornady .458 bullets, I expected that because of the larger weight there would be more variation. Nope. They were as uniform as anything else. What you have there is unusual. The question is how will they shoot. Though I have never personally studied this issue, conventional wisdom is that high weight consistency is not a requirement of good accuracy versus concentrically for example which is required. I'm a big fan of Hornady. I had one problem years ago and they made it right. That was a box of 30 caliber 220 grain steel jacketed bullets that had a heel that was about .309 instead of .308. The bullets were loose in the cartridges when loaded. Hornady took back the box of 50 and replaced them with two boxes of 50. Lemme tell you, boys, these bullets will penetrate.

[GunnutAF]

I like Nosler bullets -really like them in my '06 and 8.57mm and as you found they have very consistant weights which usaully improve accuracy! But as always theres a but! They are pricey too pricey for me to used them in my AR's ! And unlike my other calibers I use them in I found they are not as accurate as the Hornadays nor SMK's, SGK's atleast in my AR's. :D