Anyone shooting .224 80gr Hornady ELD? Problem with a lot #

[11B CIB]

Lot 2181074. Bought 2 100 count boxes and I have several like this in each box:

I’ve contacted Hornady, this being the worst of them all, and am supposed to call some tech tomorrow.

 

[nbkky71]

No issue with the box of bullets that I bought, but I can't get them to group for $^#*& in my NRA/CMP service rifle. Best I can get off the bench is 2MOA

 

[11B CIB]

No issue with the box of bullets that I bought, but I can't get them to group for $^#*& in my NRA/CMP service rifle. Best I can get off the bench is 2MOA

What load(s)?

 

[nbkky71]

I'm running a Wilson 1-7 twist with a wylde chamber, using AR-COMP, CCI450 primers and LC (match prepped) brass.

I tried loads from 22.0 - 23.0 grains in .2gr increments (5 round groups) and I had some success with nodes at 22.4 and 22.6gr. With these nodes I'd have three rounds coming in at .75MOA and then two wild fliers. The other nodes were more of patterns than groups. This was all shot off the bench @ 200 yards, using optics.

From what I read, these are supposed to be fairly jump tolerant and I was seating them at .020 off the lands. I'm going to try another batch with .010, .030 and .040 to see if it makes a difference.

One more try and then I'm going back to Berger 82's

 

[nbkky71]

Well, I loaded up a bunch of test rounds at different seating depths. The .020 behaved the same but the .030 showed promise, coming in at .86 MOA. That should be good enough for 600 yards, so I'll load some up and give them a whirl. The only thing that's quirky is that for being jump tolerant, these are certainly behaving like VLD bullets.

I think that will be good enough to load some up and try them at the long line. These bullets are appealing at $22 a box vs. $30 for Bergers.

 

[Toprudder]

These bullets are appealing at $22 a box vs. $30 for Bergers.

I tried some Bergers in .223 and was impressed with the results, but dang they are expensive. Can't justify the expense for the shooting that I do, I'll stick with the Hornady 75bthp as they are plenty accurate for me and cost a lot less (especially when I find them on sale).