I posted this on Instagram and tagged Sierra and Federal. I picked up a box of the “new formula” 224 Valkyrie 90gr SMKs by Federal because I read it was improved over the original and wanted to compare it to my handloads.
I open factory ammo boxes out of habit to make sure I’m not buying a box with damaged or missing rounds and I noticed the meplats on the factory ammo looked....strange. (Top picture/top row) They look way different than the loose 90gr SMKs available for reloading (top picture bottom row). The tips/meplats aren’t rolled or uniformed on the factory ammo; it looks like it was shaved or hammered down flat. The open tips are gone and all the excess meplat material was like pressed inward. I opened all the boxes on the shelf and they were like this. The camera focused as much as I could get it to on such a small surface so it’s not as clear as it could be
Any guesses?