Braddbdl
Fed up Libertarian
I have been using berry's 124gr RN bullets for plinking, practice, and IDPA. I find that they are easy to load and are fairly accurate, but I have been wondering if there is any benefit to the other varieties that Berry's offers. So I purchased a sample of the 124gr FP, 124gr HBFP, and even the 147gr RN.
For this test I wanted to focus on the different profiles to see what difference I could find, so I loaded up some of the 124gr RN, FP, and HBFP. I will save the 147gr testing for another day since I will need to greatly adjust the powder.
Hypothesis:
I think I will have the same velocity and recoil from each of these loads. I believe the flat point would have slightly better accuracy than the round nose, and the hollow base flat point will be better than both because it would have the most contact with the barrel during firing, thus stabilizing the bullet more.
The Bullets:
OAL:
FP: .527
HBFP: .553
RN: .582
147: .669
Here is a picture of the different bullet profiles from smallest to largest FP/HBFP/RN/ and I included the 147gr RN for comparison:
The equipment and setup:
M&P full size 4.25 barrel, APEX Comp trigger, plain notch rear and fiber front
ProChrono Digital on tripod
Standing, with sandbag rest on bench
Dirty Bird 12" targets
Completely empty range at Sanners
Load Data
I used 4.3gr of Titegroup, CCI primers, and Winchester brass for all of the loads.
COAL for each load:
RN: 1.15
FP: 1.055
HBFP: 1.065
Shooting
I shot six strings of twenty rounds each at 15yds using a different target for each string and recording the velocities. I also shot three strings of ten rounds each at 25yds with different targets for each string but I didn't record any velocities.
All of the rounds chambered flawlessly and I had zero malfunctions, to be expected from the M&P.
Average velocity:
RN: 1080
FP: 1134
HBFP: 1125
The Targets at 15 yards:
For simplicities sake I'm only showing the targets for strings 4/5/6, strings 1/2/3 were on targets that were just too small but they showed similar results. Strings 7/8/9 were at 25 yards and had similar results but with greater shot spread.
124gr Round Nose:
124gr Flat Point:
124gr Hollow Base Flat Point:
Conclusion:
The FP and HBFP both had higher velocities than the RN by about 50fps even though they had the same load. I'm not exactly sure why. Will have to confirm with more tests.
The FP and HBFP had greater accuracy than the RN, this was confirmed on each string, with 25yds being the most extreme. The FP and HBFP were about the same at 15yds with a slight advantage to the FP, At 25yds the advantage went to the HBFP just slightly.
I will need to do more reloading and testing to confirm these results. I would like to do more testing between the FP and HBFP at greater distances to find an accuracy difference between the two, if there is one. I also need to find a comparable load for the 147gr RN to test against these two.
I'm pretty much a noob at all of this so the experienced folks around here should feel free to pick this apart.
For this test I wanted to focus on the different profiles to see what difference I could find, so I loaded up some of the 124gr RN, FP, and HBFP. I will save the 147gr testing for another day since I will need to greatly adjust the powder.
Hypothesis:
I think I will have the same velocity and recoil from each of these loads. I believe the flat point would have slightly better accuracy than the round nose, and the hollow base flat point will be better than both because it would have the most contact with the barrel during firing, thus stabilizing the bullet more.
The Bullets:
OAL:
FP: .527
HBFP: .553
RN: .582
147: .669
Here is a picture of the different bullet profiles from smallest to largest FP/HBFP/RN/ and I included the 147gr RN for comparison:
The equipment and setup:
M&P full size 4.25 barrel, APEX Comp trigger, plain notch rear and fiber front
ProChrono Digital on tripod
Standing, with sandbag rest on bench
Dirty Bird 12" targets
Completely empty range at Sanners
Load Data
I used 4.3gr of Titegroup, CCI primers, and Winchester brass for all of the loads.
COAL for each load:
RN: 1.15
FP: 1.055
HBFP: 1.065
Shooting
I shot six strings of twenty rounds each at 15yds using a different target for each string and recording the velocities. I also shot three strings of ten rounds each at 25yds with different targets for each string but I didn't record any velocities.
All of the rounds chambered flawlessly and I had zero malfunctions, to be expected from the M&P.
Average velocity:
RN: 1080
FP: 1134
HBFP: 1125
The Targets at 15 yards:
For simplicities sake I'm only showing the targets for strings 4/5/6, strings 1/2/3 were on targets that were just too small but they showed similar results. Strings 7/8/9 were at 25 yards and had similar results but with greater shot spread.
124gr Round Nose:
124gr Flat Point:
124gr Hollow Base Flat Point:
Conclusion:
The FP and HBFP both had higher velocities than the RN by about 50fps even though they had the same load. I'm not exactly sure why. Will have to confirm with more tests.
The FP and HBFP had greater accuracy than the RN, this was confirmed on each string, with 25yds being the most extreme. The FP and HBFP were about the same at 15yds with a slight advantage to the FP, At 25yds the advantage went to the HBFP just slightly.
I will need to do more reloading and testing to confirm these results. I would like to do more testing between the FP and HBFP at greater distances to find an accuracy difference between the two, if there is one. I also need to find a comparable load for the 147gr RN to test against these two.
I'm pretty much a noob at all of this so the experienced folks around here should feel free to pick this apart.
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