Thread: Just the tip......7 rem mag A-Tip load development

Originally Posted by 300_BLK

I don’t get the propensity of kiwi hunters to use a bullet manufactured and marketed for targets and load them for shooting deer and expect hunting bullet results.

Bullet manufacturers might know what they are talking about, I mean Hornady has only been making bullets since 1949.

Load some Speer grand slams and I bet you will get good, ethical results

The obvious reply to this is the historic "7mm 162gr Amax", of which I thankfully still have 600.

Originally Posted by sneeze

The obvious reply to this is the historic "7mm 162gr Amax", of which I thankfully still have 600.

This remains one of the classic misconceptions…

That projectile wasn’t categorised as a match bullet by Hornady for many years. It was categorised in the reloading manuals as a target-match, varmint and medium game bullet.

It was only upon the publication of the 10th edition of the reloading manual in 2016 that Hornady fiddled with the categorisation having introduced the ELD-X and ELD-M in a rather cynical move to convince shooters that they needed two bullets in the place of one… Mysteriously, the 162gr A-Max suddenly became “only” a target bullet which was a bit daft because it was also listed as discontinued. Interesting how they chose to erase so many years of A-Max history like that!

In my view the A-Tip is 100% oriented towards match shooting and its construction is highly suspect for a hunting bullet. The apparent lack of a cavity would make me steer well clear. However… and there’s always a however… when it was first introduced there was a flurry of long-range hunting videos and one in particular stuck in my mind and that was long-range pronghorn hunting:



Personally I want to see a much more apparent shock to the animal, especially if hit on the shoulder like that. That pronghorn took off like greased lightning which isn’t a problem in that environment but in our environment it would quite likely be lost without a tracking dog.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

This remains one of the classic misconceptions…

That projectile wasn’t categorised as a match bullet by Hornady for many years. It was categorised in the reloading manuals as a target-match, varmint and medium game bullet.

Your sentence is a little contradictory, I think what you meant to say that it wasn't classified as "just" a match bullet ? But it is a bullet marketed as a target/ match bullet that works well on game, pretty much the point I was making.

"I don’t get the propensity of kiwi hunters to use a bullet manufactured and marketed for targets and load them for shooting deer and expect hunting bullet results." maybe this threads not for you then

Thanks for the feedback. Can't speak for the A-Tips as far as using match bullets for hunting as I haven't used them yet, but as far as ELDM's they work extremely effectively. But that's a whole other argument I don't really want to get into here, this is just a load development thread.

Yeah, some of us like to tinker with new shit, just becos.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

Yeah, some of us like to tinker with new shit, just becos.

And that A tip just looks fucking cool

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Well charge ladder shot this morning, didn't leave me feeling too confident nothing grouped better than about 1 inch except the hottest load but that was well over pressure and i wasn't gonna be anywhere near that.

1.) 72gn avg: 3020fps S.D: 22fps E.S: 44fps group size approx 1.5"

2.) 73gn avg: 3088fps S.D: 10.4fps E.S: 20.8fps group size approx 1.8"

3.) 74gn avg: 3126fps S.D: 11.5fps E.S: 23fps group size approx 1.5"

4.) 75gn avg 3188fps S.D: 19fps E.S: 38fps group size .7" but way too hot erratic velocity and heavy bolt (book max load velocity is 3047fps so well over pressure here)

I was happy enough to shoot the 3 higher loads having seen nothing concerning in brass, primers etc but fully aware they were all considered over pressure.



I went home feeling a little disappointed but set about loading a seating depth ladder using my lowest charge, i used the lowest as i knew by seating the projectile deeper into the case there was potential for pressure to increase.
I seated projectiles at 30thou jump, 50thou jump and 90thou jump.

Back to the range.

30thou load produced just over 2" group avg velocity 3043fps S.D: 19fps E.S: 38fps

50thou load produced .54" group avg velocity 3018fps S.D: 8.5fps E.S 17fps (that'll do)

90thou load produced 1" group avg velocity 3017fps SD: 16.7fps E.S 34fps

I have no doubt i could tutu and tweak this but i see no need to and don't have the time.
I loaded up 6 more and confirmed grouping without the magnetospeed, very slight shift in P.O.I but grouping stayed around .5-.6"
Happy days, I will definitely be upgrading the trigger as i really struggled even with the Bergara trigger set to it's lightest setting which I'm picking is between 2.5 and 3lbs (I like em really light).




(the green tip projectiles are factory Sako 140gn blade, i picked those up for up close things)

Nice now some animals to see how effective those A Tips are.

Originally Posted by Mooseman

Nice now some animals to see how effective those A Tips are.

On the cards next week

Just goes to show how inconsistent some of these bullets are!

The Atip copper jacket is alot thicker at the front than the eld-x. Also the alloy tip will be alot harder than the plastic to deform to push back inside the copper jacket to start expansion. It looks like a hard bullet.

Either way you'll find out after you shoot a few animals.

Think I’m starting to uncover a cavity with in the top on that one to

Cavity will likely be off centre this one’s way off iv had a bad run with eldx maybe it is quality control

Originally Posted by Kelton

Cavity will likely be off centre this one’s way off iv had a bad run with eldx maybe it is quality control

I went back through my section photos and they all have cavities, but they are very variable from big to almost non-existent.

Since they first came out there’s always been a small number of hunters who swear that the ELDX did not work for them. We’ve debated it on here enough times. If you look at the marketing material and most of the sections, the projectile is supposed to have a decent size cavity behind the tip. If it doesn’t then it’s not been made properly.

this is pretty revealing.