Is there a bullet maker that is doing an exceptional job?

N

Nathan

New member
I ask this because Hornady is really impressing me for the last few years. All bullet makers can make a good bullet, but Hornady seems to have the bullet every time I look for a bullet for a rifle load in the last few years. When I get a load developed, it usually exceeds my expectations for the rifle.
 
Hornady bullets rock. And they're widely available. When I put the expensive stuff downrange, it's usually Hornady's.

I also load/shoot a lot of Speer's. But they rarely become available. Their Gold Dots are my first choice for revolvers - if I can find them (rarely). And I do have a bunch of their 124 Gold Dots for the 9. But in 45 ACP, I find the GD's a little persnickity with their feeding. But Hornady XTP's cycle with perfection.

Decades ago, when I was shooting silhouettes at 100 yards with a 44 Mag (open sights); their 240gn Silhouette bullet was far and away the accuracy king.

They make great bullets.
 
Jacketed. Hornady and Speer. Good compromise between performance and price.

Cast. Gas checked. Bullshop. Superb quality and wide range of diameters. Reasonably priced. Owner Daniel a good, honest man.

Cast. Hi-Tech coated. Missouri bullet company. Good products all around. Sample packs good for experimenting.

-TL

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I buy a lot of Hornady for range rodder.
My go to hunting bullets are a mix between Sierra, Nosler, and Berger.
My bullet of choice for my carry pistols is Sierra.
 
I'm sure Hornady makes fine bullets, but for me, the few I've tried for accuracy didn't do it for me. I don't recall ever shooting any animals with a Hornady bullet.

If I'm interested in accuracy, my first choice is Sierra. If I'm interested in performance on game I load Speers. But in the last few years I've shooting Nosler Accubonds on deer & I really like that bullet's performance!

As a personal preference (or quirk) I have stayed away from monolithic bullets & stuck with cup-n-core. C-n-c with bonding, that's the best yet!
 
std7mag said:
I buy a lot of Hornady for range rodder.
Click to expand...
There are textile-making activities at your range?

I have to mention Lapua, Sierra (someone beat me to it, above) and Berger who pioneered precision match and long range match bullet designs. If you do much target shooting, you'll know them. Berger is by far the most popular among long range precision shooters now. Users of the Juenke jacket concentricity tester found Berger had the fewest defects. But the technology keeps changing and I have not seen a comparison to Hornady's AMP bullet jackets. It would be fun to test that.
 
For me depends on the caliber. My 308 loads are Sierra MKs all day so far. I am playing with Hornady BTHP in 168 and am liking the progress so far but will keep the SMK until proven otherwise.
My 6.5 is all Hornady and now Barnes Matchburner. The Barnes with RL 16....is ridiculous. 6mm is Berger 105 VLD hunters. Slightly pricey but 1 load to rule them all in a manner of speaking...target or hunting it works and works well.
223/556 the Barnes 68 Matchburner is the PP ( precision plinking) of choice for daughter's MVP LC.
 
I don’t have any complaints about any brands I’ve used. Primarily, Hornady, Nosler and Barnes for rifles. Hornady certainly seems to have all the bases covered though. They make an unbelievable variety of bullets.
 
I have never had much luck getting Hornady's to shoot consistently, I sure wish I could though.

I still want to try some of the 80 ELD's if they ever become available. My best luck has been with Sierra, Berger, and the Nosler CC's. With Hornady and the Nosler RDF line I seem to get a lot of flyers.
 
I shoot more Hornady than anything else. Their line of ELD bullets are great. But all are heavy for caliber and I wanted to try something a little lighter weight in my 308's. The 155 Lapua Scenar bullets shoot better than Bergers in my rifles and the cost is about the same.
 
Nosler RDF line has been a mixed bag of frustration and amazment. Once you realize they are very jump tolerant you can get solid results...but much easier to get same or better with a Hornady or SMK.
 
For target Hornady are lower cost and work as good as anything out there (at least for my shooting skills and equipment and I am not into Berger or the like other than one with their 175 Jug I got on a great sale)

Unless you shoot really tiny bench rest groups I doubt any of them are any different than the rest except cost.

So I am biassed to Hornady for quality bullet and low cost. Sierra is good but tend to be much higher price, if I can pick up at the same or close cost to Hornady I shoot them.

Some guns may not like a particular bullet mfg type, I doubt its across the range of types though.
 
Just finished comparing a 10 shot string of 168 SMK and Hornady 168 HPBTs. After backing off the load 5% I reworked it up and both loads exactly same powder charge etc and they group almost identical...winner winner chicken dinner Hornady
 
We, as handloaders, are blessed with a whole lot of bullet manufactures. These are very good times to be handloading. Tomorrow, before it gets too hot, I'll be loading up more .45 auto with 230gr Missouri bullets. Range time comin' up.
 
For range/plinking, Precision Delta has consistently made good jacketed bullets that are usually cheaper than Berry's plated ones. I haven't seen very much deviation in weight or shape in any of their batches of pistol bullets.

For serious long range accuracy, Sierra has always been my go-to.
 
I see some Sierra and Speer mentions.....are they doing something to improve their rifle bullets in the last 5-10 years? What?

I agree that Berger makes an impressive product.
 
Hornady.
Speer.
Sierra.
Nosler.
Barnes.
Remington.
Winchester.

All are good bullets. The "quality" of the jacketed center-fire bullet you are shooting should generally be the least of your worries unless you are striving to be part of the benchrest, 5 shots, 1 hole, community. If that's the case I cannot help you as I am something between a 3 MOA and 4 MOA shooter.
 
back 20 years ago you could get great deals on Remington and Winchester bullets. The handguns bullets were a particularly good deal. Then prices went crazy and factory bullets started to be as much or more than Hornady. I have gotten some excellent sierra rifle bullets but for handguns, the Hornady bullets are about as good as you can get for the money. I like them better than the plated speer bullets for reloading. rc
 
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