hornady ftx=sad, parker BE=happy why?

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alzheimershooter

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i cannot believe how bad the hornady 250 gr ftx shoot out of this gun. rum 45 conversion brux, breech, brake. i got the bullet sizing all dialed in and went out hoping to practice with the much cheaper hornady's and at 100 yds, 24"x24" target with a little orange circle in the middle, first shot was not bad, , second didn't even hit the paper, i think i found a big hole in the target frame , third was higher than first. essentially a 14" group at 100 yds. chrono showed nice number for all. hopefully see attached pic now, i called each shot as being good, just like the next group.

i had not cleaned gun, it was still fouled from previous day, in which i had shot parker black max 250 gr and 300 parker be, all with fine results

then i shoot 300 gr parker ballistic extremes. wow, 1/2 moa group see pic, it is also in lower right of the hornady group pic

how can the hornady's shoot so bad, is this normal, anyone else have similiar experience. i had bought them hoping to practice without breaking the bank,,, hoping for maybe 2 moa or something. geeez i can't practice with something that shoots this bad. stuck with 2 boxes,,,,,

is there something i am doing wrong with the hornady's?

i am shooting open sights, lyman front globe, rear williams peep. 86 gr

i have in the past seen folks post (another forum) "take your 3 shot group and go home, we only accept 5 shot groups!" well at 2 bucks a shot, i do 3 shot groups
bh209IMG_3312.JPG IMG_3311.JPG
 
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Parker BEs have a jacket thickness of .015 . In my opinion BEs are one of the easiest bullets to get to shoot . Your Hornady bullets have a jacket thickness of .025 to .028 I can not remember exactly . A .015 jacket thickness bullet is much easier to get to shoot Sabotless . The BE with its .015 jacket will bump up into the rifling very easy . Also a Parker BE is a short stubby bullet which makes it easy to stabilize .

Two other bullets that are easy to get to shoot . Fury star tips or Fury tipped bullets . They have a .025 jacket but the bullet is bonded which is annealed allowing the jacket to be very soft .

If you want a higher BC bullet Pittman Accumax with a .015 jacket .

Oh ya one other higher BC bullet is a Parker Emax also with the same .015 jacket .

Thinner jacket bullets are ALWAYS much easier to get to shoot . Not at all saying a thicker jacketed bullet will not shoot but they can be difficult .
 
Parker BEs have a jacket thickness of .015 . In my opinion BEs are one of the easiest bullets to get to shoot . Your Hornady bullets have a jacket thickness of .025 to .028 I can not remember exactly . A .015 jacket thickness bullet is much easier to get to shoot Sabotless . The BE with its .015 jacket will bump up into the rifling very easy . Also a Parker BE is a short stubby bullet which makes it easy to stabilize .

Two other bullets that are easy to get to shoot . Fury star tips or Fury tipped bullets . They have a .025 jacket but the bullet is bonded which is annealed allowing the jacket to be very soft .

If you want a higher BC bullet Pittman Accumax with a .015 jacket .

Oh ya one other higher BC bullet is a Parker Emax also with the same .015 jacket .

Thinner jacket bullets are ALWAYS much easier to get to shoot . Not at all saying a thicker jacketed bullet will not shoot but they can be difficult .


i have used fury star tips in the past when the rifle was a 50 cal,,,they were great but they are about as expensive as the parkers, i would sure like to find a practice bullet that is easy to size/shoot but are priced more along the lines of the hornady ftx's. new to sizing so not sure what is out there.
 
Fury Star Tips are $44/50. That is cheaper than Parker BEs at around $73/50.

A good cheap 250gr is the Nosler Sporting Handgun bullet. Thin jacket and soft lead core too. If you can size a 458 down to .452 first the Sierra 300gr FNHP also has a very thing jacket and soft lead core. Both are very easy to get to shoot with BH209 but are better for just practice.

I cant get the FTX/STTs to shoot worth a hoot at typical BH209 speeds. Way too many random fliers sabotless.

You could try the Harvester PT Golds if you want to try a plated bullet. The Speer Deepcurls have worked for some but i havent tried them with BH209 sabotless. The Harvesters will shoot though its just not that great of a bullet either for this application.
 
Fury Star Tips are $44/50. That is cheaper than Parker BEs at around $73/50.

A good cheap 250gr is the Nosler Sporting Handgun bullet. Thin jacket and soft lead core too. If you can size a 458 down to .452 first the Sierra 300gr FNHP also has a very thing jacket and soft lead core. Both are very easy to get to shoot with BH209 but are better for just practice.

I cant get the FTX/STTs to shoot worth a hoot at typical BH209 speeds. Way too many random fliers sabotless.

You could try the Harvester PT Golds if you want to try a plated bullet. The Speer Deepcurls have worked for some but i havent tried them with BH209 sabotless. The Harvesters will shoot though its just not that great of a bullet either for this application.
i was looking at the star tips 2, with the aluminum tip,,,, i see the ones you are talking about, they re cheaper,,,, i might try them. thanks
 
I also can't get the FTX or the SST's to group worth a crap. First ever group with the Parker BE's was 1-1/8" using 90 gns BH and shooting sabotless. .45 cal Austin Halleck with homemade bolt/breech mod didn't need to size. Going to Mexico Saturday and out of bullets, so I won't have time to play with powder charge and weighing the charges etc... till I get back, which will be 3 days into our ML season in Utah.
 

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