Sierra Bullet Problem

[Aim4gold]

Have any of you had any issues with Seirra 39 grain bullets?

I purchased 4 100ct boxes of Sierra 204 39 gr
Extremely poor quality control for ogive length.

Box A varied by 0.003” (acceptable)
Box B varied by 0.022”
Box C varied by 0.017”
Box D varied by 0.019”

Of the last three boxes, not just one or two long/short but if you charted it you would get a very spread out scatter.
Box A ogive measured mostly 0.370” and 0.371”
The other three boxes had very few in that length range.

I contacted Sierra and they had me send in a sample of the long and short of each of the three boxes.

Sierra’s First Comment:
“The larger discrepancies you indicate are not within the normal expected for base to ogive readings--usually .003 to .005”

Sierra’s Resolution Comment:
“The bullets you returned were checked by QC and basically agreed closely with your reported findings. There hasn't been a specific number for runout reached on hunting bullets so a "blanket" number hasn't been decided. The numbers found are admittedly large and a decision was approved to send you 3 replacement boxes of bullets.

Thanks for giving Sierra a chance to analyze and correct this problem--good shooting.”

First - they agreed with my findings
Second - they did not correct any problem?
Third – They agreed that the ogive measurements were large but they will not call these bullets defective, then I assume that a 0.022” difference in ogive length within one box of 100 is within their tolerances being these are “hunting” grade bullets.

I have been using hornady V-max mostly and thought I would give Sierra a try –
Remember, you only get one chance at first impressions!

I did ask what the target ogive length of the 39 grain bullet was - all I was told is that they don't have a standard or a target length???

What do you all get for an average ogive length?
Am I asking too tight of tolorances?

[Va varminter]

I have never measured ogive length. I also shoot sierra 39 grainers. All I know is mine shoots tiny little holes. I don't ask questions when it's working.

[Varmintcaller]

Me too, My Howa 1500 loves the 39 Bltzes and the coyotes hate them.

[jo191145]

In my expierience all Sierra pills suffer from this problem. I do not use Sierra in any other caliber but I have 6mm/6.5mm and .308 cal pills from them that all show this large variation. I have them but don't use them

Sierra pumps out a lot of pills. Its my opinion they have multiple dies for a single bullet and they are not kept segregated. JMHO.

If they work they work tho. More folks jump Sierras in most calibers these days. They find the best performance jumping. Guess why.

[Aim4gold]

Have any of you experienced this problem with Hornady V-Max?

[jo191145]

Aim4gold

I've never did much measuring on the V-Max but the A-Max line is pretty consistent.

FWIW I usually do not sort or weigh bullets in any caliber. I will check seated bullets for consistent readings with an ogive measure. Of course thats not 100% effective and does not measure bearing lenght variations.
Nonetheless when the ogive measurement in a seated round begins to vary you can be assured you have even larger variations in the bullet itself. Time to start measuring.
Better than sorting is to buy bullets that do not require it

The worse I've seen is 6mm Sierra 95gn VLD's.
My first thought is always the seater plug. Sometimes they're not relieved deep enough for VLD's and will seat from the tip.

[varget204]

just mailed sierra some 39 gr.blitz king;have shot groups down to .125. have had keyhole problems.you never know when. i started measureing the length,found bullets as short as.730;some as long as .746.weights were from 3 box's from 38.8 to39.2 grains. not very consistant.varget204.

[Bergcrane2]

Maybe bullet manufacturers run into the same issues powder manufacturers do. Buy bulk with all the same lot number.

[stevecrea]

You have discovered some interesting facts. It would be useful to compare the statistics on a number of other manufacturers and make a fair comparison. However, it may be useful to consider that hunting bullets are not "match" quality, and the price is usually somewhat less, accordingly.

[Aim4gold]

You have discovered some interesting facts. It would be useful to compare the statistics on a number of other manufacturers and make a fair comparison. However, it may be useful to consider that hunting bullets are not "match" quality, and the price is usually somewhat less, accordingly.

When I was measuring these Sierra bullets, I had a box of 250 count 22-250 Hornady V-Max. The entire box varies by 0.003", not bad at all, eh! I only had a part box of 204's on hand, I did measure them the ones I had left in the box varied by 0.003" also.

By the way:
Sierra has replaced 300 of my 39 grain 204's with 600 40 grain Hornady's. (2 for 1)

[varget204]

try measureing bullet length;have had keyhole problems with bullets shorter than .739-.740.sierra received bullets i mailed them.have not heard back, poor service. tried some 39.0 & 39.1 grs. at 2.300 oal. shot under .3 last week :

[richness]

I agree, aim4gold - i have recently found similar length issues wit hthem. I just batch them and shoot them separately but when you've got that much variation, you need about 4batches and it all gets to be a pain. I'm currently waiting on 300 40gr vmax for testing in my new 1/11" Archer so we'll see how they go. Previously they gave unbelivable fps with RL15 of all things....so we'll see
Richard Utting

[varget204]

have had keyholeing problems in the past w/39 gr. blitz king bullets.contacted sierra;they thought it was caused by neck tension &/or short length bullets.did alot of testing;measured bullet length;load them in groups.[last 500 had {4}main lengths..735-.737,.739-.7415;.743-.745,.747-.750.i had 3 keyhole out of last 200;1 was from split case neck? the other 2 i think were from the ballistic tip[slightly off center]3 shot groups..1to.2;5shot groups under.3 centers.i started rolling bullets on flat surface and found some off center,hard to notice untill rolled.Bullet length can run from.730-.750;ogive's varry.03-.015.since i started weighing,measureing and rolling bullets ,grps. have tightened up alot. i load remington,winchester and hornady cases,mostly wsr primers.have used varget,win 7i48,h335,blc-2, ramshot-tac.do to difference in ogive; OAL.. sometimes varries .08-.015.I would suggest any one having trouble with 39 gr. blitz king bullets ,weigh,measure{for length} in groups. then roll bullets for trueness.i tried to make a couple of rounds keyhole by loading , 1 case w/1/16 " split in neck and another 1 w/beginning of split and 1 good case.result 3 bullets touching in low .2's,so i'm ruling out neck tension as long as its reasonable.

[Keith in Ga]

On a much smaller experiment, I noticed your same results. I measured "several", 39 gr Blitzkings for ogive length. The bullets were selected at random, and the measurements were all over the board. I randomly selected the same number of 40 gr V-max bullets, and the ogive measurements were EXACTLY the same. Scientific, no, but the results were really eye opening.
Most of my .204 Blitzkings that I've shot both 32 and 39 gr bullets have been shot at prairie dogs. The bullets that I have shot at paper showed great accuracy, course I didn't measure the ogive of these bullets, so maybe I was lucky, or maybe it really doesn't matter?
I did notice last year while shooting pd's that occasionally I would have a round "go astray" by 1-2 FEET! The guide also witnessed the shots, and asked me what happened. I don't have a clue, every round had the powder charges weighed on my RCBS chargemaster, so maybe the bullets were keyholeing?
At present, I'm experimenting with 40 gr V-max bullets for both my .204's. The accuracy so far has been in the .1's, .2's and .3's, so I'm pretty pleased. After more rounds downrange, I'll give a report.

[Jim White]

I took some Sierra 39 SBK loads that consistently shoot .5" groups at 200 yards in my Remington and CZ 204's and tried them in a Savage at 100 yds. They were all over the target and some were key-holed. I could have thrown them down there by hand and gotten better results. I then tried 5-shot loads using the same bullet with H4895 from 25.0 - 27.5 in .1 grains incriments. None would shoot worth a hoot.

I concluded, some rifles, no matter what, just don't like certain bullets. My Remington 204 Varmint is the same way with Hornady 40 gr VMAX. Initially, my CZ-204 didn't do as wellwith them but since it's been shot a bit it too has turned in some good performances at 200 yards with the 40 VMAX. Perhaps I'll look at them again.

Jim