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Thank you for your patience

thought that you missed the target completely without getting closer to verify.  All in all, I have to say I am pretty happy with how the gun and the Target Cam are doing.  Even knowing exactly where the bullets holes went, I tried to spot them through my 24 power scope and it wasn’t going to happen.  I even tried to see the bullet holes through my shooting partner Calib’s 32 power scope, no dice.  So now that we’d broken the ice on the Target Cam, we wanted to see if it could get all the way out to 1,000 yards.  We put up a fresh target and headed out.

Once we got out there, the signal did come in but was a bit in and out. Which is not surprising, as we did not make any adjustments to the antenna and it was very hot that day. The mirage was horrid.  I am not sure if the mirage could interrupt the signal or not, but it wouldn’t surprise if it had.  Now that we had done some daytime shooting it was time to see how it worked at night and it just so happens that my shooting partner has a .243 with a night vision scope on it.  I have never shot at night before and it was a bit of a learning curve for me, but I did enjoy being able to shoot at 11:30 pm.  The only problem we encountered was the the black circles we put on the target which disappeared through the night vision scope, so we had to do some guessing on where to hold.

So here is the true statement on the Target Cam; not only could we easily see the bullet holes from a .243, but it also allowed us to see them at night.  So you hear all this and it sounds great but wait, there’s more. That monitor can handle up to 4 different cameras at once, in split screen or one at a time where you can switch through each camera. I took this out with my last class at the time of writing this. It was really nice being able to give instant and accurate corrections for students and if I had more cameras, that would just make things all that much better. Mark has 2 different models currently available for you to buy. The TC-100 which has a range up to 300 yards and the LR-1000 that has a range up to 1,000 yards. Now even though the LR-1000 is given a max range of 1,000 yards, we were able to squeeze a bit more out of it getting it out to 1,300 yards using taller pole on the antenna. You can find Mark and the Target Cam system at http://target-cam.com/ and for anyone that is serious about shooting long range, they would be very pleased with the target cam system as I am.

Everyone that has used ballistic software in the past knows the steps that need to be taken in making that first round hit.  You get your range finder out your Kestrel your PDA probably your note book so you can make that shot right the first time.  Then one day someone puts it all together and now we have the the Kestrel 4500NV and ATrag Ballistics software together in one unit.  Now with this unit your ballistic software gets your atmospheric conditions automatically with out the need to input the data manually.  Humidity, Temperature,  Station or Barometric pressure and Wind being updated in real time so that its ready before you are.  Here is the press release on the new product that you will be seeing soon……………

Revised BC Assessment
For unknown reasons, the original BC test produced results that were not repeatable for this bullet. Upon releasing these bullets to the public, we started to hear that trajectories predicted with the advertised BC’s were not matching the observed drop. We took this feedback seriously, and performed several more careful BC tests. The results of each of these tests have produced a repeatable BC, but it’s lower than the original value by about 7%.

The revised BC’s for the 300 grain .338 Hybrid are:
G7 BC = 0.419
G1 BC = 0.818

The above BC’s have been measured in multiple tests in multiple barrels, and produce calculated trajectories that match the observations of some credible shooters.

We’re grateful for the feedback of the shooters who brought this matter to our attention and allowed us to correct the inaccurate information. Greater care will be taken with future tests in an effort to prevent this from happening again.

Limitations to the Bullet’s Structural Integrity
Another thing that happened when we released these bullets to the public is that they were fired in cartridges that are more energetic than the .338 Edge which I used for the initial evaluations. Upon exposure to the extreme pressures and accelerations produced by some of the larger cartridges, some negative results were observed; poor groups, and lower observed BC (even lower than the revised values above). Our current working theory is that the poor precision and reduced BC are a result of nose slump. Nose slump is when the bullet is accelerated so fast that the base of the nose can’t support its own weight, and bulges out to fill the barrel. This produces a bullet with a longer bearing surface and a shorter nose which explains the compromised BC. Since this deformation doesn’t occur exactly the same every time, poor precision also results.

The exact threshold of pressure/acceleration that will cause nose slump with this bullet is not known. There are a number of small to medium capacity cartridges that shoot these bullets very well, with extremely good precision and a repeatable BC. So far there have been no reported cases of nose slump with cartridges in the following class: .338 Winchester Mag, .338 Norma Mag, .338 RUM, and .338 Edge, etc.

The .338 Lapua Mag seems to be a borderline case which may or may not produce nose slump. Factors that affect pressure/acceleration will affect the likeliness of nose slump occurring. For example, ball powders are typically faster burning than stick powders, so they produce higher peak pressures, and are more likely to produce nose slump. Tighter bores can also cause elevated pressures and tip the scales toward nose slump.

Cartridges like the .338 Lapua Mag Improved and larger are virtually assured of producing nose slump when loaded to their potential pressures.

If you’re working up a load with these bullets and having difficulty finding a precise load, it’s likely that you’re exceeding the pressure threshold where nose slump happens. In small to medium cartridges, the hybrid ogive design makes it quite easy to find an accurate load. The bullet is quite insensitive to seating depth. If you’re working with a large capacity case and having poor results, you should consider reducing the powder charge until good groups are achieved.

When designing a bullet for use in hunting applications, the toughness of the bullet is always a trade-off. Terminally, you want a bullet that is capable of reliable expansion/fragmentation at low impact velocities. However, the bullet can’t be so thin-skinned that it doesn’t survive being launched at very high speeds. This being our first time working with a bullet this large, a construction was selected which we felt would strike the best balance between toughness and terminal performance. Simply put, we erred too much on the side of terminal performance. The result is a bullet that’s perfectly suited for small to medium capacity cases, but simply isn’t tough enough to survive being fired from the more energetic magnums.

The good news is that the situation has been identified and several solutions are already being worked on. We know the design needs to be ‘toughened up’ for successful use in larger cartridges, and we’re considering the best way to do this.

In Summary
The Berger .338 caliber 300 grain Hybrid bullet is still the highest BC bullet in its class. The performance gap just isn’t as big as originally thought.

In its current form, the bullet is perfectly suitable for many popular small to medium capacity cartridges. From my .338 Edge test rifle, I’ve shot multiple 10 shot groups at 1000 yards under 10” and the bullets performed with a very repeatable BC. For the time being, those with larger capacity cartridges will have to wait for the bullet to be toughened up in order to achieve good performance. We don’t have an anticipated timeline for this revision, but it is a top priority.

On a personal note, I want to express my gratitude for the shooters who’ve provided the critical feedback which helped us to understand the situation enough to take action. Having an open dialogue and exchange of information is the best way to ensure we’re doing everything we can to make the best bullets possible.

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