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Old November 13, 2007, 07:33 AM   #1
DavidJBlythe
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Sierra Match King vs. Hornady A-Max

I loaded my first Hornady A-Max bullets last night. They are the .308, 155 gr flavor. My rifle is a Remington 700 VS in .308 Win.

My question is: Assuming I did my part in careful reloading, how can I expect the A-Max to compare to the Sierra Matchkings I've been shooting to this point? I have had fantastic results with Federal GMM, but I have been wanting to load these A-Max'es for a while.
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Old November 13, 2007, 02:02 PM   #2
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I don't shoot A-Maxes, but lots of people do and love them. Your rifle may or may not perform well with the A-Max bullets. They have a very long ogive (8r) and a very low angle boattail. Buy a box and try them to see if your rifle will shoot them well or not.
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Old November 13, 2007, 03:25 PM   #3
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I have tried reloads using Hornady A-max bullets in my Remington 700 .30-06 and was not too impressed. By comparison, Sierra Matchkings and Gamekings offer greater accuracy at 100 yards from my rifle. Greater than 6" groupings with the Hornady bullets versus less than 1" with Matchkings and nearly the same with Gamekings. My hunting friends like the ballistic tip on Mississippi whitetails at ranges of 50 yards or less. I have tried to convince them that a hollow point bullet is inherently more accurate than a solid tip. They did not believe me until we had a shoot off at the deer camp and the Sierra hollow points came out as the local champions.
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Old November 13, 2007, 08:35 PM   #4
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I've only shot the A-Max bullets in my .22-250. With that, the SMKs blow them out of the water as far as "precision" is concerned. My rifles in general love Sierra bullets for match grade target shooting. Is the Hornady bullets inferior? I don't think so. They just don't work well in my rifles...
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Old November 14, 2007, 07:13 AM   #5
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I have tried them in nearly all of my rifles and, in my experience, they just don't do as well as the SMK's.
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Old November 14, 2007, 10:03 AM   #6
Splat!!
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I shoot 168 grainers A-max..........out of my Remington VLS 308 and I believe you will be happy................The 155 lapua shoot very wicked out of mine...

Should you want to trade around I would be interested in trying the 155 A-max I have 400 of the A-max in 168 grain .......
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Old November 14, 2007, 10:21 AM   #7
Jim Watson
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The A-Max will be less accurate than SMK. Unless it is more accurate. Or maybe about the same. Pull the trigger and find out.

The only rifle I have shot them in is a .223. The 75 gr A-Max shoots about the same as 80 gr Sierra or Nosler. My loading and holding are not good enough to tell a difference. I CAN tell a difference by going up to JLK or Berger VLDs, though.
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Old November 14, 2007, 01:05 PM   #8
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The A-max designs are typically a little longer than the Sierras, so stability is a little lower and, in principle, you would need a slightly faster twist rate with them. In practice, the twist rate usually matters less than the long ogive being farther off the lands for a given COL. The extra total length also means you will need to use a little less powder for a given COL, and a bit more if you seat them out where the ogives are the same distance off the lands. Like a VLD design, the A-max rounds often do best seated long and loaded singly, and their loads have to be adjusted accordingly.

One other problem with the A-max is that in some seater dies the long ogive tips more easily than other bullets. I recommend you sort A-max loads with a runout gauge. Use a Redding or Forster competition seater with them to avoid the problem. You can dedicate a Lee or other seater to the A-max by lapping the seating punch to a better fit, but that will use up a number of bullets.
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Old November 14, 2007, 02:34 PM   #9
Zak Smith
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FWIW, Hornady is using the 120 and 140-gr AMAX in their new long-range match round the 6.5 Creedmoor.

-z
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Old November 14, 2007, 02:41 PM   #10
Splat!!
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Quote:
The extra total length also means you will need to use a little less powder for a given COL, and a bit more if you seat them out where the ogives are the same distance off the lands. Like a VLD design, the A-max rounds often do best seated long and loaded singly, and their loads have to be adjusted accordingly
FWIW....... My 168 A-max shot better with a 2.788 Oal
This in a Remington 700 ......Without custom work (factory)
Only thing custom is the reloads...........
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Old November 14, 2007, 04:16 PM   #11
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6.5 creedmoor? What's that one all about?
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Old November 14, 2007, 05:29 PM   #12
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http://www.thehighroad.org/showthrea...=315173&page=2
http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com...oor-cartridge/
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Old November 14, 2007, 11:47 PM   #13
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Tuzo,

If you are getting 6" groupings with A-max bullets and 1" with SMK, start from scratch with the A-max. You probably worked up the single worst load on the planet for A-max bullets. No offense intended here, but while the SMK has proven more accurate for me the A-max is still a solid performer. you must have definitely been on the "what's not working" path.
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Old November 16, 2007, 11:13 PM   #14
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I have had slightly better luck with A-MAX's over SMK's too. I'm not good enough to shoot one group of each and see a big difference, but on average, my groups w/ A-MAX are better. That is in my Savage .308 12FVSS.
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Old November 17, 2007, 10:56 AM   #15
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Having shot both out of my Savage .223, SMKs just repeatedly outperform the Hornady bullets, so I'm sticking with Sierra.
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Old November 18, 2007, 05:42 PM   #16
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My old 222 just loves SMKs. If I shoot Hornadys, I have to shoot a flatbase to even come close to what the Sierras do. BLC2 and WW brass with a RP 7 1/2. Works every time. CB.
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