Disappearing Bullet

W

Win243

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Mn. 2 day F class State Championship, it was a total 160 shot competition.

One shooter fired 159 shots and on the 160th shot the bullet disappeared in a puff of smoke.

How crushing, 2 days wasted!

The bullet was a 6mm Berger.

The shooter finished 2nd overall.
 
Bullets

Shooting bullets at a high velocity in a fast twist from some 6x..fast, bullets will fail. (Just guessing, because this is usually when this happens). The structural limit of the bullet has been exceeded. Don't blame Berger either there are many bullets that will "vaporize" when shot too fast in too high a twist rifle, and some barrels are more suseptable than others.
 
Knowing your bullets limit..

Over the last 40 years I have seen a number of dissapearing bullets especially with a 220 Swift, 22-250, and a .243.

A year ago or so I was shooting 1000 yards at Butner, about 4 or 5 squads down from John Widden who is a great shooter. His target pullers called a miss on his target, he had no lower score on than a 10. I and others had seen a white arc of smoke out at about the 900 yard line. I am sure it was a bullet self destructing.

I have shot a 220 Swift with a 55 garin bullet at about 3900fps. the bullets would shoot 10s all day at 100 yards. About 7 out of 10 would hit the target at 200 yards. One day I experminted by setting up a target at 125, then 135, then 145. the target at 135 would look like it was shot by rat shot. The target at 145 would have no trace of a hit when the bullets burned up in flight.

About 4 weeks ago while at Butner on the 1000 yard lind a number of shooters had bullets dissapear, several other blew primers with loads they had been shooting for years. Verticle was an issue for many shooters. It was 104 degree on Friday, 104 degrees on Saturday and 102 degrees on Sunday. The temperatures were recoreded in the shade under a pop-up. It was even hotter on the line.

I am greatful that Eric Strecker at Berger is coming out with some thicker wall jacketed bullets. I personally think it will take the Bergers to another level. I feel if they would chemically/electrically bond the bullets and cores they would even have a more superior bullet. Cost may prevent them from doing such a thing.

The Swift Scirroco and Nosler Accubond are very fine bullets.

Rustystud
 
Bullet Loss

Been there done that, got the t-shirt! It took 45 years, but it happened. I agree don’t blame the bullet maker, it happens with all bullets brands, some more than others, but it occurs due to many causes including – too fast a twist, too rough a bore (too many rounds, too much fouling) plus other factors. The longer the bullet and the faster a twist, the bigger the case and the smaller the caliber barrel the more likely it is to happen. A very well known female shooter lost a green box bullet at Lodi last month. New barrels, small cases and slower, low pressure loads help a great deal.
 
Electro-chemical bonding

There are hunting bullets made this way, they are made by Speer and loaded in FUSION ammo. I've heard most say that these are great shooting factory rounds, but bench quality I can't say, since they are loaded in popular hunting calibers the world may never know.
 
I had a big problem with disappearing bullets in a 22/6mm imp. As others said, it was pushed to fast in a fast twist barrel. Sure it beat the wind pretty well, but each vapourized bullets was 10 points down. the 22/6mm imp barrels were rechambered in 22BR and 22BRX and the problem was solved, scores went up.
 
So rooshooter, would you say that in your case it was pure RPMs? That is, not temp, pressure, or bore finish.

Did you change bullets with the switch to 22br?
 
Mikecr. I would say RPM was a lot to do with it. I wasnt a high presure load when the bullets came, apart, much lower then with the 22BR. Bore finish definitley makes a difference. I had a one barrel which would blow bullets apart realy quickly, and it also fouled realy badly and felt rough. The last barrel which I have rechambered to 22BR is very smooth and shoots great as a 22BR, but it failed a lot of bullets as a 22/6mm imp. I used the same lot of bullets all along.
80 and 90gn sierra mks seems to be toughest
80 and 90gn Bergers come apart a bit earlier than sierras.
75gn A maxs come apart a bit earlier than both.
 
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