Indians For Guns

On Friday I bought a box of Federal Power-Shok 180gr soft points in .30-06 calibre.

Compared to the Western Power-Point 180gr. .30-06 soft points there is a marked difference in the bullet ogive and I am wondering if the Federal rounds are indeed 180 grain rounds or 150/165 grain rounds put into a 180 gr. box by mistake. Note that the overall length of the Federal cartridge is less than that of the Western round.

Have attached two pictures for your reference and grateful if someone could clarify the matter. I do not have a bullet puller and wont be able to chrono the round until a few days or a week and hence the query.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

Certainly looks dinky for a 180 gr but depends how deeply the bullet is inserted into the case.
You don`t need a bullet puller to remove a bullet from a case - just a pair of pliers along with some brute force and ignorance. You won`t be able to use the bullet afterwards though........and the process won`t do the case a whole lot of good either.
Better to wait until you get the chrono back.

BTW, you lend out your chrono ? A big mistake as I`ve lost two that way .................
For some weird reason people don`t feel obliged to pay for a chrono after shooting it up - possibly because they feel such idiots that you never see them again.
Think we discussed that a while ago.

I have a Chrony and a cb-625. I just need to be able to use the Chrony somewhere safe. Will post the reading when I have it.

I'd rather shoot through the Chrony at a target and get the velocity reading and note the point of impact instead of buggering up a round. Unless ofcourse you want to sponsor the round...

That`s why I suggested that you wait for the return of your chrony..........

The bullet profiles are completely different.
The one on the left follows the Naturalis profile which would be a flat base bullet.
The Powershocks are Boat Tailed and have a completely different profile.
If the Federal box states 180 grain power shocks.. you can bet money that they will be 180 grain bullets within tolerances.

Now my guess is that the POI and Velocities between the two will have significant variances.. given that they likely are loaded to different pressures and different powders. Secondly the Ogive shape does come into play, and the BC between the two is likely to vary quite a bit.

Slightly OT, Two bullets of same weight but of different lengths (hypothetically speaking other details like shape,structure etc are similar),how would they perform on game? Would the longer bullet penetrate lesser than the shorter one? I am guessing and I don't know why I think so.Thank you.



Best-
Vikram

MoA: A few questions for you...
1) Would you know exactly which soft point bullet Federal is using for their 180gr Power Shok?
2) Are bullets seated beyond the neck and into thhe shoulder area?
3) Do S&B use a boat tail or flat base for their 180gr soft point?

If there has been a mistake, I am just as certain it is not by Federal but at a local level.

Vikram: An interesting question. All I can say is that, everything else being equal, the more stable of the two projectiles is going to penetrate further.

Vickers, I`ve responded via email ....... for various reasons which you`ll probably work out.

I asked a friend who has similar rounds in 150 and 180gr and received the results of a very rough and ready weigh-in (kitchen scale),including the plastic cartridge holders but not the box this morning.

My friend's weights:
19 nos. of 180gr. Power-Shoks - 600 grams.
19 nos. of 150gr. Power-Shoks - 545 grams.

The weight as measured by me on my kitchen scale, including the plastic cartridge holder but not the box, for 19 nos. of 180gr. Power-Shoks was 580 grams.

Assuming there is an error of 20 grams between our scales, then I do have 180gr. rounds.

Regards.

Mack The Knife

Mack The Knife,

1. No one seems to know. However some calibers do use the Nosler Partitions or Speer Bullets. My guess from the picture would be a Nosler Partition.
2, Some are... again without knowing the bullet lenght and COAL impossible to say for this particular round. But yes in some calbers the bullets are seated well beyond the neck junction. The .243 win, and .260 Rem with the heavier bullets do come to mind when seated to a nominal COAL to SAAMI.
3. No idea. Never seen a S&B 180 grain softpoint in .30 Cal. I do have some 180 gr, FMJ BT's though.

BTW I dont currently own a .30-06 and actually dont want one. Though I have sent hundreds of .30-06 rounds down range from a Garand primarily..

Hi MoA and thanks for the replies. The bullet in question does not look like a Nosler Partition. Also, Federal only offer Partitions in their premium loadings - Vital-Shok.

However, the bullet does resemble a Speer Hot-Cor.

Mack The Knife

Mack The Knife... you may be on the money with the Hot-Cor... I have no Idea what Federal uses for each of their lines.
I am no expert on soft point bullets, and dont really shoot a lot of them, if any.

I have been trawling the net for the past hour and there have been a few posts on forums I hadn't even heard off about Federal using Speer Hot-Cor's for their Power-Shok range. A very good bullet by all accounts.

One learns everyday.
I tend to handload my ammo, and dont use Speer bullets.
Ah well if I come across a box of Power Shok's in any of the calibers that I do shoot... will try them and report back on accuracy.

MoA wrote:Ah well if I come across a box of Power Shok's in any of the calibers that I do shoot... will try them and report back on accuracy.

Just read another forum and it appears the Speer Hot-Cors aren't what they used to be. Atleast as far as accuracy goes. However, since you own a few tack-drivers it would be interesting to see how the Power-Shoks perform.