I was doing some reloading with my favorite bullet for my 223 and 221 Fire Ball - the Hornady 50 V Max. I noticed there was a difference when I went from one 250 box to the next. Right where the straight part of the bullet starts to transition to the tip, the newer bullets had a sharper angle to them. The older bullets made a smoother transition in this area. I tried to take some pictures of the new vs old bullets. I hope you can see the difference. I think that in "real time" the difference is quite noticeable. If you look at the edge of one bullet and then compare it to the other on the same side (both right or both left), I hope you can see a difference. In the second picture you can see the dark part (towards the tip) of the first bullet does not go down as far as the second bullet. In the light of my loading bench, you can see it all the way around, it looks very pronounced.
In the first picture a new bullet is flanked by two older ones and in the second picture the new one is on the left.
Why did they change profiles? Is it easier to make the dies this way? A while back they did the same thing to the 50 SPSX bullet. I think there was a little discussion about it. I believe some one even contacted Hornady to ask about it and Hornady said there was no difference, but there most certainly was. Then the topic just faded away. Will it make a difference in the way the bullets shoot? I certainly hope not, but I would think that it will make a difference. If it does, I hope for the better. Will it make a difference in the B.C. of the bullet? Only time will tell.
Has anyone else noticed this difference and what do you think about it?
