Hornady A-Max VS Nosler Custom Competition

I'm toying with the idea of making a change, and just wanted to gather opinion:

Currently, and for the last several years, I load my 30-06 rounds with a Nosler 168 gr HPBT Custom Competition bullet over 44.0 grains of H-4895 and a CCI #34 primer. I use this for CMP Match shooting in both my 1903A3 (with HXP brass) and my Garand (with Lake City brass). In my 03A3, it's pretty darn accurate. In my Garand, it's getting close but not near where I want to be. Others I shoot with use the Hornady A-Max 168 gr bullet, and I'm thinking of trying them for both. If my scores improve, then I'll switch permanently... but right now, I just want to try and see.

For what it's worth, I'm not looking to change the load data... just the bullet.

What does everyone else think about the Hornday 168 gr A-Max bullet?

Have used the Nosler CC since about 1990. Excellent bullet. Change to the A-Max may bring improvement. Will almost certainly end up needing to fiddle with the charge weight to get best results. Best of luck to you. Sincerely. bruce.

Only ever used Hornady Match in my '03A4. Never bothered in my M1. It's not a match rifle. And you'd have to work up the load for the M1 anyway. And you don't need magnum primers for H4895. CCI #34's are nothing but magnum primers.

If your M1 Rifle is not a National Match rifle, you'll never equal the accuracy of a bolt rifle so brands of quality bullets won't make any difference. Will your M1 shoot Hornady better...maybe but often no real benefit changing from Nosler to Hornady.

Frankly at these close ranges, if your Garand is not giving you 10 rings and 10x counts, its more likely your barrel than Nosler bullets.

I do get the tens from the Garand... just not nearly as tight a group as I'd like... but I do understand that it will not compare to the 03A3, and I can pepper the X with that. Perhaps, I'll stick with the Noslers for the time being (I have a ton of em right now anyway).

I switched to the #34 primer because it's Mil-Spec with a slightly thicker cup... and I was concerned about sensitivity in my Garand. I know that the CCI 200 is probably fine, but I'm all about safety these days, so I started using them for my 30-06 rounds. I have around 3000 of them on hand... so for now, I'll keep using them.

Thanks for the advice all!

[QUOTE=BlitzKrieg;50911
Frankly at these close ranges, if your Garand is not giving you 10 rings and 10x counts, its more likely your barrel than Nosler bullets.[/QUOTE]

If you have an M1 that's giving you 10X's at 200 yds you have one hell of an M1.

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Originally Posted by psteinmayer

I'm toying with the idea of making a change, and just wanted to gather opinion:

Currently, and for the last several years, I load my 30-06 rounds with a Nosler 168 gr HPBT Custom Competition bullet over 44.0 grains of H-4895 and a CCI #34 primer. I use this for CMP Match shooting in both my 1903A3 (with HXP brass) and my Garand (with Lake City brass). In my 03A3, it's pretty darn accurate. In my Garand, it's getting close but not near where I want to be. Others I shoot with use the Hornady A-Max 168 gr bullet, and I'm thinking of trying them for both. If my scores improve, then I'll switch permanently... but right now, I just want to try and see.

For what it's worth, I'm not looking to change the load data... just the bullet.

What does everyone else think about the Hornday 168 gr A-Max bullet?

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It's _very_ unlikely you'll get a valid comparison without changing the load.

If you've got a ton of those Noslers, I'd stay with them for your Garand. The A-Max's are good bullets but I don't think you'll see much difference at 200 yards. M1s are typically 2-3 minute rifles unless you spend a ton of money on them and shoot in the Unlimited class. For my 03A3, I've gone another direction. A buddy of mine turned me on to the Sierra 125gr Matchking. These are little flat based bullets that are very accurate at the 200 yard distance. I load them with whatever medium burning extruded powder I have on hand. I've used IMR 4895, Varget and others in the past, now currently using 40gr RL15. I only push these bullets around 2300 fps and have been very happy with the results. They're very accurate and the recoil is extremely mild. They don't push you out of position in the rapids or slow prone. These light bullets and loads will break your Garand, though. I don't shoot my Garand much any more, I like the bolt gun better.