I recently fell for the buy one, get one free promo Nosler was running for their Custom Competition Match ammo in 308.

I figured half price would be a good time to see how it works.

I decided to weigh and measure 20 of them tonight against 20 Winchester Silvertips I have to see if they were put together any more meticulously than the Winchester.

The Nosler was 168g bullets in brass. The extreme spread on the weight was 1.5 grains. The Mean Avg was 382.485 grains with a Standard deviation of 0.455g

The extreme spread on OAL was 0.017in. The mean average on OAL was 2.7808 with a standard deviation of .00437in.

Looks pretty good for a mass produced bullet.

The Winchester was a 150 grain bullet loaded in nickle plated brass (Silvertip). The extreme spread on the weight was 1.9 grains. The Mean Avg was 359.87grains with a Standard deviation of 0.524g.

The extreme spread on OAL was 0.010in. The mean average on OAL was 2.791 with a standard deviation of .00315in.

This also looks pretty good for a mass (much more mass) produced bullet.

Is the case prep Nosler does to their ammo going to make it that much better for accuracy? I really don't know. I guess the next installment will be shooting them side by side from the same gun and see what kind of groups I can get.

It was just something to pass some time with, and to satisfy my curiosity as to whether a mass produced "custom" bullet was in fact put together with more attention to detail. Who knows, they are really too close to call for me. I am not really sure what this exercise told me, but I will think about it for a while.

I will just have to see which one my M1A really likes the best.

bob

Generally speaking, the most important factor in determining ammunition accuracy is the bullet. Brass, primers, powder, and countless other factors run a distant second to the bullet and how it is produced. Match bullets are produced much more carefully than run-of-the-mill hunting bullet. Forming dies are held to closer tolerances and are changed more frequently and the bullet components are inspected more carefully. In addition, the overall design of match bullets is different. I am going to bet that your M1A will show a preference for the match ammo!

Bob,

What are you comparing them with? How good does the M1A shoot now and with what ammo?

In a gun that can show the difference I too would bet on the Nosler, but there's only one way to find out.

If you don't have need a reference standard and need one, try a box of Federal 168s.

Good shooting.