Hornady SST vs ELD Impact

[tracker12]

Anyone know what the difference in impact between the SST and ELD is. If the SST was dead center would the ELD impact higher or lower.

[NugginFutz]

It will impact lower. IIRC, it runs about 80-100 fps slower in my 18" tube. How many inches lower depends strictly on your rifles muzzle velocities. When I return home, tonight, I can re-check the #'s I recorded on the two.

[tracker12]

Thanks appreciate the info. I have an 18" barrel so should be close to your results.

[Arkhangel5]

In my rifle, also 18in, SST impacted lower than ELD Black, about 3/4moa lower, at 100yds.

Have never chronoed either, was chking their POI against my match handloads which run ~2465fps.

POI of both were within 3/4MOA elevation vs my handloads, windage was dead on.

My 2c

SY

[jason miller]

Speed doesn't determine impact location relativity. Barrel harmonics do. 140's at 2400 fps impact several inches higher at 100 yards than 123's at 2600, for instance.

[NugginFutz]

Fair enough. But consider this: Barrels are individual beasts. In the two I mentioned above, the POA / POI relationship has a direct correlation to the velocity. (Lucky me, I guess.)

Getting back to my original response to the OP, my 18" Larue shoots the factory SST's at 2519 fps. The Hornady Black (123 ELD) is running at 2485 fps, for a difference of 34 fps (less than I remembered).

For absolute drop @ 100 yards, the SST drops 2.83 inches, and the ELD drops 2.92 inches. A statistical draw.

In other words, a difference without any real distinction, at that distance. Could you shoot either at hunting distances interchangeably, with the same zero? Maybe.

For distance, the two compare as follows.

The 123 SST has a Litz G1 BC of .462, whereas the 123 ELD has a Doppler confirmed G1 BC of .506. With a sight height of 2.5", and the rifles both zeroed @ 100, here is the expected performance from my 18" tube.

	fps		lb / ft		Drop (in)
Range	SST	ELD	SST	ELD	SST	ELD
0	2519	2483	1733	1684	-2.5	-2.5
100	2331	2313	1484	1461	-0.17	-0.17
200	2151	2149	1264	1262	-4.26	-4.35
300	1980	1992	1071	1084	-15.88	-16.08
400	1817	1843	902	928	-36.39	-36.58
500	1664	1701	756	790	-67.46	-67.33

Out to 300 yards, both bullets are within 50 lb /ft of energy and 50 fps.

Beyond 300, the ELD retains more velocity and energy, but those aren't the numbers the OP is interested in. The real tale is in the drop. Note that out to 500, the two are never more than 1/4" apart!

Bearing in mind, these numbers are for this particular rifle and these two specific factory loads.

Arkhangel5 mentions his barrel shooting the two at 3/4 moa apart (~.75" at 100 yards), but has no MV to compare. This could easily be an effect of barrel harmonics, as Jason suggests. If so, then simply zeroing your rifle for the ammunition you intend to shoot will address any POA/POI issues, and life continues to be good!

In either case, I would consider the 123 SST and Black 123 ELD to be ballistically compatible to a relatively high degree.

In other words: "Go shoot the things and have a good time doing it!"

[Arkhangel5]

Well said Nuggin.

Your chart shows little to no practical difference out to 500yds.

For the hunting that I do with my rifle, I would use my match ammunition's zero(123 ELD @2465fps) and still have high confidence that the shot went where I wanted it to go.

SY

[Sticks]

Looks good on paper, but reality sucks.

[Arkhangel5]

And just to be clear, we are talking about factory ammunition correct? In my example. I was comparing the POI of factory SST and ELD Black to my handloads

SY

[NugginFutz]

Looks good on paper, but reality sucks.

Perhaps your reality differs from my personal, first hand reality. Those are no kidding, fired from my own rifle, numbers using verified ballistic coefficients from respectable sources. I've confirmed the drops for myself, using the same ballistic engine used for the above table, with actual shots on targets at different ranges out to 750 yards.

So, which part of the above sucks?

[Sticks]

Perhaps your reality differs from my personal, first hand reality. Those are no kidding, fired from my own rifle, numbers using verified ballistic coefficients from respectable sources. I've confirmed the drops for myself, using the same ballistic engine used for the above table, with actual shots on targets at different ranges out to 750 yards.

So, which part of the above sucks?

If you've confirmed your drops with both rounds, then the dope chart is valid. One must confirm longer range drops/POI to validate the dope chart. Your rifle/barrel has to like the round you are shooting as well. My reality is that a magneto speed MV and a solid 100 yard zero was off paper at 700y.

[NugginFutz]

If you've confirmed your drops with both rounds, then the dope chart is valid. One must confirm longer range drops/POI to validate the dope chart. Your rifle/barrel has to like the round you are shooting as well. My reality is that a magneto speed MV and a solid 100 yard zero was off paper at 700y.

As I said, Sticks, those numbers were cross-checked with actual rounds on target. The Hornady Black shot very consistently with the drop #'s generated by Ballistic AE. In the interests of full disclosure, that app had actually given me two sets of drops. One, based on data that included incorrect barometric pressure, and another with the corrected pressure. Having said that, I agree with you about running with unverified drop data, as it could potentially cost you in terms of a misplaced hit on a game animal or, in a non-hunting scenario, add up in terms of wasted ammo.

[njkidd]

Hey thx for sharing that info..

[tracker12]

Nice info Nuggin. Really appreciate it. Looking forward to hitting the range to see how my data works out.

By the way what would you expect the "10" yard impact to be?

[NugginFutz]

Here's a link for the kind of information you're looking for.

http://appliedballisticsllc.com/ballistics/

This will allow you to select various known projectiles and plug in all the variables you may need.

To answer your question, though, it's really a matter of the height of your scope over the bore and at what distance the rifle is zeroed. If yours is 2.5", and zeroed at 100 yards, the bullet will be ascending from 2.5" below the scope at the muzzle to the 100 yard zero. At the previously mentioned 2584 fps, the bullet would have risen to about 2" below point of aim at 10 yards.

Just as a matter of interest, but why 10 yards?