Comments on: Palma Projectiles: 155s vs. the Heavier 30-Caliber Bullets

By: Dustin Mills

Dustin Mills — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:48:13 +0000

The Sierra MK HPBT Palma Moly 155g projectile has less bullet drop and less wind drift than the 168g or 175g at all distances including 1k.

By: Kelly Bachand

Kelly Bachand — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:00:40 +0000

Well there you have it, some more shooters posted what they do and each posted something different. The key in all of this is that there really isn’t a right or wrong bullet weight. There is, however, going to be a bullet weight that best suits your needs as a competitor and it would behoove you to find your ideal bullet weight(s). For competitors like myself whose main focus is international competition, it makes sense for me to stick with the 155s, but this obviously is not the case for every shooter. Find out what makes sense for you and share the knowledge with others! Thanks for all your comments.
Kelly

By: Michelle Gallagher

Michelle Gallagher — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:07:28 +0000

The 155.5s actually shoot tighter groups for me than the heavier bullets do. I’m sure the results would be different in other rifles, but I’m going to stick with the 155.5s.

Bryan’s right in that you’ll need to be a little more on top of wind changes. Shoot F-class. The smaller target will MAKE you watch the changes closer.

By: Pat Campbell

Pat Campbell — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:37:12 +0000

Mr. Salazar, I welcome comments from sling shooters. You folks have my great respect! I will explore the Sierra 175 for the 1k load. I just hope that bullet works as well as the 168 Hornady and 168 SMK do for me at 600. Both of those 168’s have shot to .270″ three shot group @200 yards, on a pod too.

What caught my eye about this article was Mr. Bachand’s logic to use one bullet for all Palma shooting.

My f-class shooting in WI is 600 mid-range & 1k long range for both state and regional tournament championships. I’ve not shot at 1k to date. That is this coming years project. I’d like to establish a one bullet cartridge that I use for everything. Especially since I understand that the 2011 f-class national champs are coming here to Lodi.

By: German Salazar

German Salazar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:24:53 +0000

Pat, if you don’t mind a comment from a sling shooter, you would probably be better off to standardize on one of the various 175 gr. bullets. The recoil difference will be minimal (nonexistent, really) and the 175’s are proven performers at 1000 yards. The Berger 175 boat tail is my top choice, followed by the Berger 175 VLD, then the Sierra.

By: Pat Campbell

Pat Campbell — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:21:56 +0000

Given that this article is steered towards Palma shooters please allow a post from an f-class shooter. Since I’m newer at the longer range games I read all I can seeking info.

For a 168gr bullet consider Hornady #30501 168 bthp match? I used this in 2009 for mid-range f-class and intend to test it for 1000 yd. f-class. I load RE-15 to 2680fps 15′ from muzzle, 29″ 1-12 three groove Palma 95 chamber.

The reason I post this is a premise of this article is simplicity. For me having the 168 be my go to bullet for all yardages 600-1000 is my goal. My logic is a bit better bc than 155, a bit less recoil than 175+ bullets, and a bit less wind drift than 155.

Pat

By: victor hanna

victor hanna — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:13:00 +0000

The 155g makes it a level playing field

By: Ken Littlefield

Ken Littlefield — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:13:15 +0000

Sierra, Berger, and Lapua all make an excellent 155s. I have a couple of reasons for favoring the 155, the first is the same as Kelly’s; our goal is to win in team competition in international competition, so we train and compete with the 155 2156 Sierra that we will shoot in team competition. The other consideration is recoil, 185s and 210s have a noticably heavier kick (especially when loaded to run as fast as some of these competitors are driving them).

Also windage is not everthing, I’ve played with the Sierra 175s, and 210s, and even the 208 Amax (both in a 10 twist), but I think the Sierra 2156 holds the most consistent elevation of any bullet we have worked with in a 308.

n140 is another option to Varget with the 155s, I’m currently using imr4064 with the 175 SMK in my F-TR rifle, bt frankly the 2156 shoots a lot better.

By: German Salazar

German Salazar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:37:33 +0000

I think Kelly presents a good view of a reliable, “keep it simple” approach to Palma shooting. My preference is to shoot heavier bullets (175 Berger, 185 Lapua, 190 Sierra, 190 VLD Berger) but I’ve shot thousands of 155’s and they are very good, especially the 155 Berger Fullbore bullet. Using 155’s I load H4895 or IMR 4320 I haven’t used Varget for a several years as it has become too slow in my opinion.

For the heavier bullets I use a 29″ long, 1:11″ twist barrel with a slightly longer throat. I’ve been shooting the 175 Berger for the past 6 months at big matches and it appears to be a good compromise of drift accuracy and reliability. This week, I shot a 448-27 and a 448-26 with it during the Berger Bullets Southwest Nationals in Phoenix for a second place to Michelle Gallagher in the two day Palma aggregate.

One of the interesting challenges of long-range shooting is working with loads and as good a the 155 class of bullets can be, I still like to try other things. I even have a 1:10″ twist barrel throated for the Berger 210 but that project has languished for a couple of years.

By: Kelly Bachand

Kelly Bachand — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:14:11 +0000

I’m sure you would Bryan