Letters - 11/96

Hornady Disagrees With Light Magnum Evaluation

Regarding the article “Supercharged Cartridges: What Price Performance?” in the July issue of Performance Shooter, Hornady would like to make the following points:

We unveiled the Light Magnum concept in 1994, not in 1995, as stated in the article.

Last year’s television ad says, “shift your ammo into overdrive.” This is based on Light Magnum being “up to 200 ft./sec. faster than standard ammunition.” Which it is—in SAAMI-specified pressure barrels and most 24-inch hunting rifles. There is no reference or implication that “Light Magnum is a Formula One race car and standard ammunition is a commuter clunker.” That analogy comes from your writer/reviewer.

Up until a couple of months ago, we could not find Federal High Energy in quantities anywhere in the U.S. Yet, you managed to find six of the total eight SKUs High Energy will have available in 1996. Of Light Magnum, it seems that you found three of the four calibers you were testing. However, you didn’t find or use our Light Magnum .308 w/180-grain BTHP; .30-06 in 150-grain SP and 180-grain BTHP; .300 Win. Mag. in 180 BTHP. All of the missing Light Magnum and Heavy Magnum (what we call Magnum loads using Light Magnum technology) ammunition have been on store shelves since late last year.

We realize that you must not want to get product from the manufacturers when testing. But we have a consumer line, (800) 338-3220, which can be a help—don’t identify yourself but tell the folks which Hornady products you want. We then will refer you to a few dealers close to you. If they don’t have it, they can get it immediately from a distributor (without us knowing anything).

Our Custom Ammunition (Hornady ‘standard’ ammo) is available in many SKUs for each caliber you tested. Your writer/reviewer found only two of those SKUs in .30-06. Ironically, one of those boxes was a Hornady Frontier brand. Frontier ammo has not been in production for five years.

Your article says, “The results are not nearly as impressive as the advertising claims.” What specific claims did we make that we did not meet? This comment is inferring that we are misleading and deceiving people in our advertising. It’s a fairly careless statement to make without proof or an example.

By far the overwhelming majority of hunting rifles are available in 22- to 24-inch barrels. Take a quick look at the catalogs of Winchester, Remington, Browning, and Ruger. The Ruger Ultra-Light and the Remington Seven are the only rifles with 20-inch or smaller barrels we easily found. A 20-inch rifle cannot be considered a standard rifle. They are brush guns, primarily.

Your writer says that the difference in performance is “not significant in terms of producing kills, we think.” Strange. We did tons of down-range testing, and have hundreds of letters from customers that claim otherwise. Ballistic tests show an edge in performance, and the hunters who have experience in the field say Light Magnum gives them “more confidence on the tougher shots.”

If your writer doesn’t know for sure, why stick in an unfounded opinion? An editorial comment more than an objectively supported point? If so, it should be separated from the objective test article.

Also, there are comments about enhanced-performance loads not being more accurate. There is no claim that our Light Magnum and Heavy Magnum are more accurate. However, why throw opinion in there again? If you know, show the test. Did the writer/reviewer prove that it was less accurate? That would be an issue.

Again, you expressed an opinion that you preferred premium bullets. Are “premium bullets” better in enhanced-performance ammunition than our Hornady Interlock bullets? What test was done? And what cost for extra performance? Our enhanced-performance ammunition costs significantly less than our competition and is only slightly more expensive than our standard ammunition. So which price point is Performance Shooter referring to in your title? Again, the emphasis is on Federal more than on Hornady.

These are a few of the most obvious concerns we had with the article. We expect your publication to be more thorough and objective. I am sending you some updated Light Magnum information from a new brochure. I am looking forward to your response.

—Roger Carvalho
Director of Marketing
Hornady Manufacturing Company
Grande Island, Nebraska

Hornady says that its ammo is “up to 200 fps faster than standard ammo in 24-inch SAAMI-specified barrels.” However, we have never seen that mentioned in any of the company’s advertising. We don’t know a single hunter who hunts with a rifle with that kind of barrel. That’s why we chose to use off-the-shelf rifles in our evaluation—to replicate, as closely as possible, the firearms used by average big-game hunters across the board. Our test rifles had barrels measuring 28, 22, 22, and 20 inches.

We never said finding Hornady Light Magnum was hard—but not every gun shop around carries it, for certain. Also, we did not shoot each and every caliber/bullet combination of Light Magnum and High Energy, just as we did not shoot each and every brand and caliber/bullet weight combination for standard factory ammunition. We think that using several samples of bullet weight/caliber combinations gave us a fair feel for how the product line performed overall. When we said the results are clearly not as impressive as the advertising claims, we think our data backed that statement up. Our evaluation showed, in standard off-the-rack hunting rifles, muzzle velocities were only “up to 200 fps faster than standard calibers” in very few situations, not even the majority of the time. And that’s just the velocity part. As serious shooters and hunters know, there’s much more to the overall success equation than high velocity.

We disagree that 20-inch barrels on rifles are uncommon. Twenty-inch-barrel mountain rifles are becoming the rage with many hunters, especially those who choose standard calibers and hunt the mountains for deer, elk, sheep, goats, and the like. In fact, more 20-inch-and-under barreled production rifles are being offered for sale today than ever before. Examples listed in 1996 manufacturer catalogs include Remington Model 7 (18 1/2 inch and 20 inch); Sako Hunter, Deluxe, and Super Deluxe (21 1/4 inch and 21 3/4 inch), Sako Laminated (21 3/4- inch), and Sako Carbine annlicher Style (18 1/2-inch) ; Ruger M77 RSI MK 11 (18 inch), M77RL MKII (20 inch), and Ruger No. 1-RS1 (20 inch); Savage 110FM (20 inch); and Browning A-Bolt Micro-Medallion (20 inch) and Lightning BLR (20 inch).

Hornady tells Performance Shooter that “the enhanced-performance technology works better in longer-barreled rifles, and the effect diminishes in shorter barrels.” But nowhere in their advertising or press releases have we ever seen this mentioned. Does that mean that a hunter who chooses barrels up to and including 22 inches has to find this out for himself? That’s one of the things our evaluation showed. Even so, the Browning Model 1885 High Wall .270 we used has a 28-inch barrel, and our chronograph results showed us that the velocity advantage in this barrel over two standard loads was just 3.8 percent and 2.4 percent, or real velocity gains of 72 fps and 116 fps, respectively.

Hornady says it makes no claims that its enhanced-velocity ammo is more accurate than any other. We never said they made such claims. We did note, however, that “the accuracy of this enhanced-performance ammunition was certainly no better, on average, than that provided by standard factory ammunition.” Our evaluation proved this to be true in most cases. When it showed the enhanced performance ammo gave us better groups, we said it did. Based on our testing, we didn’t see conclusive performance gains for the enhanced-performance ammo that justified their higher prices.

Taken to Task on .22 Mags
I just finished reading the June article on the Marlin, Ruger, and Anschutz .22 Magnum rifles. There are a few of your remarks I don’t understand.

For example: “… because the Anschutz shot so well with so many brands of ammunition, we pick the German product over the Ruger.” The Ruger average group size was 1.0 inch and the average smallest group was 0.62 inch. For the Anschutz, the average group was 0.65 inch. So where is the “so many brands of ammo” that the Anschutz shot better? Also, is the 0.02 inch difference a meaningful value? I think not!

Now on to the Marlin. “For serious shooters, we wouldn’t recommend it.” What is a serious shooter? Frankly, I can’t imagine any target shooter looking twice at a rifle that shoots only 2 moa. I can only assume you are looking for a suitable sporting rifle for light varminting and plinking, based on your opening paragraph. Can you explain, then, why a gun a gun that averages 2.3 moa is not suitable, but one that averages 1.96 moa is highly recommended? Also, why would the Marlin be suitable for a youngster? Are we to assume that the 0.18-inch difference in average group size is actually important to the average adult? Get real. Anyone who needs the utmost in accuracy will take the Ruger and put a new barrel on it or get a Kimber, Cooper, Dakota, or the like.

Anyone remotely interested in the accuracy of their rifle will try several loads and then shoot the one they find to be most appropriate. With this in mind, is the 0.8-inch group of the Anschutz worth paying three times more than the 0.9-inch group of the Marlin?

—Andy Benning
Name and Address Withheld

The accuracy rankings were close, as you noted, but they were not the only factors on which we based our recommendations. In fact, the deck makes our thoughts perfectly clear. “The Anschutz 1516D Classic is at the top of the heap in accuracy, looks, and features, but both the Ruger K77/22VMBZ and Marlin 882L offer shooters a lot for progressively lower prices.”

Also, as the table clearly showed, the Anschutz shot four of five brands of ammo under an inch at 50 yards. The Ruger shot three of five brands under an inch. That’s not much of an edge, but it is still an edge. We don’t think it’s too hard to see that a rifle that shoots more ammo brands accurately is going to be easier to match up with a good-shooting lot.

On the Marlin, we’re confused about your math. The differences in all-ammo averages between the Marlin and the Anschutz were about 0.4 inch. That’s enough to notice. Now whether you or anyone else cares about that difference, we can’t say. What we said about the Anschutz stands: “It was the most accurate rifle, it looked great, had first-class wood-to-metal fit and checkering, and featured an adjustable trigger. We would buy the 1516D Classic.”

Give Me A Charge
I appreciated your article in the April issue on “Tweaking the AR15 for High Power Use.” I desperately need loading data for Berger 75- and 80-grain VLDs for use in an Olympic Arms Ultramatch with a 1-in-8 twist, 24-inch barrel.

—Matthew P. Bowen
Snohomish, WA

JLK has loading data for its .224 VLDs. We suggest using exactly the same components (same case, primer, and powder brand) listed for JLK loads and starting at least a full grain under the listed maximum powder charge. Contact JLK Bullets, telephone (501) 331-4194.