Berger .284 caliber 180 grain Hybrid

Dimensions taken from Lot#2901

Sample Size:

5

Ogive Radius:

proprietary

Sectional Density:

0.319 lb/in2

Rt/R:

proprietary

    This bullet has made a big splash in a short amount of time.  Introduced in 2010, by early 2011, it already has numerous long range match wins and even a couple national records established in the F-Open class.

    The full concept of Berger’s Hybrid ogive design is detailed in this article.  The basic idea is that the hybrid ogive takes advantage of the positive attributes of both tangent and secant ogives (length tolerance of tangent ogives, and low drag of secant ogives), while avoiding the downsides of both.  So far the concept has been very successful in 7mm, .308, and .338 caliber.

    The bullet was intentionally designed with a slightly larger than necessary meplat diameter.  This was an experiment intended to achieve greater uniformity/consistency in the bullet making process.  The experiment was a success because the wider tipped bullets do have less variation in OAL than bullets made with sharper points (like on the 180 VLD for example).  However the larger tip has the negative side effect of slightly higher drag.  

    Even with the extra drag from the wider tip, this bullet has less overall drag than the original 180 grain VLD, and a higher BC than any other bullet in it’s class.  

    The special secret of this bullet is that since it has a wider than average meplat, the drag reduction that’s possible from aftermarket pointing of the meplat is much more than average.  Typically the drag can be reduced (BC increased) by 2-4% for most bullets that already have small meplats.  However, since the meplat of the hybrid is so wide to begin with, it’s BC is increased by 8% when pointed!  This is a substantial improvement which is evident in the ballistic performance and puts this bullet head and shoulders above anything else under .338 caliber for ballistic performance.

    The Whidden bullet pointing die with a #1 insert is recommended for pointing this bullet.

    Also, check out this video of the 2011 Berger Southwest nationals, in which the F-open and Prone class were won with the 180 grain Hybrid, and 2 F-open national records were shot 2 days in a row with the same bullet.

    Unfortunately, due to the immediate high demand and Berger’s production capabilities, these bullets have been in short supply since being introduced.  Berger is working to resolve the supply issue, but until they do these particular bullets can be difficult to come by.

Drag and Ballistic Coefficient

Fps/Mach

Cd

i7

G7 BC

i1

G1 BC

1500/1.34

0.331

0.902

0.354

0.501

0.636

2000/1.79

0.291

0.929

0.343

0.468

0.682

2500/2.23

0.264

0.928

0.344

0.466

0.684

3000/2.68

0.243

0.935

0.341

0.459

0.695

Average:

0.924

0.345

0.473

0.674

Variation:

0.034

0.013

0.043

0.059

Rifling Twist Rate and Stability

Stability Factor

Barrel Twist

Best case

Nominal

Worst Case

1:8"

2.11

1.84

1.59

1:9"

1.  

1.45

1.26

1:10"

1.35

1.18

1.02

1:11"

1.11

0.97

0.84

1:12"

0.94

0.82

0.71

*Stability Factor above 1.4 indicates good stability.  Below 1.4 indicates marginal stability.  Less than 1.0 is unstable.