Another change to the 147 HST?

[56kobra]

Just received new in stock from target sports USA. Opening is getting smaller and looks like it now has a thicker mouth as well
I have the original old box design 147s from years ago, then some newer ones from last year, the. Today I just got new ones and they look different.

[56kobra]

Newest on left, old newest on right

[56kobra]

On the the boxes they came in

[Archer1440]

For what it's worth, I have noted a similar, minimal but visually observable slight decrease in cavity opening on a recent shipment of HST 124 +P, compared to 2018 production. Otherwise the cartridge appears identical, including blue primer sealant.

If you take an older cartridge and the newer one, and swap them in your hand a few times, you can still identify which is which with a close look. That sort of difference. I didn't bother with a measurement.

This small of a change seems to me to be very unlikely to have any measurable effect on performance- "not enough difference to make a difference", all else presumed equal.

[BBMW]

I'd love to see some tests done using the properly constructed IWBA procedures / materials. I wonder if there's new thinking on terminal ballistics that's going into the newer designs. They seem to be reprioritizing penetration over expansion.

[Hambo]

Gazing into a HP tells you nothing. HST is still working in shootings, so load up and quit obsessing.

[camsdaddy]

Gazing into a HP tells you nothing. HST is still working in shootings, so load up and quit obsessing.

I would hope so buy I wonder if the changes while slight may change performance. I would like to think that the changes were made as an improvement but it could be that closing the HP .003 saved money etc and the bullets have already been tested and improved and the slight change could go unnoticed.

[perlslacker]

I'd love to see some tests done using the properly constructed IWBA procedures / materials. I wonder if there's new thinking on terminal ballistics that's going into the newer designs. They seem to be reprioritizing penetration over expansion.

I've wanted a properly-constructed IWBA test for short barrels (like 3" barrels) for a while. LuckyGunner's tests are OK but 3.5" is different from 3" in 9mm, and clear gel isn't the best test medium.

Everything I can find is YouTube tests of varying quality. The best is ShootingTheBull410, but he intermixed clear & organic gel results and wasn't transparent about temperature or calibration.

[LockedBreech]

I actually like these incremental, tiny changes over time. It most likely shows that Federal/ATK is continually improving the product based on available data.

I have two variations of the HST and they feed the same and I am confident they work the same or better.

I have some older Gold Dot and some very new Gold Dot, I am curious to look at them and see if CCI/Speer did the same thing over time.

[Archer1440]

I'd love to see some tests done using the properly constructed IWBA procedures / materials. I wonder if there's new thinking on terminal ballistics that's going into the newer designs. They seem to be reprioritizing penetration over expansion.

I feel these tiny differences are owing to tooling variations and production related equipment more than any intentional design tweaks. Not enough difference to make a practical difference.