Wideners (Privi Partizan) 75 grain bullet

[Cannon]

Recently I have been reloading 75 grain 223 loads and I bought 1000 bullets from Wideners. I bought these because I'd thought they were a little cheaper and it was still a heavy bullet. I did not buy the bulk 5000 pack they had with free shipping because I thought it would be taking a risk on a bullet I did not have any experience with. There website states that 10 bullets they weighed had an extreme spread of .6 grains.
3-74.6
2-74.8
2-75.0
1-75.1
2-75.2
I did not weigh any of the bullets at first, but after getting a flier or two in every group I thought I'd go back to the reloading room and weigh a few. I ended up weighing a bunch. Before weighing any bullets I have either shot or loaded 238 bullets out of the 1000 I originally ordered. Here's my results:
3-(74.2-74.3)
19-(74.4-74.5)
43-(74.6-74.7)
152-(74.8-74.9)
291-(75.0-75.1)
200-(75.2-75.3)
46-(75.4-75.5)
8-(75.6-75.7)
The extreme spread I had was 1.5 grains out of the 762 I weighed. I noticed differences in over all length as well but I have not cataloged them so I won't bother listing any details.
Here's the cost shipped to MY door:
1000=$130
Shipping=$17.31
Total- $147.31 (14.73 cents a bullet)
Here's a cost comparison from Midway with 75 grain Hornady BTHP:
1000=$159.90
Shipping=$13.15
Total=$173.05
Midway always has online promotions or coupons so I did a quick search like I do everytime I order and found a $15 coupon in less than a minute.
New Total=$158.05 (15.80 cents a bullet)
My personal results with the 75 grain Hornady are way better as far as consistency goes and for a little more than a penny a bullet that's where my money is going to go from now on.
Wideners has great products. My results may or may not be typical, but they are my results weighing with a Hornady digital scale that was calibrated before weighing any of the bullets. I called Wideners customer service and explained the inconsistency. I was told I could have a shipping tag sent to my home and pay a 25% restocking fee. I told them I would post my results.

 

[Aszerigan]

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

 

[Boiled Owl]

I had trouble with Widener's 75 gr privi also. There are two different profiles to the ogive in the batch and I can't get a consistent OAL. I resorted to sorting them under a magnifying glass.
The 62 gr and 55 gr had no issues. I didn't weigh them as just plinking with the AR.

Like you I'm buying Hornady now but from Powder Valley.

 

[Cannon]

I noticed differences in the ogive as well. I really didn't have anyway of measuring it and I did not want to really. In the end the bullets are probably pretty good for personal protection or something but my intention was to shoot more long range. I can load them for whatever and on the bright side they are all sorted by weight atleast. The Hornady 75 grain I randomly check has shown a difference of .4 grains. The Hornady 68 grain match has shown the most consistency of anything by weight for me. Out of a box of 100 all but 10 weighed 68.0 with 6 at 67.9 and 4 at 68.1. The 69 grain SMK's were close to that as well.

 

[Cannon]

Thanks Aszerigan. I thought I should atleast post what the real spread was. I'm not going to send them back cause they are still good for something. Don't want to pay a 25% restocking fee either. I have not really had the chronograph on them that much but to keep the same point of impact as the Hornady 75 grain I had to load them with about .8 grains less of any powder as well.

 

[townmarshal]

Widener bullets(PRVI)

I had similar results with the 75gr. .224 bullets and also with the Widener .308, 175gr. bullets. OALs varied, as is said, "all over the map".