I don’t believe it.

SMK or nothing.

Didn't they use Nosler 77gr bullets in some of the first lots that had great terminal performance?

I did not either.  Wish they were available as a component.  I do love their 75gr BTHP.

Yes.  However, the mil wanted a canalure and Nosler couldn't, or wouldn't, make a Custom Comp with one, so mil changed to sierra.

OP:

And this one says Sierra.................  

https://www.bonefroggunclub.com/products/5-56-77gr-black-hills-sierra-matchking-open-tip-match-d556n9

So can you call them back and get them to send you an email or update their online site?  
Not calling you a liar but there are yes/no/maybe out there.................. and nothing on their website.

OP should follow up with hornady and get the fragmentation threshold velocities from them. Wonder if everything is the same?

@bfoosh06

WORTH A TRY

Seems they are stingy with email addys.

It's true as of sometime in the first half of 2023. LC/HORN = Lake City brass/Hornady bullet

You sure?   I am thinking I have a bulk box or two of Nosler 77 with cannalure overruns.

edit, well I cannot prove my thought as I checked my stash. My bulk boxes are smooth sided, so if there was a cannalured version I bought the vanilla version.

FWIW......... and I could be wrong............. but I too remember it being the reverse too............. Sierra was the first one reluctant to cannelure (out of accuracy concerns) and so Nosler stepped up.  
Of course now Sierra has done it for years.  Money talks............. but it's also a very light cannelure.


@BFoosh:  

I think AR15Lizard and his photo really confirmed the question................    

Just got off the phone with hornady

Bullet exclusively made for black hills
No expansion, penetration, or BC data. Maybe black hills will have some additional info

Edit***
Just got off the phone with black hills

According to them the BC and jacket thickness should be identical. He was unsure what hornady changed to avoid a lawsuit but he stated it had identical performance from their testing. They may do a press release on it with the official numbers to put peoples minds at ease

Huh. Times are a changin’

When BH said "same performance" do they mean as the 77gr SMK, or the 75gr Hornady?

Incorrect.  I posted this back in 2016 . . .

https://www.ar15.com/forums/ar-15/Nosler_77_Grain_Custom_Competition___Velocity__Accuracy_and_Terminal_Ballistics/16-688776/


Nosler 77 grain BTHP



Nosler introduced their 77 grain Custom Competition BTHP bullet as an obvious competitor to the 77 grain Sierra MatchKing.  The shape and ballistic coefficient of the Nosler bullet is very similar to that of the Sierra MatchKing.  The Nosler bullet does have one major difference from the Sierra MatchKing; it is constructed using the thinner J4 copper jacket.





I recall an early Nosler advertisement for their Custom Competition bullet  that included a phrase saying the bullet was “ideal for military and law enforcement,” hinting at the possibilities of improved fragmentation due to the thinner J4 jacket.  

Thanks to the works of Dr. G.K. Roberts we know that the 77 grain Nosler bullet loaded to mil-spec velocities has superior terminal ballistic properties to that of the 77 grain Sierra MatchKing loaded in MK262.  The terminal ballistic properties of the 77 grain Nosler bullet rival that of the Hornady 75 grain 5.56 TAP load.  Unfortunately, there are no ammunition manufacturers that I’m aware of currently loading the 77 grain Nosler to mil-spec velocities.





The Nosler 77 grain Custom Competion bullet is typically sold without a cannelure, however Nosler occasionally releases the bullet with a shallow cannelure similar to the one found on the 77 grain SMK loaded in MK262.  The cannelured version of the 77 grain Nosler will be the focus of this report.










For the first phase of testing, I hand-loaded the cannelured version of the 77 grain Nosler BTHP to a typical SAAMI velocity (approximately 2600 fps from a 20” Colt barrel) to establish an accuracy baseline.  No case mouth crimp was applied at this phase.  

As per my usual protocol, accuracy testing was conducted from a concrete benchrest at a distance of 100 yards.  For this phase of testing I used one of my 1:7.7” twist Krieger barreled AR-15s .  This barrel has produced sub ½ MOA 10-shot groups with my hand-load topped with the Sierra 55 grain BlitzKing. The fore-end of the rifle rested in a Sinclair Windage Benchrest, while the stock of the rifle rode in a Protektor bunny-ear rear bag.  A Leupold Competition Scope was used for testing.  Wind conditions were monitored using a Wind Probe.  











Three 10-shot groups were obtained which had extreme spreads of

0.797”
0.827”
0.812”

for a 10-shot group average of 0.812”.  The three groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group.  The composite group had a mean radius of 0.26”.  This test shows that the Nosler bullet itself is capable of consistent sub-MOA accuracy at 100 yards when fired from a semi-automatic AR-15.







For the second phase of testing, I safely worked up a load for the 77 grain Nosler BTHP to a muzzle velocity of 2800 fps from a 20” barrel using a non-canister grade military powder which has a velocity-to-powder-charge ratio that is very close to that of the powder used in MK262. No case mouth crimp was used in this phase of testing either.

Since my Krieger barreled AR-15 has a 5.56mm Match chamber that is “a little too tight” for mil-spec pressure loads, I used my AR-15 with a 20” Noveske DCM barrel with a 1:7” twist for this phase of testing.  This Noveske barrel has the “Noveske Match Mod 0 chamber which is designed to offer 100% reliability while retaining maximum possible accuracy. The chamber body is slightly larger than the 5.56mm NATO minimum, but within the 5.56 NATO tolerance. The throat is redesigned for proper bullet alignment with the axis of the bore. This chamber was developed to fire MK262 Mod 1 on AUTO in hot environments."  This barrel has produced sub ¾ MOA groups with my 55 grain BlitzKing hand-load.













Accuracy testing using the Noveske barreled AR-15 and the mil-spec velocity load of Nosler 77 grain was conducted in the same manner as described above in the first phase of testing.  Three 10-shot groups were obtained from 100 yards.  Those groups had extreme spreads of:

0.880”
0.857”
0.845”

for a 10-shot group average of 0.860”! These groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group which had a mean radius of 0.29”.







For the final phase of testing I added a taper crimp to the case mouth of the previously described load used in phase two.  A 10-shot string of this load fired over the Oehler 35-P chronograph from my 20” Novekse barrel had a muzzle velocity of 2801 fps with a standard deviation of 12 fps.

Three 10-shot groups fired from 100 yards from the 20” Noveske DCM barrel had extreme spreads of:

1.033”
0.914”
1.241”

for a 10-shot group average of 1.063”.  As before, the three groups were over-layed on each other using RSI Shooting Lab to form a 30-shot composite group.  The mean radius for the composite group was 0.31”.








For comparison, Black Hills MK262 Mod 1 fired from my Lothar Walther barrel AR-15 had a 10-shot group average extreme spread of 1.098”. The mean radius for the 30-shot composite group of MK262 Mod 1 was 0.33”.  



















…..

...77smk

@molon I was under the impression the 77 nosler couldn't be loaded to higher pressures due to the thinner jacket coming apart... is that false?

Further down on the site it says they started using the 77 grain Hornady in 2023. Wonder how many people bought the Hornady BH thinking it was loaded with a Sierra bullet..

It's false.  Black Hills even did a run of MK262 equivalent using the Nosler 77 grain OTM with cannelure.





....

I have more Nosler 53033 22 CALIBER 77GR with CANNELURE HPBT Custom COMPETITION, about 750 on-hand, than I have of Nosler 53064 22 CALIBER 77GR HPBT CUSTOM COMPETITION, about 300 on-hand.

The difference in accuracy between them is nil, at least in my equipment, and my skill.  I like the cannelure as a quick seating reference point in my reloads, and I buy them when I can.
I crimp them with a moderate crimp with a Lee FCD, in LC brass, and VV N140 powder, CCI-450 primer.

In case anybody needs some of the 53033, I just bought 500 (2 x 250 per box) from here, at a damn good price of 35 cents a bullet for the cannelured version.

Nosler 22 Cal 77gr Cann HPBT Custom Competition (250ct)

The smooth version is usually bit cheaper.  There's a guy on gun broker selling a full case of 1,000 Nosler 77 grain custom comps smooth version for 26 cent a bullet.

Note: I have no affiliation with either of these vendor/sellers. Caveat Emptor

IMHO and YMMV

On a related note to the Hornady 77 grain bullet loaded by Black Hills

I just came across something interesting, that I suspect may be related to the mysterious Hornady .224 77 grain bullet.

This:

Classic Match 22 Caliber 224 Diameter 77 Grain Boat Tail Hollow Point With Cannelure 250 Count

I've seen these before and I wondered who was making these for Midsouth.

The G1 BC is listed as .355.

Barnes 77 grain Match BC is listed @ .352 close, but no cannelure
Nosler 77 grain CC BC is listed @ .340, (which is understated it is .377 according to List) and they can be had with cannelure
Sierra SMK 77 grain BC is listed @ .372  can be had with cannelure

The Midsouth 77 grain BC is listed @ .355.  But here the interesting thing that I took no note of until I read of this Hornady 77 grain bullet being used by Black Hills.

Midsouth lists the bullet number as # HMK22477,   maybe this means Hornady Match King 224 77 grain

Here's what Midsouth says about them:

The Classic Match Bullet Series was made by a Major US Bullet Manufacturer for Midsouth Shooters Supply Co. These bullets are engineered after an industry classic design that has proven its record-setting accuracy time and time again.



I don't know for sure and I'm just speculating, but everything seems to fit that this Midsouth Classic 77 grain Hollow Point with cannelure may indeed made by Hornady.

Welp, Im convinced
Honestly, "HMK"..... com'on.

Certainly still need confirmation if possible, but I am confident you cracked the case.

I am interested in any forensic comparisons to come. A sectioned side-by-side?

I just noticed vendor listings stating "Hornady" in the D556N9 descriptions and subsequently found this troubling thread. I've got a considerable stockpile of D556N9 and more than a few rifles zero'd for it. Now I find everything I've added to the stacks in the last few months is different, with no indication on the packaging that I noticed.

Is worrying about zero shift being too pedantic? It's going to be a few months before I can get out to check.

To my recollection, yes.

I have it stuck in my head that the terminal performance of the Nosler CC is slightly better, and the SMK has slightly better accuracy.

The later has been true in my testing. I have no idea if the former is true or not.

No shit.  Cool.

Unfortunately, the 77 grain MatchKing does not have reliable terminal ballistics compared to the 77 grain Nosler CC, 75 grain Hornady T2 and the 77 grain Tipped MatchKing.  It can have an excessively long ballistic neck and a lower percentage of fragmentation compared to the previously mentioned bullets.


Nosler 77





Sierra 77




The 77 grain MatchKing has always been more accurate in my barrels than the Nosler 77 grain CC.  10-shot group of the 77 MatchKing fired prone off a bipod.  Extreme spread = 0.56".





10-shot group of the Nosler 77 CC fired from the bench.  Extreme spread = 0.807".



....