Substitute for Zero 185gr JHP

I am running low on my supply of Zero 185gr JHPs (the “187” conicals).  They shoot very well in my guns. When I went to pick up another couple thousand, I noticed they were out of stock.  

I found Nosler 185s online, in stock, for about twice the price of the Zeros… but they look nearly identical. Has anyone found them to be a 1:1 substitute in their loads (subject to a bit of fiddling with dies)?  Are there any other options on the market that might be available?

If the Zeros are not back in stock by the end of the month, I’m going to need to pick up some bullets from some other source.  I’d have a little heartburn if I needed to go with the Noslers (they cost more than my current cost-per-round), but I’d be more upset about not having enough ammo loaded at the start of the season. 

Thanks!

The Noslers theoretically will shoot a bit better than the Zeros. When I ransom rested Noslers to Zeros, the Noslers were a bit tighter, but my testing was limited.

Yes the Noslers I understand to be the original and the Zeros I find to be a very close match to use interchangeably. The 230gr JHPs also between the two makers are same shank and overall length but somewhat different nose (both feed and shoot well).

Hornady has HAP and XTP bullets which don't seem to have been tested as much as the nosler & zero but I recall reading somewhat larger ransomrest groups, so maybe you save your Zero 185s for the long line if you buy these to round out your supplies.

I’m not sure of the substitution but if you haven’t done so already, give Zero a call to verify they are out of stock. During the last ammo crisis I watched their site for a few months for a certain bullet to be in stock.  I finally called them to see if I could get a potential eta and low and behold, they had what I wanted in stock.  I bought them and had them within a week.  

Worth a try.
Good luck.
John

I DID EXTENSIVE TESTING. THE NOSLER 185GR JHP WAS BETTER THAN THE ZERO IN EVERY POWDER COMBINATION AND GUN TESTED. BUT THE MARGIN WAS SMALL. JP

JRV,

Call Roze Distribution, usually a very nice person answers. Tell them what you want and they will give you a realistic estimate of lead time. I ordered a large quantity of 185JHP in October 2022 and they shipped almost immediately.

As for Noslers, I was told, by someone who is usually very credible, that the dies/tooling for their 185JHP bullets is now rather worn and the bullets are not quite as consistent as back in the day when they were championed by the military teams. I have no factual info to verify that statement, just heresay. But, the Noslers are much more expensive than Zero's. And, the Zero bullets are used by Atlanta Arms, ASYM (sadly now gone), Zero themselves, and several other well regarded match ammo producers whose products are chosen by many of the top teams.

I have loaded thousands of both, but I am not consistent enough to identify any difference between those two 185JHP bullets. All of my reloads are certainly good enough for short line 10X if I do my job. Needless to say I have never shot a 10X with the 45, but have cleaned a few short line targets now and again!

The Hornady HAP/XTP’s work as well. Just be careful of OAL as the bearing surface is shorter and a light crimp may push it back into the case.

Calling Roze did the trick!  The website's inventory system was not up-to-date.  They had the 187 profile JHPs in stock and were happy to take my order.