Berger 140gr Elite Hunter

Anyone have problems with Berger 140gr Elite Hunter bullets? This is the second rifle I have had hell getting them to group consistently or group worth a flip. They were so so in my 6.5 Creed with H4350, RL-16, RL26 and Staball. Now, having issues with 6.5 PRC with H1000, sporadic on group's, was thinking of trying H4831SC to see if any better, but past experiences tell me I will not have any better results. Just curious if I have drawn the bad luck with these or if others have problems as well. I am thinking of switching to 147 ELD-M for the PRC and see if I have better results.

My 6.5 savage ultralite wads them up.

I have one 6.5 saum that shoots them into small clusters with h1000. They were super easy to find a good load I don't think I ever adjusted the length.

Never had an issue getting extreme accuracy with them in about 20 rifles except one Fierce Carbon Rage 6.5PRC that won't shoot anything worth a crap.

Kmccord said:

Anyone have problems with Berger 140gr Elite Hunter bullets? This is the second rifle I have had hell getting them to group consistently or group worth a flip. They were so so in my 6.5 Creed with H4350, RL-16, RL26 and Staball. Now, having issues with 6.5 PRC with H1000, sporadic on group's, was thinking of trying H4831SC to see if any better, but past experiences tell me I will not have any better results. Just curious if I have drawn the bad luck with these or if others have problems as well. I am thinking of switching to 147 ELD-M for the PRC and see if I have better results.

Click to expand...

I've never had any problems in 6.5 Creedmoor or 6.5-284. They are one of my favorite bullets for finding a good load.

They shot well for me in a PRC with N565 and H1000.

They shoot very well in my 6.5 Creed and 6.5PRC. My PRC showed a distinct preference for having the bullets loaded .050" off.
In another thread, I just posted a group I shot at 418yds with the 140EH and RE26. The group came in at about .80". Another group beside it was shot with H4831 and came in at 1.30".

They shoot awesome in my Sako 6.5Prc, with H-1000.. thumps the animals as well..

Shoot steel with them out to 1400 for fun

I will have to go back over everything in my rifle, just frustrating to say the least. I would have two touching or darn near in the same hole then a huge flyer on next shot. I am not racking them hard on shot string, I wait a minimum of 1.5 minutes between shots on the three shot group and a minimum of six minutes between each three shot load. I test the barrel for heat with my hand, whether I can hold it without having to let go from heat. This morning, just playing around with the FL die, measuring neck tension and runout after sizing without the decapper rod and zero runout. Then with the decapper and I had .005 runout. At least I can see where my runout is starting. I am going to load more today, without the decapper in the FL die and then run my decapper die to remove the primer and run my 21st Century mandrel to set neck tension, check for runout and then seat with my micrometer and recheck runout.. Then see if I have a difference in groups. Hopefully this will correct my problem.

Have you tried using the method Berger recommends to find seating depth? Seems like it would save time and components.

One of the easiest bullets to load IMO. Should be pretty insensitive to seating depth and they have the Hybrid Ogive if I remember correctly. All I've loaded like to jump!!

pavementends said:

Have you tried using the method Berger recommends to find seating depth? Seems like it would save time and components.

Click to expand...

Yes, I have, the only problem with this , it is built in a Short Action, even with the Wyatt's Extended Mag, it will not touch the lands and still load in the mag. This will be the last time I build a 6.5 PRC in a Short Action, the rest will be in a LA only.

Kmccord said:

Yes, I have, the only problem with this , it is built in a Short Action, even with the Wyatt's Extended Mag, it will not touch the lands and still load in the mag. This will be the last time I build a 6.5 PRC in a Short Action, the rest will be in a LA only.

Click to expand...

I'm jumping the 144 Hybrid .070 with fantastic results in my long action 65PRC, same type Ogive. Again, the Hybrid Ogive on the EH is very forgiving. That's been my experience in everything I've loaded them in. You really don't need to be anywhere near the lands to get accuracy in my experience, unless you're chasing speed and max powder capacity. I also 2 stroke my press when loading Bergers in an attempt to get better concentricity as they're usually so long. Seat bullet, come up, 1/2 turn case, 2nd seating stroke. Are you using a VLD or Atip style seating stem? Just some things that have worked well for me. Good luck friend!

PS: if you want some of the 144's to try let me know and I'll mail you 20 of them. I run them with H4831SC.

I believe this is the VLD stem, it worked great for the 6mm Creedmoor using the 109 LRHT. Thank you for the offer, I may take you up on it, I am going to run these again with a different way of loading them and see if that will tighten the group's.