26 Nosler pet loads

[clark33]

Anyone have any pet 26 Nosler loads? I have an MOA Rifle Evolution, 26" benchmark barrel. I have been testing the 140 Berger Elites with retumbo and H1000. Seated 0.020" off lands and can't find a powder charge it seems to like, will get 2-3 clover leafed then it'll string the next 2 opening the groups up.

I'm taking 3-4 min between shots to let this burner cool down a bit. I am considering trying the 129 or 142 ABLR if I can find them. Have always had good luck with the Accubonds in other rifles.

I'm interested in the powder, charge, and you distance from lands. Any advice, help would be awesome. Already over 100 rounds down the pipe and still haven't found what it likes

Thanks

 

[sheepaholic]

I had good luck with 143dr eldx and vightavouri 20n29 powder getting 3400 fps from a 26" barrel
.010 from lands

 

[lamiglas]

I am sorry that I cannot help, yet. A friend and I are in the process of gathering parts to build a pair of these. I will gladly share data once we have some. In the meantime I was hoping you could answer a question about your rifle. you mentioned you were 20 thou off the lands with the 140 berger. could you possibly tell what the tip to tip overall length is at 20 off? we are getting a reamer built, and this info would help us alot.

 

[clark33]

I am sorry that I cannot help, yet. A friend and I are in the process of gathering parts to build a pair of these. I will gladly share data once we have some. In the meantime I was hoping you could answer a question about your rifle. you mentioned you were 20 thou off the lands with the 140 berger. could you possibly tell what the tip to tip overall length is at 20 off? we are getting a reamer built, and this info would help us alot.

The 140 VLD or the 140 ELITE hunter? I could get both tomorrow for ya

 

[clark33]

I had good luck with 143dr eldx and vightavouri 20n29 powder getting 3400 fps from a 26" barrel
.010 from lands

I bought some 143 ELDXs today, unfortunately no one in town carries 20n29 so I am stuck with retumbo or h1000. I think I'll try them next and start 0.020 off and do a ladder test with retumbo this friday.

 

[lamiglas]

I would really appreciate it if you could get me the vld numbers. Thanks again. On your development, one thing we have done with bergers , that you might try is this. at 5 thou off we shot one each and worked up 1/2 grain at a time to find max. back off 1/2 from max and then shot that charge at 5 thou off, 15 off, 25 off and 35 off. On three different rifles, we stopped at 35 thou off because we found the sweet spot. In the past with other bullets, we have always went 10 off and then did a powder charge string like you mentioned. However, we have read alot and heard alot of people mention that bergers can be a little finicky with seating depth and there is typically a decent size band of depth they will like. They recommend varying the depths more than we did but we wanted to be seated out as far as possible for case capacity. If you haven't already, check out the info on they put out on trying g different lengths. I was going to post a link but didn't want to get timed out on this post! If you have trouble finding it let me know and I'll look for it.

 

[jwing]

If I had one I would shoot 147 eld m or 160 matrix good luck and have fun with your 500 rounds...
I would use retumbo powder.

 

[lamiglas]

I tried to edit my post but it would not allow me to. I wanted to point out that in the method I described previously, you will begin to increase pressure as you seat the bullet deeper. I cannot predict when this will happen as there are alot of variables. With our big 338s, we have gotten away with finding max at 5 thou off, backing off a 1/2 grain and then seating out to 45 thou deeper without running into additional pressure, but I would not suggest someone else to try it, especially in a much smaller case. With that being said you could pick a middle of the road charge to do your seating depth test, and then once the right depth is found, find your max?

 

[lamiglas]

Have you by chance had a chance to measure the vld round? sorry to bother you about it, and thanks again get
for your help.

 

[LongBomber]

140vld - 84.9gr us869 fed 215m .030" off lands
140 accubond - 88gr us869 fed 215m - .010 off lands
142lrab 83gr h50bmg cci 250
127lrx - 80gr rl33 fed 215m - .050 off lands - best load in my rifle.
120ttsx- 79gr imr7977 cci 250 .070" off lands

With the vld I always ended up with groups with about 3/4moa of vertical, I couldnt tune it out, tried 4 different powders and gave up. Other than the vld load the rest are right at max in my rifle, just a hint of ejector marks on the case head. The best bullet for me so far has been the 127 LRX, most consistent grouping.

 

[clark33]

Thank you! What rifle are these load for if you don't mind me asking?

i have some us869 but I am shying away from it due to temp sensitivity I have heard reports of.

 

[LongBomber]

Thise were all from my fierce edge ti. I had a nosler patriot as well, but I sent the load data I had written down with the rifle when I sold it. It would take a extra grain or so for max load, the chamber was a bit looser on that rifle. Brass fired from the nosler wouldnt chamber in the fierce even after resizing.
Us 869 is a dirty powder, unless its run at max loads it left alot of fowling. But it did give the top sppeds with all the 140 -160gr bullets I tried.

 

[trailrider121]

I just built a 26 Nosler on Rem 700 platform. 26" barrel and been using 127 LRX. Still testing to find a load. My current load is 91grs. US869 (Max load) with the 127 LRX, and getting good ES but groups have been inconsistent. Going to rest and again see what happens. \

I agree the powder is dirty even when at max loads. My next powder to work with is RL-33. Just want to find a decent load for the rifle, and don't want to burn it out trying different combos.

 

[Gord0]

Quickest way I have found to do load workup. Start with the Berger seating depth test. I start .005 off, or max mag length if I want a repeater. 3 rounds each at starting load and 5 lengths. See which groups best. Total so far 15 rounds. Run a ladder from start to max in .5gr increments for a Magnum. You should find a node somewhere in there. Approximately 15 more rounds for a total of 30. Take however wide the node is and do 3 shot groups in .3gr increments. Approximately another 20 rounds for a total of 50. By now you should have a decent load. If you want to tweak seating depth in fine increments now is the time for that.