I truely hope your rifle lives up to your expectations and I am sure it will. However, I would just like to point out one thing. You say your intended purpose of this rifle is for long range varminting.
I would never argue that it would be more then up to that challange. I am sure even at 1000 yards it would perform well, in calm conditions anyway.
Still, on paper things can appear different then they really are. Your issue will be hitting those small targets at long range. With the numbers you offer, you will be seeing an increase of wind drift of roughly 1.75 moa for every 2 mph in change of wind speed at 800 yards.
6 mph..........3.75 moa
8 mph..........5.0 moa
10 mph........6.25 moa
12 mph........7.5 moa
Basically, for every increase or decrease in wind speed, you will see around 10" of change in drift. Now I personally can not judge the wind within 2 moa of actual wind speed at 800 yards personally, in fact 4-5 mph would be hard to judge accurately so basically you will be playing having to nail the wind conditions on the head to have any real chance of hitting a varmint size critter at 800 yards.
How about 1000 yards. Well, the difference in wind drift for every 2 mph change in wind speed is roughtly 18.5" with the load you offer.
That means if you shoot at a target and guess there is an 4 mph wind and there is actually an 8 mph wind, you will be blown off target by roughly 36", three feet!!! with just a 4 mph wind speed error.
Now if you take your same 300 "Varminter" and load it with a 210 gr Berger to a rather boring 2900 fps, at 800 yards, you would have around 6" of wind drift change with a 2 mph wind speed change.
At 1000 yards, you would have 10" if wind drift change with a 2 mph wind speed change. Basically, you have 40% less drift withthe much slower and less sexy 210 gr Berger at 800 yards and nearly 50% less at 1000 yards.
Again, I am not trying to tell you your project is a bad idea, it will certainly work for its intended purpose and I am sure your smith will build you a fine rifle. What I am telling you that if there is any wind at all, you will have a serious time hitting a small target consistantly at long range. The velocity numbers are not sexy with the big slow 210 gr Berger but the drift numbers are much more attractive and thats what gets you hits on small targets at long range, not low bullet drops and hyper velocities.
I was just wondering what you consider these numbers to be Impressive in comparison to?
The lightweight, hyper velocity bullet theory has been tested and tried for much longer then I have been on this planet. Once the rifle technology began to offer consistant performance past 1/2mile, the heavy bullets proved themselves in every case that they were far superior to the hyper velocity bullets at long range.
Terminally, you say that the 125 gr BT and 110 gr V-Max have a distinct advantage over the heavier bullets on varmint size game. I do not agree with these comments. A thin jacketed berger will expand just as easily as these bullets and the added kenetic energy will cause the dramatic pops you want every bit as much as the tipped bullets.
Anyway, I will again state that I am sure your rifle will be an accurate one and in calm conditions, I would be amazed if you had any problem hitting small targets at long range. That said, if there is any wind at all, you will be chasing the ghost trying to figure out wind drift unless your shooting in flat terrain where wind direction is constant over the flight of your bullet. If your shooting in any canyon country, you WILL be very frustrated at ranges past 800 yards with winds even in the 2-6 mph range.
This is not opinion, its fact and anyone that has tested both ways of thinking will tell you this. I suspect after you get the rifle, and honestly shoot it in any conditions other then flat out calm, you will agree as you will see what so many of us have already witnessed many times.
still, I hope it works well for you and I look forward to reading your reports on the rifle.
Kirby Allen(50)
