Berger 308 Win bullet ?

[Speck]

I have been shooting the 168 Hybrid for 500 and 600 yrd. F-TR Class and that bullet is just really accurate. My best string at 500 so far is a 199-10X out of 200 and believe it or not my last shot was a 9 ( nerves got to me ). I went to the Ballistic seminar put on by Brian Litz the day before the 600yrd mid range match at the Berger South West Long Range Nationals in Feb. at Ben Avery. It was also a range testing day which I thought was going to be at 600 yrds, but to my surprise it was at WHAT!!! a 1000yrds. I said I wasn't set up to shoot that far and asked Brian what he thought. He said with my load, 43 grs of Varget at 2750 fps I should be OK.
From my 500 yrd Zero I dialed in 22.5 MOA and was 8 in high and about 12 inches to the left. After I got sighted in I ran 20 just for practice and shot a 170 out of 200 and my target puller said they all made round holes in the target.

But most of the guys are shooting the 185 gr Hybrids for a 1000 yrds, so I bought some but haven't got to do any testing yet.
Tarey

Whats your barrel length, twist rate and have you tried going up on your powder charge with the 168 Hybrid to hit the next accuracy node? I shoot the 185 and 200 hybrid at 600 and 1000 yard matches with good results but have a few friends that use the 168 hybrids with good results also. We are running them quite a bit faster than you are though.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I have been shooting the 168 Hybrid for 500 and 600 yrd. F-TR Class and that bullet is just really accurate. My best string at 500 so far is a 199-10X out of 200 and believe it or not my last shot was a 9 ( nerves got to me ). I went to the Ballistic seminar put on by Brian Litz the day before the 600yrd mid range match at the Berger South West Long Range Nationals in Feb. at Ben Avery. It was also a range testing day which I thought was going to be at 600 yrds, but to my surprise it was at WHAT!!! a 1000yrds. I said I wasn't set up to shoot that far and asked Brian what he thought. He said with my load, 43 grs of Varget at 2750 fps I should be OK.
From my 500 yrd Zero I dialed in 22.5 MOA and was 8 in high and about 12 inches to the left. After I got sighted in I ran 20 just for practice and shot a 170 out of 200 and my target puller said they all made round holes in the target.

But most of the guys are shooting the 185 gr Hybrids for a 1000 yrds, so I bought some but haven't got to do any testing yet.
Tarey

Have you tried bumping up to 44.0gr of Varget? That's what I shoot with my 168 and 175 Nosler Custom Comps. I get excellent results with my 5R. It has the24" barrel with an 11.25" twist in it.

 

[GNERGY]

My barrel is 26 in. long 1 in 10 twist Krieger that I chambered with a PTG 308 95 Palma reamer. I also had it Melonited ( salt bath nitrided ). It started out as a 1.450 Dia. 300WSM with 300 rounds thru it that I bought from a guy on Accurate Shooter for $130. I had it bore scoped and then I turned down the OD to 1.250 for 7 inches and tapered it to 1.100 at the muzzle and put a brake on it.
I have tried Varget up to 47 grs with different seating depths from .015 into the lands to .100 off the lands and none of those shot as good as this load. I load the 168's .060 off the lands and I can shoot 1 1/4 groups at 500 laying prone off of one of my bipods with no problem.
I had a factory 5R barrel on this before I put the Krieger on and it liked 47 grs. of AA 2520 and pushed the 168 Hybrid at 2800 fps.
Tarey

 

[liltank]

My barrel is 26 in. long 1 in 10 twist Krieger that I chambered with a PTG 308 95 Palma reamer. I also had it Melonited ( salt bath nitrided ). It started out as a 1.450 Dia. 300WSM with 300 rounds thru it that I bought from a guy on Accurate Shooter for $130. I had it bore scoped and then I turned down the OD to 1.250 for 7 inches and tapered it to 1.100 at the muzzle and put a brake on it.
I have tried Varget up to 47 grs with different seating depths from .015 into the lands to .100 off the lands and none of those shot as good as this load. I load the 168's .060 off the lands and I can shoot 1 1/4 groups at 500 laying prone off of one of my bipods with no problem.
I had a factory 5R barrel on this before I put the Krieger on and it liked 47 grs. of AA 2520 and pushed the 168 Hybrid at 2800 fps.
Tarey

So, do you think the meloniting is worth it? Do you do break in before meloniting, or after?

 

[GNERGY]

They recommend to shoot a couple dozen rounds down the barrel to smooth it out and clean it really good before you send it off.
The barrel I have was bought used with a couple hundred rounds thru it. I had it bore scoped and it looked really good so after I cut it off, threaded, chambered and installed the muzzle brake, I took it to get melonited. All the machining has to be done first because it makes the surface between 60 and 70C Rockwell hardness. The place here in Phoenix had it finished the next day. The outside of the barrel has a satin black color from the treatment and then bead blasting to get the excess salt off.
They say it will double barrel life, so I thought what the heck, I only paid $130. for the barrel, I will spend the extra $80. to get it done and it will shoot forever, I hope.
I usually go around 120 rds between cleaning and I have about 600 rds thru it so far and after I clean it ( with Bore tech eliminator ) the bore just seems shinier, almost mirror like.
I got to shoot some 185 Hybrids on friday and with 43gr. AA2520 gave me 3 shots in 5/8 inch at 300 yrds and the next best was 44gr AA2520 gave me 3 in just under 1 inch at 300 yds at 2815 fps. More testing on the way.
Tarey