Berger issues??

[Rimfire]

How far have you shot or patterned those 190's?

1K.....

 

[MSLRHunter]

Yea, I tried about 7 or 8 deeper seatings and they didn't shoot well at all unfortunately. I hunt alone a lot so the spotter isn't always an option. Does anyone know if the 210's "widen" (for a better term) sooner than the 190's as I'm really wanting the VLD to work for me. But if not......

I load both the 190 and 210 in 300winmag and there is very little difference in where those bullets contact the rifling. The extra weight in the 210 comes from lengthening the base of the bullet. So, the 210 loaded to the lands is still gonna be too long. Here is what I do in that situation. I load my bullet to the max length that will fit in the magazine and I stay at that depth and vary powders and powder charges, primers, etc and try to find an accurate load at that one seating depth. More often than not, I find an accurate load that will still fit in the magazine.

 

[ltrbuck]

Thanks again for the help guys, glad I found this site!

 

[bigngreen]

Some rifles just do not like a certain bullet, Bergers can be finicky to get dialed in but worth the work if you can. Have you gone way deep, we have a 300WBY and the 210's and 185's are loaded to the o-give and they shoot insanely good, ugly but they cycle and shoot good. Don't get stuck on the Berger crazy, I love them but if they don't shoot move on, placing shots where your aiming is better than shooting the ultimate bullet!
The Sierra SMK and Gameking are about as forgiving a bullet as I've shot to get dialed in and I really like them also.

 

[cfvickers]

Plus one on the game king and match king!! Also Bigngreen is pointing out the same thing I was suggesting on the Berger. That is my second choice of seating depth for my 300. When it looks like you can't seat it any deeper without passing the base of the ogive, you are almost there.

 

[RMulhern]

All the more reason to PICK THE BULLET FIRST seated at max magazine length and THEN have the riflesmith cut the chamber accordingly!!lightbulb

 

[ltrbuck]

I hear ya Sharps, but it's a factory not a custom. Found several combo's that are working pretty good, those Bergers are a PITA but do shoot very well after finding where they like to be seated.....

 

[BIG MO]

I don't get too obsessed over 100 yard groups with the heavy for caliber Bergers. I have experienced a couple rifles that shot less than impressive 100 yard groups but perform well under moa at 1000yds with the big bergers. One rifle was a Rem 300 ultra mag with the 210 berger, the other was a weatherby vangard 7mm RM with the 180 berger. Both rifles were averaging about 1moa at 100yds but are a solid .7 moa or better at 1000yds with the big Bergers. With lighter bullets, both these rifles were 1/2 moa at 100yds.

I play around with load tuning at 100yds using different powders, charge weights, seating depths etc until I find a combination that gives me the velocity, SD, decent groups, and then take it to the 1000yd line and see what I've really got working. I usually start at the max COAL that will fit in the mag and work shorter until I find a COAL where the rifle seems to be happy. I don't care for the single shot option and neither do the other hunters I reload for.

I have had good results with RL22, H1000, and Retumbo in the magnums that I reload for. RL22 seems to be the most forgiving of the three.

Keep adjusting your load and do more testing at 1000yds. That Savage should shoot!

 

[Clark]

I just hunted with 7mmRM 180 gr VLD at 3.48" OAL, 70 gr Re22, loaded 2 gr below loose primer pockets and 10 gr above max book load, this was 3025 fps average muzzle velocity.

With this long OAL, I get 0.8" average groups.

The magazine boxes on my 7mmRM bolt rifles are only long enough for 3.34" OAL [ Mauser magazines that I had to mill out to get that long].

So I was shooting a single shot Ruger #1.

I killed three deer.

When we saw a heard of moving mule deer, three of us piled out of the truck. I got on my belly with a bi pod and took three shots at 380 yards to hit one in the shoulder. The other hunters with repeaters said it sounded like a machine gun, when I fired three quick shots from a single shot.

 

[dirtboy]

Give me something to think about when I start reloading with bergers. I heard a lot of good results from accubonds. thiers 180gr which My Dad shoots out of his 300wm browning a bolt. He did 4 shot groups under 1/2'' I also use accubonds for my 30-378 and I shot under 1/2'' and this was all factory loads. I think they do have 200 gr with 588BC accubonds if your looking for somthing on the heavier side with more BC. Just as an alternitive bullet if you have no luck with Bergers.

I defenatly wouldn't want to go deer hunting and have a grizzly bear charge my a%s and worry about me or someone else digging in thier pockets for another shell. Just my thoughts on saftey first...lol!

 

[freebird63]

Have you looked into the wyatt extended box magazine??? I had to put one of those in my sender. If you have a dremel and some decent steel carving bits you should be able to do it yourself, I did mine and it was not hard at all.

 

[RMulhern]

I just hunted with 7mmRM 180 gr VLD at 3.48" OAL, 70 gr Re22, loaded 2 gr below loose primer pockets and 10 gr above max book load, this was 3025 fps average muzzle velocity.

With this long OAL, I get 0.8" average groups.

The magazine boxes on my 7mmRM bolt rifles are only long enough for 3.34" OAL [ Mauser magazines that I had to mill out to get that long].

So I was shooting a single shot Ruger #1.

I killed three deer.

When we saw a heard of moving mule deer, three of us piled out of the truck. I got on my belly with a bi pod and took three shots at 380 yards to hit one in the shoulder. The other hunters with repeaters said it sounded like a machine gun, when I fired three quick shots from a single shot.

Clark

"loaded 2 gr below loose primer pockets and 10 gr above max book load,"

Hmmm....I'm a little lost on this statement! Would you mind explaining a little more??

 

[Len Backus]

I didn't read every post in this thread but I wonder if you have all read this article by Eric at Berger Bullets:

Optimizing Accuracy With VLD Bullets

It seems Berger did some more recent shooting research and found that many of the former tips on how to get ANY manufacturer's VLD bullets may be a bit limiting.

It's a good read.

 

[mikebob]

I have a savage mod 111 in 300wm. I got tired of shooting it single shot so i seated bullets in deep enough to fit in the clip. I then played with seating depth .005 at a time and found a sweet spot where they shoot just as good as they did loaded into the lands. I am glad I tried that even though everyone was saying they needed to be in the lands. I have not checked the distance off the lands because I just wanted them to fit in the clip, but I bet they are at least .150 off.