Pushing Berger 7mm Berger 168s or 180s??

[ODAVID]

Roy,

I am using a 1-9 twist broughton on my STW. Earlier this year, Berger retired their original 7mm 180 die. The old die made the bullets a little oversize compared to the 168's and other 7mm bullets. I haven't tried any of the thick jackets yet.

Travis

Say Travis,

Can you share your 7STW load with me. I am getting close to working up some 168 gr berger and would really like to know kind and amount of powder you are using. I will use Fed 215 M primers and remington cases. Obviously I will work up but it is nice to know what others have got in my quest. I have a 29 inch barrel with 9.5 twist on my 7STW.

thanks
ODAVID

 

[Magnumpeanut]

I am very interested to hear if anyone uses the 180VLD in a 7mm RM and what kind of speeds they are getting.

Has anyone fired this round at deer with good, clean kills?

 

[gamedog]

Has anyone fired this round at deer with good, clean kills?

This is my Mulie from last month. 180gr Bergers @3007 fps. Was a good kill, but not very clean

 

[Magnumpeanut]

By clean kill, I mean did it suffer and run another mile before it died, obviously it did not.

I don't care how much I mess up its ribs, I don't eat them anyways.

 

[7mmRHB]

Roy, I've been fireforming my brass for my 7mmRHB with 168 bergers @ 3280fps in a 28" 1 in 8.2" twist 5R Rock bbl with no apparent jacket problems. It's not a top end load by any means,( 77.2 grs RL 25 ) but the accuracy is good enough to whack our 1145yd gong consistantly even though the bbl twist is way to fast for the 168s.

I did shoot some 189 Cauterucios that showed real promise accuracy wise but I haven't shot them into anything to see how they'll perform. The BC was up there ( .825 ) at our elevation, 5000ft so I'm hoping they will perform on Game !!

The 180 JLKs are built on J4 jackets from Berger. They are a higher BC and are very accurate in the guns I have dealt with.

I guess I better get out and do some more shooting and testing so ol' GG can relax a little. I seem to test his patience at times !! LOL ----- RHB

 

[royinidaho]

7mmRHB,

Good information.

Sounds like you rig is working well. That 5R seems to be pretty easy on jackets. About the opposite of my Lilja fast twist 3 groover.

It looks as if I'll have plenty of 7mm boolets to pick from for my project.

Now to pick the correct one, the first try.

If I can get Corbin to do some kind of a reasonable delivery time I'll know fairly quickly. I sure hope so. I'm not getting any younger.

Tell GG there are pills for that impatience condition.

 

[JeffVN]

Another alternative is the Cauterucio 189s (used to be 176s but he puts more filler in them now). I spoke to Bob when I bought mine a few months ago and he said the achieved BCs were considerably above the Berger 180s (.725 at 2,700 fps and above .800 for speeds above 3,100 fps).

According to my calipers, the 189s are considerably longer than the 180 Bergers in length (1.560" vs 1.533"), bearing surface (0.643" vs 0.622") and base to ogive (.845 vs .822) as compared to my most recent lot of Berger 180s). My calipers show the 189s to be MUCH more consistent in the above dimensions compared to the Berger's which varied up to 0.006 in Base to Ogive length in my most recent lot of 1,000 bullets.

Here is a picture comparing the bullets side-by-side, together with the Sierra 175 and the JLK 180s (midway down the thread):

7mm Cartridge Guide

JeffVN

 

[Coyboy]

Good topic, I'm working on a 7 rum and hoping to shoot the heavies way out there. I only have 10 bullets down the tube so far, so I have a ways to go.

 

[NZ Longranger]

Only just spotted this thread.
I've shot hundreds of game animals with the 7mm 180 Bergers at muzzle velocities of 3200 fps up to 3460 fps, at ranges out to 1425 yards. Until recent testing of the Wildcat alloy tip 338 projectiles that are now no longer available, the Bergers have been the best killing longrange projectile available. I'm talking 180gn moly bergers from a large order I made maybe 10 years ago that I'm still using, so with the original jacket thickness.
This is on Sika and Red deer, and Himalayan Tahr and Chamois. These game animals run from Whitail size up to almost Elk size for comparison.
The 180 Berger has consistantly expanded at ranges over 1000 yards and nothing else I've tried has. (Other than unavailable Wildcats) I have yet to have a failure up close with them either, but haven't had to use them on a bad angle on a big animal yet, I use mainly AB's for that application.
I was pleased they held together at 3460fps, but have had no problems at all and grouping superbly. This is out of a 9" twist 30" Lilja. The G1 BC (not that we should be talking these anymore!) averaged .74 to 1000 yards. Run those numbers, pretty impressive ballistics!
I have some 189 Caut's to try in some Broughton 8" twist canted lands that don't like the Bergers as much, but haven't shot them at longrange yet. These Broughton's love the 200gn Wildcats accuracy wise, but ballistically the 180gn Berger's way faster velocity is better out of my barrels.
Greg

 

[Coyboy]

Thanks Greg, I have tried some 175 smks, Bergers not here yet. and they were not grouping real well at 3250+, 160 AB showed some promise this am.

I basically finished some brass prep and am waiting for the Bergers and some of Lens Caut's to show.

 

[260shooter]

NZ Longranger

What cartridge are you using to push the 180 3400+?

 

[adam32]

Whats a 7mm RHB?

 

[NZ Longranger]

NZ Longranger

What cartridge are you using to push the 180 3400+?

260,
We're using something we call the 7mm Super Fatso, which is a full length version of the 7mm Fatso - so its a 7mm/338 Lapua improved, 2.7" long vs the Fatso's WSM length. Its very similar to Kirby's 7mm AM. Used to just call it the 7mm/338 imp, but after the Fatso name stuck to the short version, the Super pretext seems to have stuck on the full length version.
It pushes the 180 Berger at 3460fps out of a 30" barrel, verses 3250 - 3300fps for the 200gn Wildcat ULD.
Greg

 

[7mmRHB]

Adam 32 ;

The 7mmRHB is a RUM case shortened to 2.555 and Improved. It has a 35* shoulder with minimum body taper. Just a different way to do the same thing we're all trying to do, ( shoot accurately at long range ) but with my own cartridge design....... RHB