6mm berger 105 vld's

[D.S.]

Ive just started working up a load for my new Lilja 3groove 8twist.243win chambered barrel. I would prefer to use the 105 bergers and so far that is the only bullet Ive been able to try (other than some cheap 100grn hornadys for the barrel breakin). Out of 5 3-shot 100yd groups the largest was .274" and the smallest was .212". Ive been seating these berger vld's .001 off the lands and was wondering if I should start seating them 5 thousanths into the lands since thats what everyone seems to be doing for best results(I probably wouldnt be able to see the benefits of different seating depths until I stretch her legs out a bit). If I did this would this possibly cause any problems in the field--its a hunting rifle and ill obviously need to chamber and eject unfired shells occasionally. Thanks a bunch, Drew Stuart

[Stormrider]

I used to seat into the rifling but stopped that after having bullets pull out of the case when I ejected unfired rounds.
IMO if you get ~.2 groups with your ammo now, you are wasting time and components by working for more accuracy. You would be better served by spending them on practice and trajectory plotting.

[bailey1474]

[ QUOTE ]
IMO if you get ~.2 groups with your ammo now, you are wasting time and components by working for more accuracy. You would be better served by spending them on practice and trajectory plotting.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll agree to some extent. Playing w/the seating depth won't hurt anything though. Just seat a few groups of 5 in .005" increments and go practice w/them @ an extended distance and see which prints the smallest groups.

My rifle likes them .020" in. It tells me when I need to change my depth. Loaded some tonight and had to lengthen them by about .006".

[D.S.]

Thanks for the replies- Even though I have gotten great results seating the berger vld's just off the lands, I have only just started load developement and I would still like to see how they shoot seated about 5thousanths into the lands. The Berger website recommends doing this w/ the vld and I know its a common practice in target rifles, but what about a hunting rifle? Wouldnt the seating depth be altered if such a round was chambered and then unloaded?
--Please let me hear any thoughts and suggestions.
THanks alot, Drew Stuart
P.S. if you have any favorite .243win loads that an 8twist barrel might like, they're of course welcome too. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[jb1000br]

You should easily be able to go 20thou in without pulling a bullet or changing the OAL when chambered.

I just ran an OAL test with their 180VLD in my 284

tested:
5thou off
10 thou in
15 in
20 in
25 in

All 3-shot round robin groups at 1000yds.

5 off was horrible

15-25 in (9 shots) made a sub 5" group.

Tells me they like to be 15-25 in, but don't really care which it is...

YMMV,
JB

[bailey1474]

JB,

What velocity are you getting w/this combo. I'm debating a 7mm build right now and this is one of the combos I was kicking around. Also bbl length.

Sorry for the hijack.

[jb1000br]

30" krieger, ~2875 is doable with h4831sc...