.300 Win Mag issues

[gderr]

Hey everyone I am having some issues with finding a load for my Remington 700 Sendero. I am really wanting to shoot Berger VLDs. I have shot 168gr, 185gr, and 210gr bullets and latter tested H1000, IMR-4350, IMR-4831, and most recent RL-22. I have yet to see 1 MOA at 100 yard. I am the only owner of the rifle and have only shot maybe 200-250 rounds max. I am kind of lost. I have been seating my bullets at 3.34 inches which is max in my book so I started there. I feel as if this gun has excessive head space (I can shut the bolt with a shell with over all length of 3.8). Thoughts? I have talked to a couple guys who shoot VLDs in other guns and they seat their bullets way longer then what the book says, is this normal? One of them can't even put shells in the magazine because the round is to long.

 

[gohring3006]

It is normal with vld's but its not always necessary. You sometimes can find a node without seating near the lands follow bergers load development steps and you will find where your rifle likes them seated...

 

[C Harrison]

Factory chambers tend to be longer throated than custom chambers so it is rather normal for the VLD bullets to not fit in the magazine when you are reaching for the lands. Headspace is measured at the datum line on the shoulder rather than the distance to the lands so I'm sure your headspace is in spec. I recommend seating the bullet out as far as needed to the lands and see what happens. My 300 win likes a .001 jam with the 210 Berger. Reduce the powder charge before jamming the bullets into the lands as pressure tends to increase faster with a jam. Retumbo worked best for me. Also, I had a Sendero that would not group no matter what I did with any combination of components so consider that too.

 

[dkhunt14]

I would pillar bed the gun and see if results get better. Matt

 

[Dosh]

gderr, e-mail Berger giving your rifle specs and bullet/ powders you want to use along with seating questions. Measure your magazine length. Berger will respond within a few days. Many here are having excellent accuracy with the 215 and 230 Bergers in their 300 WM with H1000 or Retumbo. You will find many threads in the custom search on the subject. Good luck

 

[Bigeclipse]

I would pillar bed the gun and see if results get better. Matt

is it really worth pillar bedding a stock with an aluminum bedding block already in it? Id think simply bedding the stock with additional bedding compound would be enough...

 

[dkhunt14]

is it really worth pillar bedding a stock with an aluminum bedding block already in it? Id think simply bedding the stock with additional bedding compound would be enough...

I didn't know a Sendero had a bedding block. If it does you need to remove metal from the block and bed with Devcon steel bed. I don't like less then 100 to 125 thousandths bedding. My buddy built a 338 Ultra Imp. and put it in a wooden laminated stock with a bedding block. it was built to the same specs as our 17 lb light guns. It would not shoot at 1000 yards. He put it in the milling machine and milled out an 1/8 inch and Devcon steel bedded it. Then the gun shot 5 inch 5 shot groups at 1000. If you stress an action, it will not shoot. Matt

 

[Bigeclipse]

I didn't know a Sendero had a bedding block. If it does you need to remove metal from the block and bed with Devcon steel bed. I don't like less then 100 to 125 thousandths bedding. My buddy built a 338 Ultra Imp. and put it in a wooden laminated stock with a bedding block. it was built to the same specs as our 17 lb light guns. It would not shoot at 1000 yards. He put it in the milling machine and milled out an 1/8 inch and Devcon steel bedded it. Then the gun shot 5 inch 5 shot groups at 1000. If you stress an action, it will not shoot. Matt

good to know!

 

[just country]

Hey everyone I am having some issues with finding a load for my Remington 700 Sendero. I am really wanting to shoot Berger VLDs. I have shot 168gr, 185gr, and 210gr bullets and latter tested H1000, IMR-4350, IMR-4831, and most recent RL-22. I have yet to see 1 MOA at 100 yard. I am the only owner of the rifle and have only shot maybe 200-250 rounds max. I am kind of lost. I have been seating my bullets at 3.34 inches which is max in my book so I started there. I feel as if this gun has excessive head space (I can shut the bolt with a shell with over all length of 3.8). Thoughts? I have talked to a couple guys who shoot VLDs in other guns and they seat their bullets way longer then what the book says, is this normal? One of them can't even put shells in the magazine because the round is to long.

I have had a lh 300 win mag for years. I had the rifle custom built. I shoot 78.5grs of 4831sc, Berger 168gr VLD. shoot .500 all day long. I also use the old Remington 180gr. bronze tip. 77grs. of the same powder. I shot 20 shoots into a 1" group at 100yrds. I was using the 168 and 180gr. bullets. Try some MagPro and some MRP. They have a very close burn rate.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Gderr... This year I finally went with the VLDs and very glad I did. If you are using the standard VLD hunting round... For those... I've found that the 168gr bullet is very sensitive in my setup to seating depth. I started with finding my max ogive to base length using a hornady comparator. Then I picked a mid-range load and worked up 6 bullets for each of the following seating depths... .020, .040, .060 & .080 off the lands. Went to the range and shot groups. The best was from .080. At this point... I then worked up powder charges using .5 grain increments... Making 6 cartridges for each charge weight, seated at .080 off the lands. I shot 3 rounds each using my chronograph...a magnetospeed so I could get velocity... And then the other 3 each without the megneto attached to the barrel for group size. Once I had the seating depth... Getting a less than 1 moa group from my different powder charge weights was very easy.

On the other hand... I recently bought some Berger Hybrids... And they seem to be somewhat insensitive to seating depth. For these... I just picked .050 off the lands and worked up powder charges just as I did above. Getting less than 1" MOA group was again, quite easy... First trip out to the range.

I might ask more about case prep, what dies you are using, how you are measuring your powder weights etc. If all very consistent... You might have a gun that's a dud. Sad but true... I have a savage hog Hunter that shoots .3x all day long... And another that won't shoot anything. I know my reloading practices and shooting skills are dialed in to at least .5" at 100... But that one savage out of my 24 rifles... On mine and my brothers best day... Has only done 1.99" at 100. I'm hoping that isn't the case for your rifle... And that you find a load that treats you right. If you'd like to know my reloading setup... Hit me up and we'll talk. Happy to share what has seemed to work with the VLDS for me.