6mm Berger 95gr VLD shooters, I have an important question...

[Reynolds02]

I have been shooting the 95gr. hunting VLD's and have a good amount of the target bullets. Would like to use the targets shooting steel and maybe some varmint hunting. I was just interested to know who has done this before and if they had to adjust the drop data or if they are the same other than a possible small zero adjust like possible lot to lot differences. I have shot the targets before and they seemed to shoot the same groups if not a touch better. Any experienced advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[coyotekiller82]

Load up a few handfuls of each and do some testing, it's the only way you'll really know for sure as every rifle is different.

Happy Shooting!!!

 

[rdsewell]

I don't know about the 6mm but, I have shot the 6.5mm hunting and target vld's in 140gr. both seem to shoot identical. As long as your bc is the same you should be good.

 

[Mikecr]

I've only used 95gr Hunting(original) VLDs so I don't know if there is any significant difference in pressure or terminal ballistics with target VLDs.

But I hold the notion that Berger designated them reverse of logical.
They created thicker jacket target VLDs to stop blow-ups. But target shooters were not the people blowing them up. It was hunters with overbore wildcats(that are not target cartridges).
And I don't know for sure but I would think thicker jackets would provide better terminal ballistics on typical mid-size game. Not needed for paper targets.
Anyway, I'm not motivated to change from original VLDs -for groundhogs.

 

[Reynolds02]

Thanks for the reply's guys, i think i'm going to try them. If everything goes well i'll use them for the shots on steel or under 500 yds, I say that to help from having crawl off's with the woodchucks... if anyone else has had any experience with this don't be afraid to write your findings, thanks

 

[laserflat]

I've only used 95gr Hunting(original) VLDs so I don't know if there is any significant difference in pressure or terminal ballistics with target VLDs.

But I hold the notion that Berger designated them reverse of logical.
They created thicker jacket target VLDs to stop blow-ups. But target shooters were not the people blowing them up. It was hunters with overbore wildcats(that are not target cartridges).
And I don't know for sure but I would think thicker jackets would provide better terminal ballistics on typical mid-size game. Not needed for paper targets.
Anyway, I'm not motivated to change from original VLDs -for groundhogs.

Thats not the way I understood it. I heard that some of the bullets at least, the lead core was melting due to sitting in hot barrels/chambers and bullets were blowing en route to the target.

If theres anything Berger knows, its target shooting. Walt Berger was(and still is I believe) an avid Benchrest shooter. Eric Stecker won the F-TR class at the Berger SW Nat`ls. Bryan Litz hunts quite a bit and did great in the Sling/TR class at the Berger SW Nat`ls.

 

[Mikecr]

Thats not the way I understood it. I heard that some of the bullets at least, the lead core was melting due to sitting in hot barrels/chambers and bullets were blowing en route to the target.

Lead isn't melting in bullets while sitting in any chambers, much less the 3-5sec cycling in competion.

If theres anything Berger knows, its target shooting. Walt Berger was(and still is I believe) an avid Benchrest shooter. Eric Stecker won the F-TR class at the Berger SW Nat`ls. Bryan Litz hunts quite a bit and did great in the Sling/TR class at the Berger SW Nat`ls.

But what do they know of the overbore hunting cartridges added to extremely tight twist barrels -that were most consistently causing bullets to blow up?
I seriously doubt anyone from Berger has competed with a 22-243Middlestead and 90gr VLDs out of 7tw barrels. This condition has probably blown up more Bergers than all other conditions combined.

I was predicting VLD blow-ups for folks, right to the grain of powder, or FPS, while Berger was still denying blow-ups. It's only when shooters who buy & talk a lot of bullets(target shooters) murmured about leaving Berger behind, that the veil of denial was lifted, and actions taken to appease.
But don't confuse this with realities. The original VLDs still blow up exactly where they always have, and there are no competitive target combinations I know of that cause it. ONLY hunting cartridges.

I think Berger's actions present a positive model for many businesses, both with thicker jackets, and with Bryan's velocity averaged BC calcs. I have always loved their VLDs, and buy a lot of them.
But designating thicker jacket VLDs as 'target' seems more of merchandising than practical application. It seems backwards.
If I were shooting a 22-243ai with 90VLDs, I would be using the thicker jacket target VLDs, even while there is no competitive 22-243ai, and never has been.