Berger 140 Hunting VLD at 3,500 fps?

[Engineering101]

Well the 6.5mm #5 Krieger showed up on the porch yesterday so it looks like I'm gonna have a 26 Nosler on my hands in a couple of months. In looking ahead a bit, Boddington said in the G & A article that he clocked 140 grainers at 3,425 fps average out of a 26 inch tube. I may be able to get to 3,500 fps with RL-33. Can the Berger 140s handle 3,500 fps?

 

[bigngreen]

Nope!

 

[Engineering101]

bigngreen

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[CA48]

This is off the top of my head my head but wasn't that the 129gr lrab that he was running at 3425fps.

I will have to go back and look, I have the magazine.

The 6.5 Allen Mag will run the 140s at 3550 in a 30 in bbl but it has more case capacity.

 

[Engineering101]

Here is what the article said:

So, being a bit of a 6.5mm fan, I got excited when Nosler gave a sneak preview of the .26 Nosler. It was supposed to push a 140-grain bullet at 3,375 fps, a quantum leap over the .264, except that they were wrong about the velocity. In the 26-inch barrel of the Nosler Model 48 I used, actual average velocity was 3,425 fps — a bonus of 50 fps.

 

[CA48]

My mistake. I'm pretty excited to start seeing actual field reports from multiple rifles to see how this cartridge is going to perform.

Then see how well the supply and demand for brass, loaded ammo, and dies ends up, because a hot rod 6.5 does shooters and especially non hand loaders no good if you can't find components or are waiting on back order lists for 6 months.

 

[Mikecr]

Can the Berger 140s handle 3,500 fps?

Not in an 8tw it won't. But you'll burn out the barrel before working up a load anyway.

 

[RT2506]

I get 3350 fps with Retumbo in my 9 twist 27 3/4" 264 Win Mag with 130 Accubonds and they perform perfectly on deer from 50 to about 400 yards so far. Never tried 140s because of the 9 twist barrel.

 

[Engineering101]

There are a few things which might make the 140 Bergers usable in my 26 Nosler. Number one, the barrel is an 8.5 twist. Number two, the barrel uses 5R rifling. Number three, it is not very often that a rifle is most accurate right at max load so I'll likely end up at something less than 3,500 fps even if RL-33 works as expected. No need to beat up the brass when the bullet can't take it either. And this brass is expensive at $2.64 each. (I'm pretty sure when they set the price that they didn't plan on making it equal to the caliber - but that is where it ended up.)

 

[bigngreen]

The 5R will help, the twist rate won't, the most help will be shooting the 140 Target and not the Hunting. They may live for a while but when your throat starts getting rough, which will be soon, you'll start failing jackets. I've found pretty much 3250-3300 fps will be the top limit with the Hunting and even there you'll have issues when your throat get rough.
If you idle the 26 Nosler you might as well shoot any number of rounds that will run a 140 with less capacity, less powder and more life!

 

[Canadian Bushman]

Not in an 8tw it won't. But you'll burn out the barrel before working up a load anyway.

If your componets yeild the same velocities as the ones nosler uses.

Cfe223 and super performance were around long before reloaders got their hands on them.
A good gimmick to keep people buying factory ammunition.

Id stay away from firing strings, i imagine that bore is gonna get warm pretty quick.