Hey, I am developing loads for my Bergara 6.5 PRC Wilderness Ridge. I have run into an issue where the berger bullets I am shooting (156gr EOL) when seated to be a 20th of the lands are took long to fit into the magazine. This results in me only being able to shooting a single rounds at time. Has anyone had this same issues. Ultimately the OAL is longer then the plate of the magazine.
Berger 156s dont fit into Bergara magazine
- Thread starter LocalJW
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dallen0427
Well-Known Member
Depends on your magazine length. Longest I can get the 156's in my load is .023 off. I can go a bit longer, but at .023 it feeds reliably from the box.
hawk-i
Well-Known Member
My Fierce Carbon edge 6.5 PRC has a 3.750 mag length from the factory, no problem in mine with the 156's
LocalJW,
If you want to run it as a reaper with mags, you have to start with a COAL that will fit in the mags. Then you only have one way to go with seating the bullet…in.
hawk-i,
Sounds like your Fierce 6.5 PRC is built on a long action where as the OP's Bergara is a short. Can't really compare the two when OAL/mag length is the culprit.
If you want to run it as a reaper with mags, you have to start with a COAL that will fit in the mags. Then you only have one way to go with seating the bullet…in.
hawk-i,
Sounds like your Fierce 6.5 PRC is built on a long action where as the OP's Bergara is a short. Can't really compare the two when OAL/mag length is the culprit.
Which rifle are you shooting?
dallen0427
Well-Known Member
CA Mesa.
Trm82
Well-Known Member
Seat them deeper !! In my browning I was seated at 0.109 off and they shot great.
That was as long as I could go with the magazine.
That was as long as I could go with the magazine.
So I was only able to fill up to about 84% powder capacity when seating them deeper.
That put me into the low 2600fps range and I had 3 cracked necks from those rounds.
I don't think these bergara were made to hold these long Berger bullets
Trm82
Well-Known Member
No it definitely doesn't seem like it. That's to bad because they are a great bullet in the PRC !!
You could just seat them at the max allowable mag length and see if they shoot. The hybrid ogive design seems to be pretty forgiving on seating depth. You will probably have to tune it a bit by doing a seating depth test. Try doing a pressure ladder with them seated to max mag length. Once you have your max powder charge you can back it off 1 to 2 grains and seat your bullet a little deeper at a time in groups of 3-5 rounds at each incrementally smaller seating depth. Ive seen lots of different variable increments and most of them probably would work. You will see your groups continue to shrink as you approach your optimal seating depth and then when you pass it you will see them start to open up again. If you dont see that, then your depth increments may be too course and you probably jumped over it. Pick your favorite group and that will be your new seating depth!
You will see your impacts on the target wander around a bit. I would look for a string of good groups that print to the same poi on the target relative to where you were aiming for 3 or so depths in a row and use the one in the middle of that as long as the group size is acceptable to you. There is a really good video on youtube by Eric Cortina about chasing the lands. He can explain it much better if the above doesn't make any sense.
I dont know what to say about the cracked necks. Keep us updated with what they say about that!
You will see your impacts on the target wander around a bit. I would look for a string of good groups that print to the same poi on the target relative to where you were aiming for 3 or so depths in a row and use the one in the middle of that as long as the group size is acceptable to you. There is a really good video on youtube by Eric Cortina about chasing the lands. He can explain it much better if the above doesn't make any sense.
I dont know what to say about the cracked necks. Keep us updated with what they say about that!
That's what happens all the time, a round is designed to be efficient, it gets standardized, then better bullets are made to improve it. The new bullets won't fit or maybe even work within the original specifications of the cartridge. Manufacturers are held to the original specifications so its not their fault. Another day in the life if living on the cutting edge, or trying to. Magazines too short, throats too short, twist to slow, you name it. That's why we build custom rifles. The PRC is a good cartridge, but its right at the limit of the short actions.
Try loading them to fit your magazine and see how it goes, others have done it. It will likely not have the velocity you expected, but may work ok for you.
.
Try loading them to fit your magazine and see how it goes, others have done it. It will likely not have the velocity you expected, but may work ok for you.
.
DJ Morrison
Well-Known Member
You could just make it a single shot....Somebody had to say it...
dallen0427
Well-Known Member
My load data for reference
56.6 gr N565
fed 210M
hornady brass
.028 off
COAL 3.037
2962 fps
56.6 gr N565
fed 210M
hornady brass
.028 off
COAL 3.037
2962 fps
