Berger VLD Question???

[Autorotate19]

Iv heard the rumor that berger vld's take a little while to stabilize so they don't group well usually at 100yards. My question is what should I expect from them at 100 in order to be accurate at farther ranges. I haven't got a chance to shoot them farther but today at the range one load shot well under 1" consistently. What do ya think?

 

[Savagebien]

from what i've seen from my friend's rifle they will shoot around .75" at 100y and then about that or slightly bigger at 300y. That was with a 7 RM and 180 bergers.

 

[sniperjwt]

well i would say your more than likely ok my best group to date at 100yds with my 7stw and a 168 berger at 100 yards is .7 but the same bullet and loads have shot a 4in group at 620yds. I would say expecially if it is a large caliber you are doing ok of coarse smaller is better but if i were you i would try shooting at 300 to see how they do they will be stabilized by then.

 

[bigngreen]

So far every rifle I have loaded Berger VLD's has shot it's smallest 100yrd groups with them hands down.

 

[Ridge Runner]

thats the first 7 bergers ever shot from my 6.5 gibbs, they were loaded touching the lands, pressures were so high that the cases lost the pockets running 3180 fps.
the cluster which measures around .4" ctc was shot at 100 yards, the other 3 measure just under 6" were shot at 610 yards with no windage adjustment. the single shot was to adjust for a 300 yard zero at 100 yards
I've since lengthened the throat, loaded them up to 3340 fps loaded at .025" off the lands and groups now run just under 5" at 830 yards. finaly took a deer with the 140 berger this fall, range was 419 yards, impact sight was impressive in the snow to say the least, the deer ran 20 yards, yeah the bergers are keepers!
RR

 

[Buffalobob]

100 yards
6mm 115 VLD
The group on the left is 0.19. The group on the right was going way that until I choked and called it high and there it was. These were jammed hard. Primer pockets blow and primers fall out into the action.

This rifle has two 1000 yd + kills. I hunt with them jammed because that is what kills animals.

 

[Autorotate19]

I had the same problem I think, first two touching and third one a little off. Both under an inch though. It might of had something to do with the guy next to me that kept unloading his 30round mag with his AR15 at the range lol... My load is 210gr vld with 92gr Retumbo cci mag primers loaded to barely fit in the mag. I might mess with it a little but it seemed to group better than anything else I tried. What do you guys usually do as far as load development, .5 gr increments, .3gr.......? Thanks for all the responses?

 

[sniperjwt]

I usually go with .5 grains at a time seems to work pretty good

 

[Autorotate19]

Do you guys think 200yards is far enough for them to stabilize or 300.

 

[sniperjwt]

Well if you have a place to shoot at 300 I would just shoot from there to make sure. It might be ok at 200 but it's hard to say without actually shooting them

 

[Autorotate19]

Right now where I go shoot 200 is max so ill just try that and see how it goes. Thanks for the help.

 

[BIG MO]

I won't claim to have a vast experience with the Bergers, but I have shot about 400 rounds to include 210 vld 300RUM, 180 vld 7mmRM, 190 vld 300 WSM, 140 Vld .264 WM. All were off the shelf factory rifles shooting heavy for caliber long bullets at max velocity. And the bullets were seated to fit in the magazine.

In my experience with the aforementioned, heavy for caliber Berger Vld's are my least favorite bullet for shooting short range groups. I have found if you can get groups under 1MOA at 100yds with consistant velocity, guess what, chances are good she will shoot three shots sub-moa @ 1000yds.

I'm no ballistician, and the physics say otherwise, but this has been my empiracle experience in the field with five different rifles in different calibers.
Your mileage may vary, but don't judge your load too harshly until you shoot it at some real yardage.

 

[Autorotate19]

That makes me feel better.... I found a range that I can shoot 300 yards tomorrow so im going to check it out. Im going to test H1000 and Retumbo..... At 100 yards Iv had better luck with the retumbo as far as groups but im going to see at 300

 

[liltank]

Let us know how it shoots.

Tank