I have been experimenting with RL26 under 130 Berger hunters in Lapua brass. After picking a seating depth of 70 thou off the lands, I worked up an OCW series. Once I got that roughed in, I played with seating depth running 10, 40, 70, 100 and 130 thou off. Currently, I am at 40 thou off the lands with 49.9 grains RL26 giving a 3 shot group (I hate those lol) of .612 averaging 3118 fps with an ES of 2. Its only 3 shots so no extreme celebrating lol. Also, one thing on the group, I was pretty jacked up on coffee with my heart banging away. The 3rd shot broke on a heart beat and I pretty much called the flier. I loaded up 5 more to try out tomorrow and we will see how it works. Also, I tried CCI No. 34, Federal 210gmm, 215 and 215gmm primers and there was no real advantage to the magnum primers with the 210gmm being the best for me.
I Adjusted QL for bullet measurements, case capacity, seating depth, etc. and also adjusted the Ba rate to match velocity and it predicts my pressure to be about 61500 psi. Because my rifle is a switch barrel rig, I can not use my Pressure Trace on it. With Lapua brass, I think I am almost close to warm :p lol
I tried to load down to 3000 fps but the accuracy and velocity spread was terrible. Like RL17, it looks like RL26 needs to be at higher pressures to be consistent. One thing I noticed was that at about 3130 to 3140 fps the pressure appeared to really spike sending some bullets well over 3160 fps and having over 60 fps of spread and piercing even magnum and nato spec primers. Recoil was noticeably sharper and there was smoke and sooted necks. I didn't try to keep going to see if things would mellow out for obvious reasons lol.
Overall, I like what is coming together with RL26 and the 130 Bergers. Tuning in the VLD bullets can be funky but once you get it, you are set. I think I am pretty close here. We shall see.
