Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Berger VLDs won't shoot - suggestions?

I've got a Tikka T3 270 Winchester. 1/10 twist. 4.4-14 Leupold in Talley Rings.

Factory Hornady's and Black Hills 130G factory loads shoot 3/4" groups @ 100

I loaded up some 130 grain Berger VLDs with loads from starting loads to maximum w/ H4841SC that seems to work with any 130G bullets that I've tried. Its a Berger recommended powder.

Im getting shotgun groups. All over the place.. I then shot some Black Hills 130G factory loads w/130 SSTs and got a 3 shot group you could cover with dime. Not the scope obviously. Back to Bergers - back to shotgun groups. They suggest as close to the lands as possible. I've loaded them as far out as I can with the detachable magazine. Suggestions?

Didja try loading them singly jamming the lands?

nope, but if they are any longer I won't be able to hunt with them.

I would contact Berger and ask for advice--but they just may not work.

Berger VLD's are very precise bullets, but also quite "soft," with thin jackets and low-antimony cores. If the chamber throat is over-sized they may not make the jump in the same shape as a somewhat harder bullet. In a precisely-throated chamber they usually shoot VERY well, but in some hunting chambers they may not.

Yes they do liked to be jammed in SOME rifles mine are of the lands .030 and shoot like a house on fire I do reccomend stretching them the length of your mag and see what happens. Also email or call Berger to give you some data as well. As per the data they send you try the powders they reccomend, if you have them load up 4rds and get on the gas to the range to see which combo. works the best. Lastly you don't have to I did.........buy you a VLD chamfering tool!

http://www.sinclairintl.com/product/6246/Case-Mouth-Chamfering

Try jumping them further first, some like it this way for some reason. It goes against traditional wisdom, but it sometimes works.

You may need to try a different powder as well. If they are shooting "shotgun groups", they may be unstable. Even my worst groups with them are a little over an inch.

I tried the 155gr VLD's in my 30MC 1:14 twist they never shot bad just not as good as 155gr Lapua Scenars. Then I read the article about bullet seating depths on the VLD. You'll find it on the Berger website. They recommend seating some at 10 thou (ie 0.010"), then 50thou then 90thou & finally 120thou off the lands.

I already had some loaded ammo. I couldn't do 10 thou as it was already seated deeper than that and 120thou was way too compressed. So I reseated some rounds at 50 & 90 thou. Well what do you know. At 50thou it shot better at 90thou it shot even better, again. So much for that theory of chasing the lands for accuracy.

Go have a read of the article and you can make up your own mind. I'm a convert.

regards,
JohnT

THe bad news is that VLDs have a different ogive so it might be difficult to get close to the lands with them.

The good news is that the SST is a better hunting bullet and dime size groups are a good ending point.

Why try to push the river.

TC

There are a lot of long range hunters out there that would disagree with you on this point. At the recent NRA convention, every long range shooting system I looked at shot nothing but Berger VLD hunting bullets. Again, against conventional wisdom, they really work.

I was there as well and it was a real eye opener to see how many people were using Bergers for hunting.

Currently, no doubt they're the rage. IMO the true test will be are they being used by the same number of people (and or more) in 5 years from now...<g>

I could be way wrong but I'll go out on a limb and bet they won't be....

Dober

I say even more in 5 years. Nobody else has come up with anything better for the real long shots. Word gets around. Berger can't keep up with their orders and they aren't a "hording" type bullet.

I have some other great long range bullets, but none of them perform on BIG game very reliably. All my buddies that use Bergers say they are phenomenal for killing. I have yet to kill anything bigger than a coyote with them myself. That will change this year!

You would say that!

Take into account that Bergers have already been killing big game for the past 5 years already.

A Berger 168 out of 284 Win is on my list.

It's gonna change for me as well Dennis I couldn't BELEIVE how well my 257WBY shot with the VLD's. To say the least I can't WAIT to sit on the powerline this year!

I have a 180 .284 on my list!

Here's an article by Eric Stecker from Berger Bullets... it goes into shooting them in the lands... and away from the lands.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/vld-bullets-accuracy-1.php

My 7 STW likes the 168's and I have them seated to fit the magazine (3.600") and they have about an .080" jump to the lands and they shoot under half inch and clock at 3200 fps.

I spoke to Berger and am going to try the items mentioned in the article above.

However, I was told sometimes they don't stabilize (go to sleep? or something like that) until 150-200 yards, and that they may group better at 200 yards than 100 yards. The great majority of my hunting has been 100 yards or less. Am I trying to use the wrong bullet? I plan to use it mainly for whitetail and piggies.

Jeff

Jeff,

I have used the 130 gr VLD in my 6.5-'06 for pronghorn and liked them at around 300 yards. I tried them in 140 gr .284 in my .280 Rem and got groups under .5" at 100 yards (I am off the lands). I think for what you are doing I would just use another bullet since the VLD is more a long-range bullet.

jim

I had the same problems with Berger. So i just tried seating the bullets at different depths. They were right, all of a sudden you see a big difference in group size. My 06 just shot a group you can cover with a dime at 200 yds. With the bullet seated at .050 off the lands. As for your question on if you are using the right bullet. Well, that is up to you to decide.