I have a 6.5x47 that I have been messing around with. I worked up a load with the Berger 130s and was getting great speed and spreads. The accuracy just wasn't there so I followed Bergers info on seating depth. From left to right +.10, -.040, -.080, -.120
I did adjust the scope for the last group, but the POI was the same through all seating depths.
I'm pleasantly pleased with this little gun being that it weighs 5.5 lbs unscoped.
I thought this info could be valuable to someone.





Tuesday morning @ 440 yards. The Bergers performed flawlessly. Bang, flop.

nice work man! I dig that rifle a bunch.

Yeah I like it too. Even with the beefy scope and tripod its right at 8lbs.

I'll put her on a diet when the time comes to go into the high country.

Very nice rifle. Looks like you found the sweet spot with the vld's. Nice lope btw...

That is awesome! Still looking for the sweet spot for my 260 with the Berger 130. I have the same progression loaded just waiting to get to the range.

Cool! .120" off!

I need to continue that test with my .264/140 VLD. Shot well at .040" off and I stopped there. 3 in one hole then 1 out but around 1/2".

What was crazy is that my spreads were single digits with multiple powder charges, but the groups weren't there. I almost chalked it up to the fact that my gun hated the Bergers.

I took my charge with the most consistent velocities and followed Bergers advice. at .120 jump it all came together so I stopped and went hunting. I will dink with it more in a couple months.

Its a very compressed load now and I read that people were getting huge pressure spikes when using the method that I did. The only thing that I noticed with a little speed reduction the deeper I seated the bullet.

Bolt lift was fine, no ejector marks and the primers look great

Nice shooting. Looks like a good one shot group on that goat lol. Whats the specs on that rifle?

Remington Model Seven Action
PTG Bolt
PTG .2" Lug
Brux Barrel ( In between a #2&#3 contour, 25" long and deep fluted
High Tech Specialties ADL Stock (Duracoat Sniper Grey w/ Black speckletone.
Pachmyr 1/2" Pad
6.5x47 w/ .290 Neck .125 FB
130 Bergers right at 2900 and 37.8 grains of Varget

I sent the barrel, bolt, cocking piece, extractor, ejector and every screw off and had them nitrided. There is literally not one piece of this gun that is not weather proof.

Sweet rig. Very efficent cartridge.

very nice indeed.

Who did the nitriding? Can u pm me the contact info and price?

Thanks Roy.

Oh yeah awesome shooting and sweet rig!


Roy

getting 130 grains moving at 2900 with just 37.8 g of Varget is good stuff. bet it's just a flea bite of recoil.

OK I'll hang my ignorance out there for all to see...

How can you have +.10 of seating depth? Isn't .0 touching the lands? Does +.10 put a .10 dent in the bullet?

+.10 just means you're jamming .10". It'll put a mark in the ogive, yes.

And sometime it will pull the bullet if you try to eject a loaded round, filling your magazine with powder.

Nice work. What is your overall length at those seating depths? I've been considering another 6.5 Lapua in a lighter weight rig this time. The reamer the smith I'm talking to has .180" freebore which sounds a bit long but I'm thinking about running 140's.

Bb

My COAL is 2.6ish. I am running a .125 FB. It works well for the 123s and 130 Berger.

Run the ballistics on the Bergers at 2900ish FPS. Great accuracy and your brass will last FOREVER

Interesting post about the Bergers and a very nice rig,

Thanks for posting the info. Nice rig and nice lope.

I like the spec's on your rig for sure. I am thinking of a brother build to yours but in a 260 and working on a 700 instead of a 7 action but could be talked into a 7.

Not to be picky but did you mean .010 instead of .1 ?

My Gawd man, where is your camo? Black hat, blue shirt, shorts? Probably thongs also. Have you no decency?

Good looking stuff and post!

I think that the 700 would be better suited for the 260 so you can seat the bullets out where they need to be.

.10" was not a typo. I haven't dinked with it too much after I found a seating depth that worked.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2009/03/berger-tips-for-loading-vld-bullets/


Writing in the report, Berger�s Eric Stecker observes: �Many reloaders feel (and I tend to agree) that meaningful COAL adjustments are .002 to .005. Every once in a while I might adjust the COAL by .010 but this seems like I am moving the bullet the length of a football field. The only way a shooter will be able to benefit from this situation is to let go of this opinion that more than .010 change is too much (me included).�

For target competition shooters (for whom it is practical to seat into the lands), Berger recommends the following test to find your rifle�s VLD sweet spot.

Load 24 rounds at the following COAL:
1. .010″ into (touching) the lands (jam) 6 rounds
2. .040″ off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
3. .080″ off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
4. .120″ off the lands (jump) 6 rounds

Berger predicts that: �One of these 4 COALs will outperform the other three by a considerable margin. Once you know which one of these 4 COAL shoots best then you can tweak the COAL +/- .002 or .005

I left the flip flops at home. It was a little cold that morning.