Berger 243 87 VLD Hunting

HouseCat

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Is anyone shooting these out of a Remington Model 7 Predator? If so how do they shoot and what load are you using?
 
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Not using a model 7 but I am shooting its cousin, a 700 adl with 26" varmint contour stock barrel 1-9 1/8" twist. I worked up several loads and tried multiple seating depths and I found that my gun shoots best with the ogive of the bullet just touching the lans. I'm shooting 43gr of IMR 4350 and getting 3070fps (slow but most accurate this far). All 3 shots are touching at 100 yards and then I went back to 300 yards and shot twice (only had 5 loaded) and both shots were touching. Good luck!
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^^^ Man sure seems that you should be getting more velocity than that. I am averaging 3200fps with 41 grains of h4350, its a max load in my gun with the 87vld mine likes em about .001 off the lands and shoots little groups. I wander if it has to do with elevation, I shoot at around 4000ft.
 
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Yeh I'd love to get some more speed out of it and I do have a little bit of room to go up in powder but I know that the group will spread some until I hit the faster speed sweet spot!
 
"every gun is different" may just be your gun likes those bullets a bit slow for your tastes. Could also be it will like them at near max load for your gun. Only one way to find out.....shoot those loads,find your max and maybe another sweet spot
 
for the record... that charge is very near max, and your velocity is not slow... check Hodgdon's site for their numbers on 85 and 90 grain bullets. Just over 3000 fps is right what you should be getting with a max charge of IMR 4350.

Dan
 
Not to de-rail your OP but...

I have a TC Venture in .243 and I'm working on loads for Hornady 87gr V-Max's.

I use 4350 with 62gr Varmint Grenades, 5/8" group

I use Varget with heavier 87gr bullets, 1" group

I have yet to try 4064 with 87gr V-Max's.

4350 with 87gr V-Max gave me horrible results, 2"+ groups.
 
Originally Posted By: dan newberryAccuracy trumps velocity, so I call that great.
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Yep sure does, that's what I go for always have, and sometimes it's near max and sometimes it's not.. Just depends on the gun and your elevation chrony and everything else
 
Originally Posted By: dan newberryfor the record... that charge is very near max, and your velocity is not slow... check Hodgdon's site for their numbers on 85 and 90 grain bullets. Just over 3000 fps is right what you should be getting with a max charge of IMR 4350.

Dan

Reloading manuals are only a guide they will tell you nothing about your gun
 
Originally Posted By: EJ ReichenbachOriginally Posted By: dan newberryfor the record... that charge is very near max, and your velocity is not slow... check Hodgdon's site for their numbers on 85 and 90 grain bullets. Just over 3000 fps is right what you should be getting with a max charge of IMR 4350.

Dan

Reloading manuals are only a guide they will tell you nothing about your gun

Good point... I just thought it was worth pointing out that his velocity numbers were not all that far from what Hodgdon shows, so they're really not atypically slow for the recipe he's using, I wouldn't think...
 
Originally Posted By: Magnum76Not to de-rail your OP but...

I have a TC Venture in .243 and I'm working on loads for Hornady 87gr V-Max's.

I use 4350 with 62gr Varmint Grenades, 5/8" group

I use Varget with heavier 87gr bullets, 1" group

I have yet to try 4064 with 87gr V-Max's.

4350 with 87gr V-Max gave me horrible results, 2"+ groups.

I've had great results in this gun with imr 4350 and the 87 v-max bullets as well. When working up a load for it I found that it wasnt shooting all that great until I started adjusting the bullet seeting depth. First I tried different powders; imr4350, imr4831, and reloader 17. Once I found the the powder it liked most, 4350, I proceeded to seeting depth and found the sweet spot to be .015 jump. I shoot consist .25" groups with that load. That was my primary load that I used in a NRA long range shooting match last year!

Lots of factors though; barrel length and twist, seeting depth, ect....

243 is my all time favorite all around load. However it is defiantly a barrel burner for longrange shooting matches. Growing up (I'm still young, 24) I have always despised and hated 308's from a hunters perspective, but I'm on the verge of building me one for the long range shooting competitions now because they are such a good accurate none barrel burning round. I've also looked into a 6br, very very accurate 1000 yards and under but on a windy day there not to good past 600. That's why I'm leaning towards building a 308. The 6br guys will get me in the shorter shooting matches but I gotta build something that will cover me in all of the matches until I can afford to build another one.

Thanks guys!
 
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I took the 87 Berger VLD's up to 38.4 of IMR-4064 in a Tikka T3 Lite last year with real good accuracy. 37.1 also looked great, and about 37.7. I was using Fed210GM match primers and seating the bullet out pretty long (2.795 to 2.800 as a recall, which was also about the max for my gun's magazine.)

Start around the 37.0 mark and work up slow.
 
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