300gn Berger OTM .338 Lapua

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So I did a search and didn't find exactly what I was looking for so here goes. I picked up a box of the Berger OTM's and am looking for any experience anyone has with them. Specifically for the 110BA. I usually shoot the Sierra's in 300gn but thought I'd give these a try. I also have some Reloader 25. Anyone have any experience with that powder? Good or bad? What seating depth did you find worked the best with these bullets? I have read from berger that they prefer a long jump but others have said that a jam works best for them in other rifles. I would be shooting anywhere from 200 yards to 1000 or farther if I can find the room this summer.

If these bullets don't work out then i'll just go back to the Sierras I guess. Any info on them (Reload data, performance) is appreciated.

Thanks
 
I shoot the 300gr OTMs out of my 110BA. I use H1000, Federal 215M primers and Lapua brass. I've had excellent results with the Bergers. I found, as many others have, that Berger has really low numbers for the 300's. Their max charge for H1000 is 84.3gr, I use 92 with very faint ejector marks (same markings show up well within spec using 103gr[1gr below max] of US869 w/ 300 SMKs). I found that the OTMs shoot very well with MY 110BA seated at 0.030" jump and due to the length of the nose, I have to single feed the rounds. Not a big deal to me when it shoots 0.3 MOA at 2730fps.

Note: Being that the OTM's are a Hybrid ogive, they tend not to be as sensitive to seating depth as VLD type bullets. That being said, once you find your charge weight node, you can tune it for even better results by playing with the seating depth. Once I found the charge weight, I tested 0.000" jump, 0.010", 0.020",...... 0.100". Later I found out that going in 0.010" is too fine, you can get good results with either 0.025" variance or 0.030", I believe...

As far as RE-25, I don't have any experiance to offer with this powder... But here is the info from Berger, if you don't already have it...

RE-25 Start= 77.5gr @ 2485fps Max.= 81.5gr @ 2597fps Fill Ratio= 99%

SL
 
SavageLapua said:
I shoot the 300gr OTMs out of my 110BA. I use H1000, Federal 215M primers and Lapua brass. I've had excellent results with the Bergers. I found, as many others have, that Berger has really low numbers for the 300's. Their max charge for H1000 is 84.3gr, I use 92 with very faint ejector marks (same markings show up well within spec using 103gr[1gr below max] of US869 w/ 300 SMKs). I found that the OTMs shoot very well with MY 110BA seated at 0.030" jump and due to the length of the nose, I have to single feed the rounds. Not a big deal to me when it shoots 0.3 MOA at 2730fps.

Note: Being that the OTM's are a Hybrid ogive, they tend not to be as sensitive to seating depth as VLD type bullets. That being said, once you find your charge weight node, you can tune it for even better results by playing with the seating depth. Once I found the charge weight, I tested 0.000" jump, 0.010", 0.020",...... 0.100". Later I found out that going in 0.010" is too fine, you can get good results with either 0.025" variance or 0.030", I believe...

As far as RE-25, I don't have any experiance to offer with this powder... But here is the info from Berger, if you don't already have it...

RE-25 Start= 77.5gr @ 2485fps Max.= 81.5gr @ 2597fps Fill Ratio= 99%

SL
Click to expand...

Thanks for that great info! Im shooting the 110ba myself, what are you setting your COL at?
 
I found that as far as accuracy is concerned, they are pretty close. The SMK is easier to work with, you can have the ogive on the lands and it still fits in the mag. They are much less senitive to seating depth. And "typically" easier to find on the shelves... The Berger is much more consistant in it's construction. Once you get it worked out, they are very accurate. The Berger shines in two catagories. One: wind, with it's higher BC it experiences less wind deflection. And two: subsonic transition (though, I personally have never shot far enough with either bullet to see for myself, this info has been gathered from other resources including Bryan Litz).

Here is a side by side comparison of both bullets as shown in Bryan Litz's book: Applied Ballistics for Long Range Shooting

scan0001_zps5ce00c9f-1_zps96de6f10.jpg


scan0002_zps33dac3d7-1_zps0acef97a.jpg


SL
 
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Ok so this is gonna be a bit of a drawn out post but I finally got out today and tested my first batch of 300gn Berger OTM's with RE25. I never used this powder before so I was unsure of what I could expect from it. I was happy to find that Berger lists it in their reloading data on their website.

First the day.
6 deg C
Wind 9KMpH
Pres 30.09
34% Humidity

I loaded up 20 rounds only. I did this because of keeping track of firings on my brass. Half my batch had one more firing on it then the other half so I wanted to shoot the 20 that need to be fired to even out the usage or else i'll loose track of how many firings I have on it (brass is on it's 14th reload if your wondering). Berger lists a starting load of 78.5 up to a max of 82.7. Loads were as follows (included the velocity and ES), all were loaded to just touch the lands, brass is Lapua, neck sized, Primer CCi250's:

2@78.5 Sighters (fired at a seperate target)
3@78.5 2495/2487/2493 ES=8FPS
3@79.0 2510/2503/2502 ES=8FPS
3@79.5 2560/2525/2518 ES=42FPS
3@80.0 2593/2608/2599 ES=15FPS
3@80.5 2598/2565/2592 ES=33FPS
3@81.0 2592/2612/2659 ES=67FPS

I still have to load up 81.5, 82.0, 82.5 and higher if pressure allows. I have heard that Bergers listed max is conservative but I dont plan on pushing past pressure signs, and there were none at all with any loads I shot today. One thing that surprised me was how low the ES was on the first two loads, 78.5&79.0. I dont know what the best way to post these pictures is so i'm just going to throw them up here.
1: 78.5

2: 79.0 I incorrectly marked which holes were for this load, the correct holes are strait up and down

3: 79.5

4: 80.0

5: 80.5 Marked Incorrectly

6: 81.0 Holes are marked on the last pic


Final pic with dimensions listed on the right, I got the dimensions from OnTarget, but I couldent get the text boxes to display anywhere except overlaping eachother.
1564F92B-5486-48D3-9006-98F39279E788-7166-00000680B7E3CD40_zps15da8050.jpg
[/URL]

So today I found that the group started out small with loads 1&2, then opened up with loads 79.5 & 80.0, then looked like it was shrinking again with 80.5.
Let me know what you all think.

PA
 
Well, I gotta be honest with you OP, you lost me in that cluttered cluster. No offence, but I can't make head nor tail of your results.
What was the distance?.
It does look like your rifle wants to shoot well.
Were you to put each group to a fresh piece of paper, and maybe use a more precise aiming point (a square BR type works well).
Better feedback will come your way.

:cheers::rockOn:
 
Got a nagging feeling that there may be a fast and accurate node lurking a couple/few grains hotter than where you're presently at.
Where it me:
I'd be bringing the micrometer and start measuring case head expansion as you work up. When you see two ten thou. inch (0.0002")expansion, on the same case measured before and after firing, that is absolute max safe pressure ... IMHO ... from your gun with those particular components/lot#/load specs..
I've measured a full half thou. before, a 6.5/06 w/ lapua brass .... way too hot, primer pockets are short lived and the groups are nonexistent.
Some brands of brass will start expanding long before others do, Lapua being the last to start opening in my testing to date. At 0.0002", expect about 10 firings, before the cases get tossed. Many of my rifles have grouped their best at 0 to 0.0001", and at that pressure brass lasts a long time.

Hows your bedding?, stress free?. No detectable movement/flex as the screws are snugged then loosened?.

Next, are your bullets seated dead straight?. Runout has spoiled many a LR group, and can be responsible for plenty 'o them headscratcher "flyers" as well.

The hard kickers, they demand perfection from the shooter too, there is much more POI displacement during barrel time with the big fellas.

Keep us posted of your progress !.
 
Going by vertical displacement, you started out good, and are getting good at 80.5+. I would keep going, then reshoot the the ones that look promising as well as .2 above and below.
 
I will be working up loads from my 338-378 shortly but with the 250 elite hunter. I don't Feel a 300gr is needed until you get past 1k. Just my 2c
 
It all depends on the rifle. What's the twist rate of yours? My 110BA likes the 300gn pills better than the 250's so that's why I shoot them.

I will take it up to 82.7 or higher depending on what I see as far as pressure goes. What surprised me the mode was the low ES from the first two starting loads. Anyone have an explanation for this? Maybe RE25 is the little powder that could? Lol

I do have both a proven hunting and target load for the rifle. My target load is with h1000 and 300gm smk's while the hunting load is with Barnes LRX 285gn and h4831sc. But I figure why not find a third, possibly better target load with the Bergers? It's not like the smk's are exactly easy to find these days.
 
I have a 10 twist. Will play with rl33 when I can get it. Also the 265 lrx BC is understated. Was tested by guys on longrangehunting to be .65 iirc
 
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