Berger 175 VLD 30 cal... Compressed load?

[bsand]

I was reloading up some rounds for the weekend, I ran out of my last 175 SMK's with 7 left to finish 100... I had bought some Berger 175 VLD target projectiles yesterday, everything went good until I started to seat the bullets to 2.800" COAL, as I went from ~2.900" to ~2.850" I could hear distinct crushing of powder (IMR 4064, 41.7 gr), and then when from ~2.850" to 2.800" even more crushing..

Im assuming this is now a compressed load with the Bergers? Is it safe to firing these rounds? or should I pull and re-do?

The spec's on load are .308 Win Federal Gold Medal Match Brass, GM210M primers, IMR4064 41.7gr (I found that to be recipe for 175 FGMM online), and Berger 175 VLD

 

[elkhuntr]

New bullet, new seating depth. Measure your chamber with the new bullet to touch, I assume you have a case sized to measure your chamber. 2.8 is only book length, I would measure to suit your chamber. Your only limit is magazine length if you are feeding that way.

Berger VLDs like to be seated in the lands so your OAL may need to be re-adjusted to suit. Try 10 thou jam and remember to rework loads as pressures will change with seating depth or jammed bullets. You are at the lower end of the load map according to the Hodgdon site so pressures should be reasonable.

 

[RL-300mag]

I would highly recommend starting with min & working up to your rifle's max load. I would never just take a load off any site & start shooting. It may not be safe in your rifle. If you have a valid email address I would be more than happy to send you the Berger load data for that particular bullet weight & cal. (41.7gr's is just under max load listed in the Berger reloading manual) & I would be the first to admit that some of their data is a bit on the low side & different barrels can show pressure signs before other's. But safety is safety & besides your accuracy load may very well be on the lower end of thing's.

Cheer's & please play safe....
From the Berger manual.
.308win with 175gr Berger VLD & IMR-4064
Start : 37.5gr Max 42gr's.
42gr is 98% fill ratio , so seated @ 2.80" your gonna be compressed with the VLD's.