Berger Help

casterpollox

casterpollox

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I picked up some 95gr Berger VLDs for my .243 and I want to load some up for the weekend but my book doesn't have 95 grain bullets in it, let alone Bergers. I emailed Berger on Monday and still nothing back.

I want to use Varget and have found other guys using 34 grains with their 95 grain bullets but I need an C.O.L. for these Bergers and I simply can't find one on the internet so far.

Any help found be great.

PS.. I also need an C.O.L for Hornandy SST in 95 grains over Varget.

Thanks in advance.
 
Varget may be too fast...

Castor,
IMO Varget is too fast a powder for the 95 gr Bergers in the 243 case. I think H4350 or H4831 would be in a better range and you could fill the case better.

But Hey, sometimes a reduced load of a fast powder works too.

NormB
 
I appreciate the thought... but all I have in the house right now is Varget and I really... really... really... really.. want to try these at the range this weekend.

I have a load developing weekend scheduled for the May long weekend. The entire weekend wil be spent at the range...
 
My experience with Berger is they have a soft core and shoot best seated right into the lands even .030 off the lands will degrade accuracy. They shoot great when you get them working.
 
95 GR. NOS PART
Hodgdon Varget 33.0gr 2870fps 45,000 CUP - 35.0gr 2996fps 50,200 CUP
COL 2.650"

You should be close with those specs
 
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Here's a little range report from today.

I ended up loading the Bergers with 34 grains of Varget and seated them for an COL of 2.70.

On initial testing I was not thrilled with the results, I could get two sots to touch and then the 3 would spread, followed by the fourth touching the third.

however I have heard that these take a little fiddling to get them to work exactly with the individual barrel. Understandable, since they are match bullets.

I will do some more testing in May when I have 4 straight days planned for the range. Everything in my cabinet will be getting a custom load made on that weekend.
 
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Get yourself a Comparator. Base to tip can vary from bullet to bullet, more so than base to ogive. I have not checked the Bergers, but from my experience with the sierra's, you get much more consistent results measuring to the part of the bullet that will actually be engage the rifling.
 
CyaN1de said:
Get yourself a Comparator. Base to tip can vary from bullet to bullet, more so than base to ogive. I have not checked the Bergers, but from my experience with the sierra's, you get much more consistent results measuring to the part of the bullet that will actually be engage the rifling.
Click to expand...

From the Berger website:

We only make match grade bullets, which means that we use the highest quality copper and lead available. The copper is made into the J4 Precision Jacket, which is recognized around the world as the bullet jacket with the best concentricity available. We don't just claim to make jackets that measure .0003 or less variation in wall thickness, we actually do it. This can be verified in every lot and is the reason why benchrest shooters who make bullets by hand use J4 Precision Jackets exclusively. More often you will find that J4 Precision Jackets measure .0002 or less. We make all of our J4 Precision Jackets and bullets on one set of dies to insure that all of the bullets in each box are as consistent as possible. Consistency is the key to ultimate accuracy and no one makes a bullet as consistent as we do. Some people comment that our bullets are too expensive. If you care about accuracy you sort the cheaper brands. If you have to buy four boxes of the cheaper bullets to get 100 bullets that measure the same then you could have purchased two or three boxes of Bergers resulting in 2 or 3 times as many good bullets for less money out of your pocket not to mention the added time it takes to sort all of those bullets.
Click to expand...
 
I just now measured 5 Berger bullets from Base to tip and following numbers are the results. All I did was dig into a box on my desk and pull out 5 random bullets.
These are 6MM 105grn VLD's
1.219
1.224
1.222
1.226
1.217

So measuring to the tip could (and will) vary your "off the lands" seating depth by up to (or more than) .009 if you adjust for each bullet or happen to adjust your die when you measured 2 rounds and noticed a difference. Your die doesn't push the bullet in from the tip, it opens up and uses the part between the Ogive and the Tip as the pressure point to seat your bullet. If your loading for match, and you vary your seating depth by that much (or more) then your shots will, most likely, be inconsistent.

Measuring the same 5 bullets from Base to Ogive using the Comparator gave me the following numbers.

.626
.6255
.626
.625
.6255

Much more consistent at .0015 difference.
 
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Huh, I just opened another box and measured 10 more and here is what I got:

1.249
1.251
1.250
1.250
1.251
1.251
1.250
1.249
1.250
1.251

Pretty much the same as the others I have measured. Oh ya, these are .308 155g match VLD's.
 
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Maybe I have 10 friggin boxes of seconds/last run bullets.
Personally, I'll stick with my comparator.

Here's another 10 from the same box....
1.220
1.224
1.2265
1.2265
1.223
1.225
1.229
1.224
1.2255
1.226

Dave: Yellow boxes?

EDIT: Sorry Caster if I hi-jacked your thread.
I would, If I was you, measure a handful of bullets from base to tip with a Caliper. If your results are like Dave's then you should be good setting your seating depth by measuring to the tip of the bullet. If your finding large variances in the measurement then I would measure off the Ogive. If the latter is the case then that could account for the inconsistencies you were finding. When Berger suggests seating from .010 into the lands to .010 off the lands, a difference of .009 or more could really screw #### up :D
 
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