Working up a new long range load

[petey]

7 RUM in Rem 700 LSS.

My old load of 91.5 grains of Retumbo shooting the old style of 160 grain Seirra Game Kings produced sub 1/4" groups at 100 and several one shot kills out past 750 yards on deer and a bit farther on groundhogs. I'm plum out of those bullets, so I snatched up some of those 180 grain Berger Match VLD's.

These have an awesome .684 BC and I'm expecting some good results. I'm starting at my sweet spot of 91.5 and have a bunch of loads running up to 93 grains. Hopefully I'm heading the right way.

This gun just shoots good. 150 grain Balistic tips at 95.5 grains of Retumbo produce just shy of 1/2" at 100, but I know it can do better with the right bullet. I have some Match Kings I plan on trying also, but I'm hoping those Bergers are worth the money.

Anyone have a good load for the 7 RUM using 180 grain Berger bullets? I'm not finding much data on anything higher than 168 grains. I'm sure I'll have my answer in a few days once I get to shooting them, but just wanted to know if I'm starting in the right place.

[petey]

Here's a pic of the rig.

[Catfish]

Petey,
I`m sure that you already know that especially with long bullets, ie VLD`s, that you can sometime get better accuracy at longer ranges than you get at 100 yrds. Not sure why, but sometime it just seem like they don`t get stable untill their past 100 yrds. so give them a try at longer range even if they are not quite as good at 100.

[petey]

Agreed.

It's been raining ever since I loaded up my test rounds so we'll have to see in the next few days I guess.

[BILLY D.]

petey

From what I've read in the gun rags, Rifle and Handloader, the Bergers worked very well on all applications. They were excellent big game killers.

John Barsness and Walt Berger tested them extensively in New Zealand on Goats and Red Stag. Barsness later used them in Africa on Plains Game.

All these articles were written in the last few months. So they are still current and easily findable.

Have you used Big Game powder in your 308? For some reason I've have this urge to use this powder. It's a ball powder. It's just a tick slower than RL-15. I just haven't had time to play with it. I been spending idle moments with my 2 new 19 caliber rifles and shooting tooooo many gophers. Sure is fun though.

Even with work up loads I can still shoot under .7 at 200 yds. I can't believe how accurate they are. I have the 19 Badger in a CZ527 and a 19 Calhoon Hornet T/C carbine.

Have a good one.

Bill

[Rapier]

Catfish,
Regards accuracy at 100 VS better at longer range. I was developing a new silhouette cartridge a while back and had a problem with stability at my inital testing distance of 50 meters. I was getting slightly elongated holes at 50 and round holes at 100 and over. So I called Sierra and talked to one of the engineers about the situation.

What I was told was that the boat tail design requires a vacum to form over the base to fully stabalize the bullet in flight. For some designs, the distance to stabalize the bullet can be just over 100 meters. Apparently the smaller the base in the boattail, the longer it takes to stabalize.
Ed

[Catfish]

Rapier,
I was told ecentially the same thing by the guy that built my .22-6mm. He said he has seen some rifles group better at 500 yrds. than they would at 100 yrds. I assume he was talking about moa of the groups and not the actuall groups.

[rem 700]

I'm another anxious feller waiting to try the Bergers out. 1:9 or faster is recommended for the 180gr bullets. I saw on Best of the West a guy was using a 180gr out of a 7mm of some magnum, and got a bang flopped grizzly at about 600 yds.

[petey]

Catfish,

Not necessarily! Ol'Spark's 338 Tomahawk shoots consistant 1"-1.5" groups at 500 yards. I'm not sure of his particular load or how it does at 100 yards, but I know he's had the same experiences with longer boattails. On some bullets he's gotten better overall groups with the same load at 200 or 300 than 100.

I personally haven't hit that problem yet, but I may with these loads. Still haven't shot them yet, but I'll get to it over the weekend.

[Rapier]

Petey,
Thanks for the confirmation. I did not want to tell Catfish that, yep he might just be saying exactly that, cause most folks would think I was crazy saying a specific bullet shot tighter groups at 300 and out than it did at 100. But, that is what I also observed in the long BT bullets that were not stable at 100 and under. Even that sounds strange.
Ed

[Ridge Runner]

Yep, the 200 gr wildcats in my 7mm Allen will shoot a tighter group at 300 than at 100, the phenominom seems more common with vld bullets.
Petey ya ever try any WC872 in that RUM, it bites in warm temps but for hunting its really consistant in cool temps, easy on throats and cheap (4 bucks a pound) I shoot it in my stw, it'll run a 160 accubond at 3340 from a 26" 1/9 lilja.
RR

[petey]

Ridge Runner... Use WC872 in the 300 RUM. I agree, very cheap (which is nice in those big cases) and practically can't overcharge.
Fill up the case, whipe 'er off and seat the bullet. Not too many powders can you do that with.

Killed a nice 6X bull in Colorado and a 18" 8 point in PA in 2004 using that powder. It didn't seem to vary too much in the 10,000 of elevation change either. I haven't tried in the 7 RUM yet...I guess b/c I found a good load using RETUMBO...I had just stopped. Now that I'm fiddling around again I may try it out.

Check out Catfish's thread and I've posted results from the Bergers.