@ 10:19 pm (GMT) |
Jim MoseleyA friend gave me a box of 180gr Berger VLD Hunting bullets so I'm looking for a load suggestions. Barrel is Hart 26", 9 Twist. One question would be if the 26" tube, 7mag could push the 180 gr fast enough to expand on a whitetail at 1000 yds plus? The mass of the 100-150 lb deer may not offer enough resistance and the bullet would just pin hole thru the animal. Any thoughts on this?? Since the bullets were free, thought I might as well give a try. I here they are finicky to get the correct seating depth!Thanks Jim Ps- Nathan did you get my email with the photos of doe at 630ys ? |
@ 11:38 pm (GMT) |
deerndingoRe: 7 mag - 180 gr Berger VLDIsn't there some ino on this in the tech area? |
@ 10:13 am (GMT) |
Jim MoseleyRe: 7 mag - 180 gr Berger VLDYes there is. Just hoping that someone would post their favorite load. I have H-1000 and Retumbo on hand. Just seeing what results others have had with the heavy Berger at long range. Another thing I've seen has been guys using Fed 210 primers in heavy magnums instead of the normal Fed 215 primers. Some were saying the 210's promoted lower ES and SD's. Just a way to interact with others and promote Nathan's website. Seems to be a number of hunters on the USA website LongRangeHunting.com that visit this site. Just having fun in the exchange of info! |
@ 07:09 pm (GMT) |
im2lazyRe: 7 mag - 180 gr Berger VLDHi JimI'm no expert but I wonder if 1000 yards may be a little too far for the current 180 VLD with their thicker jackets. It would probably be OK if you hit bone, but at that range??? Wind??? Animal movement??? etc I haven't used the 180 out of a 7mm mag, with your 26 inch tube you may get around 3000+/- f/sec, that would give around 1700 f/sec @ 1000 yards. But the one thing I can tell you is this, If you anneal the VLD the chance of success will be far far higher. I have seen this...........things can get a little messy. So if you can anneal them I say go for it. I'm sure Nathan will chime in when he get a chance. |
@ 08:02 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: 7 mag - 180 gr Berger VLDHi, sorry Jim, been very busy. Thanks Im2Lazy, thats the ticket.H1000 U.S brand brass Federal 210 primer COAL to 40 thou jump, probably around 86.8mm/ 3.417" in your rifle. Work up from 69 to 71 grains in half grain increments. Sweet spot around 70.5 grains. Velocity for 70.5 grains from Sendero is around 2925fps. Change to .2 grain increments for fine tuning. Pin hole wounding from 600 yards out if using orange box VLD. Anneal or meplat trim to improve performance. If annealing, really cook it as I have done in the video tutorial. A long while back Jim, you asked about top end loads for the A-Max. Your current query prompted me to think about this again. What I find in the Sendero's, is that they are often very accurate at around 2950fps with the A-Max, after which, they hit a hump and every group looks around 1.5". It normal to give up if you keep going up a ways and the rifle still yields 1.5" groups. But then, if you keep going up around 73.5 grains of H1000, groups will often come back down again at 3120-3130fps. In such instances, groups will often shrink right down to .250" with a low ES (Bullet jump set at 20 thou). But its not always the case of course, just something to think about. I've done a few Sendero's that have no hump and settle at 3070fps or there abouts and that is all there is to it. But I have seen the hump quite a few times now, so I keep my test range quite broad. |
@ 10:04 pm (GMT) |
Jim MoseleyRe: 7 mag - 180 gr Berger VLDThanks guys. @Nathan...the old Sendero has been overhauled over the last few years. Currently re-barreled to a Hart 26", #6 contour, 9 twist, Jewell trigger. The current load is slow but very accurate. I going hunting this week and went I return, I'm going to test it at the upper limits that you referred to with the A-max. I watched the tutorial on annealing which look interesting and fun to test. Your annealing video was on a link on Long Range Hunting in the US. See, you have a long distance fan base :-) |
@ 05:59 pm (GMT) |
Nathan FosterRe: 7 mag - 180 gr Berger VLDYes, about 90% of the site traffic is from the U.S due simply to the size of the hunting population. Following this is Canada, UK, SA, NZ and Australia. Following that, the traffic can be from anywhere around the world, some truly odd places too. Email queries are roughly spread the same. |