I bought a 500ct box of 6.5 140 Nosler RDF a while back in hopes that they were more consistent than me. I was shooting 1000 yard F/class from a Harris type bipod in a local club level class called F/tactical. The class is for open calibers, allows muzzle breaks and pretty much any PRS or varmint rifle ability to compete against like kind. Learning to shoot my 260AI at 1K was humbling to start. Shooting in the .1's at 100 is NOT the same as shooting at 1K, lol. Last weekend, at a club level match at Sacramento, third match of the day became rather windy. Steady 12-15, almost a perfect full value wind condition. I dialed in 6moa of wind with intentions of holding another minute or two as needed as a better gun driver than me shooting a 6.5x55AI told me what he had dialed.. First couple sighters were 7,8, then got into the 10 ring (unlimited sighters all matches), and proceeded to shoot good waterline 10, 10, 9, 10 X, X, 10, 10, 9, 9, 10, 5, 10, 8, 10. The bummer part about that 5 on shot 13 was everything felt great. Called it as a wide 10, narrow 9. Even worse part was it was UP WIND! I've been a sailor and have raced sailboats professionally for 20 years, I can see a wind shift. There was no let up of 4-5 moa during that string at all! The name Random Damn Flyer has struck me! Thankfully I am now competent with my rifle to know where the error came from. Bummer is that if that shot was just 4 points higher in the 9 ring, it would have put me 2 places higher in the standings! So needless to say, I'm waiting on my 500 berger 140s to arrive this next week. Good thing I'm almost out of these bullets, everything I have left will be for fireforming or shooting steel inside of 600 yards. /rant.
Not an experienced competition shooter so I really can't give any input but after shooting a few 600 yd local matches with the shotmarker target system has made me notice at times when I did shoot a 7 or 8, it's due to velocity change based on the 600 yard velocity. Most of my 600 yd velocity was around 2100. When I'd have a 2125-40 I'd notice an impact that was outside the 9/10 ring. Was an issue of heat in my case that caused rounds to spike. The shotmarker allowed me to see that without a chronograph in front of my barrel. All my 7/8 ring shots felt perfect and wasn't a user error in my case. Think I'll sell my Caldwell One mile Target camera and replace it with a shotmarker system. Just for the record, my bullets were 142 SMKs. They weren't the problem in my case
I've traveled a similar path as you...getting into F-Class shooting more PRS/Varmint oriented rifles vs. dedicated F-Open rigs. Although I haven't run the RDFs, I have learned a similar, albeit expensive, lesson. Lower cost bullets that advertise high BCs may seem appealing, but more often than not, will result in more trouble than they're worth. I learned this lesson the hard way last week; had to shoot a 588 or higher in mid-range to get my HM classification. I had a rifle that was absolutely dialed in, and fairly benign wind conditions. First match, I dropped two points, and on the 19th shot had a red-box 'match' bullet blow up on me. I think I'll be shooting stuff from a yellow box from now on. Edit: The icing on the cake was swapping out rifles for match two, shooting Bergers and going 199. That made for a fun 3hr drive home. What might have been.
Alex last weekends match was definitely not one to measure bullet performance! Those were PHD level conditions. The last round I saw 3-9MOA+ at times. There was lots of vertical going on along with the switch’s and crazy builds and let offs. But there is also a reason you see the top shooters using premium bullets. Especially at 1K.
I have to agree that RDFs are not reliable for accuracy at long distance. I had shot them at 100 and they seemed to do great. Just as good a groups as my Berger 140 Hybrid. So I thought I would give them a try at 1000. BIG MISTAKE. Luckily I had only brought 25 to shoot 1 match and then go back to my Bergers. The RDFs left me 2 un explained 8's, one at 12 O'Clock and another at 6. They were less than the width of the 10 ring left and right so this wasn't a pulled shot or misread wind. None of the other guys were coming up with high or low shots because I took the extra time to watch for them to see if I was missing something. The Bergers shot all 9's and 10/x's in even tougher wind. No 8's I have some 105's left that are relegated to practice. When those are gone, RDF's will not be found on my reloading bench again. David
I bought a hundred of those a year or so back for my .260 Rem, it did not like them at all. I had one barrel that loved the 140 CC's with H4350.
Shawn, yeah, they were tough conditions, but this is not the first time I've had issues with them. I had some brass issues when I started this batch of bullets and figured that out. Now knowing my brass is good I am switching to the Bergers.
They need to either be .010 of or .050 try that seating depth next, they are VLD bullets and require a good bit of jump. Read the article might help you out. https://bergerbullets.com/getting-the-best-precision-and-accuracy-from-vld-bullets-in-your-rifle/
I have kept up with the RDF threads on this site only. Since they came out there has been reports good and bad. I believe they are not the same standard of a bullet like Bergers. However everyone misses a wind call, or break the shot as a pick up or let off occurs. Being befuddled we want to blame it on something. I read months back about the most recent successes with RDF bullet is a little faster twist and closer to the lands rather than a big jump. So my adventure with them started when I ordered a CBI 6br barrel for PRS type shooting. 28" 7.5 twist. So far, still very new with them they are shooting decent, out to 800 they shoot well. At 1000 not bad at all for a 6br in the conditions at that time. So the weekend before last when we had a storm off the east coast sending winds in I took it to a 600 yard f class match. Shooting my bipod in winds that had 2-3 MOA variations at times I stayed in the low 190's with decent x count. 74 rounds, no flyers, an occasional 8 because of gusting switching winds. This is not even a tuned load yet, just a load to get my brass fired the first time. 0.013" off the lands. My 1000 yard FTR rifle is a .308 with 185 Berger Juggernaut that treat me well, when I'm on my game. When I'm not it will surely shoot a lower scoring ring. I know the difference between bullet manufacturing qualities. Don Dunlap
