As many have said, "There is really nothing new in the world." The ideas for the method outlined above came from three sources. I interviewed all three for PS and got their ideas and assimilated them into one idea. These three were Tony Boyer, Joe Krupa, and Jack Neary (all three are Hall of Fame Members). Later, I was told by Eric Stecker (president of Berger) to not be afraid to jump VLD bullets quite a bit (as in .040 or more). I can usually find a good load without that much jump. Tony Boyer does not start at jam, but at "just touching" and always moves into the lands. He told me that he doesn't trust jumping with short range BR bullets. Gary Ocock told me that he has used the same method for many years....that is, he always shoots BT bullets and he normally jumps them by seating the bullets .030" off of jam and tunes with powder charge. So my method outlined above is a guide for those seeking a method for tuning. Sometimes I shorten the method by starting with bullets at .005 off jam because I have not had luck with bullets at jam. Also, I may shorten the process by using only two powder charges ... mild and hot. Good shooting...James
always funny to me to read these post. First thing i will say is whatever works for you.
this is a good method for the benchrest shooter. bet most that are disagreeing don't shoot consistent groups in the ones and twos.
with my bench guns i too start with a hard jam and work through load.development. then i back off .005 at a time. i have found secant ogive bullets like the VLD like the jam and the tangent ogive bullets like the MK are more forgiving about seating.depth and like a little jump. the new berger hybrids also like a little jump. now that is .005 off a hard jam so they still are probably touching. anyway after finding the magic seating depth i tweek my load a little.
for a hunting rifle where i need a mag length cartridge i use the berger test. quick and.dirty. fine tune afterwards. i found a seating depth for a 168 gr. VLD .130 off a hard jam one time. sounds crazy but it works.
http://www.bergerbullets.com/getting-the-best-precision-and-accuracy-from-vld-bullets-in-your-rifle/