155.5gr Berger or 185gr Berger for long range?

[NateG]

Varget. I thought about trying H4350 (or something else slower than Varget), though.

And for what it's worth, I'm using the small-primered Lapua Palma brass.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I tried a few loads of H4350 last year. It got really compressed before I got the pressure up. With a long enough throat, is should work, but you'll always be looking at a very comressed load.

 

[XTR]

I tried a few loads of H4350 last year. It got really compressed before I got the pressure up. With a long enough throat, is should work, but you'll always be looking at a very comressed load.

Did you try the H4350 with the 185?

Did you get better velocity than Varget?

I'm running Varget right now with good results but I just rebarreled with a 30" tube so I have more burn time.

 

[Steve Blair]

The flags at Quantico used to be, if not honest, a lot more useful before they put in a berm between ranges 3 and 4 from the 100 yard line to the pits. The flag at the little end of the pits would get some clean air, and show you (mostly) the dominant condition (or at least left/right). Now, with the wind swirling over the new berm, it can show you almost any direction, regardless of where it's actually coming from, and since the wind can blow up to the flag (or down) the angle of the flag can have little to do with the actual strength) Add in a heavily overcast and cold day with no mirage, and, well, there wasn't much to do but chase the spotter--and hope you stayed on the frame! My best string of the day was at 900 when a just a hint of mirage came out--at least you could figure out if you needed right or left wind on. (Though without a no-wind zero with the new barrel, that information was of limited use...)

[br]
The problem at Pendleton Range 117 is the headwind from the coast. It swirls around the valley and flags are all over the compass. I try to watch where others are hitting and pick a flag for that day. [br]
I am shooting H4350 with 230 Hybrids and it is just fast enough. It is still a compressed load but shows very low ES/SD in Lapua Palma brass with Wolf KVB-5.56M. I intend to try a short series with CCI 450s. Palma brass definitely shows consistently lower ES/SD than standard brass. It is also ~40 fps slower for a given charge. Part of that is attributable to .5 grain more capacity and the rest is the primer. 100 yard groups are .250-.380" when I can manage the recoil properly from the bench. It is actually easier to shoot prone from the bipod. All velocities that showed best accuracy are between 2450 and 2500 fps. The wind resistance of this bullet should be experienced firsthand. Pointed, they are ~780 G1 and ~.400 G7. Even starting at 2450, they are still over 1500 at 1000.[br]
H414 also shot well but could not get the velocity spread down enough. Reloder 17 produced excellent velocity but also did not show low spreads. N550 looks like a viable candidate but I don't have any. [br]
Freebore in this barrel is .280" and OAL is 3.120" with a .030" jump. That seats the 230's shank just north of the neck.

 

[Keith Glasscock]

I tried a few loads of H4350 last year. It got really compressed before I got the pressure up. With a long enough throat, is should work, but you'll always be looking at a very comressed load.

Did you try the H4350 with the 185?

Did you get better velocity than Varget?

I'm running Varget right now with good results but I just rebarreled with a 30" tube so I have more burn time.

I couldn't get enough in the case to make 210's go, so there was no purpose in trying the 185's

Even with 210's the difference in acheivable velocity was negligible.

In a 30" barrel, I'm launching 200 hybrids to great effect with Varget and getting 2650. I can make 2660 safely, but the groups aren't as good. I start getting slight ejector marks somewhere in the vicinity of 2675 or so. Even though Varget is a "fast" powder, it behaves kind of funny when you launch heavy bullets. It doesn't spike the pressure and give slow velocities as expected. Instead, it just keeps chugging along. With 200 grain bullets, I'm seeing a difference of ~12 or 13 fps per inch of barrel increase from 26 to 30" but these are different barrels, and I could very well get different velocity deltas if I were to cut the long barrel down (not gonna do it!).

For 185's I would look for a node (I've seen several banty about 44 grains of Varget as a node, but have never tried it - seems a touch too hot in Lapua brass to me.) and just shoot it. The difference in windage of a 25 fps velocity increase just doesn't make sense when we look at the likely magnitude of wind calling errors. You'll have to trust me here - it isn't the best ballistics that win, it is the best shooting technique combined with the best load development all wrapped around the best wind calls that wins. John Weil make mince-meat out of most of us with 155.5 fullbore bullets. His wind deflection with that load is 120% of mine, but his wind calls and strategy are better.

That is why this year, I'm not shooting a high-BC bullet for the local 600 yard league. I'm hoping to improve my score by bettering myself instead of outgunning the competition.

 

[jbpmidas]

I am shooting 43.0 Varget, albeit 185 Hybrids I'm propelling. I'm at 2660fps from my 28" 10 twist Brux. I use prepped WInchester brass.

 

[XTR]

I tried a few loads of H4350 last year. It got really compressed before I got the pressure up. With a long enough throat, is should work, but you'll always be looking at a very comressed load.

Did you try the H4350 with the 185?

Did you get better velocity than Varget?

I'm running Varget right now with good results but I just rebarreled with a 30" tube so I have more burn time.

I couldn't get enough in the case to make 210's go, so there was no purpose in trying the 185's

Even with 210's the difference in acheivable velocity was negligible.

For 185's I would look for a node (I've seen several banty about 44 grains of Varget as a node, but have never tried it - seems a touch too hot in Lapua brass to me.) and just shoot it. The difference in windage of a 25 fps velocity increase just doesn't make sense when we look at the likely magnitude of wind calling errors.


That is why this year, I'm not shooting a high-BC bullet for the local 600 yard league. I'm hoping to improve my score by bettering myself instead of outgunning the competition.

Thanks for the feedback. I was just curious about the 4350, it seems to be the "go to" powder for 7-08s and 260s pushing heavier pills so I was wondering how it would work in a 308. I've got a lot of Varget to shoot up this year before I really consider anything else.

I use WW brass and I found the node at about 39.8 to 44.5 in my 30" Krieger so 44.4 makes sense.

At Med range or in practice I use 175SMKs. For about 60% of the price they get the job done and at 600 the difference in wind per full value MPH is about a bullet diameter, at 300 you could mix them and probably not tell the difference.