223 90 grain berger bt

[mattt]

I have a savage 12f/tr in 223 with a 1in 7 and 30" barrel. I shoot berger 82 bt and they work great but want to try the 90 bergers for better use at 800 to 1K. Any one get the 90 bergers to work well out to 1 k. My 82 work out to 1k but I drop to many points past 600. Thanks

 

[memilanuk]

Matt,

I'd been using the B90VLD over N550 but ran into some temperature issues... and bullets not making it to the target

I haven't tinkered with any of the 90s much since then but hopefully I'll get a chance this summer...

FWIW I think Laurie Holland has some newer info on his trials and tribulations with 90gn bullets in .223 Rem in the more recent (Jan/Feb/Mar) issues of Target Shooter magazine.

Monte

 

[FroggyOne2]

I have been using the Berger 90 grain VLD's. This round has been shooting good for me so far. How long is the throat in your rifle? In my rifle, my COAL is 2.082 and at this the bullet is seated ten thou into the lands. You should work up to it, my rilfe is currently using 24.5 grains of Varget, Lapua brass and Wolf SRM's for primers. I have shot it in three matches so far and all three had some nasty wind. In the Fullbore match I was getting used to the new iron sight on the front, finished with a 441-16x, then at 1K, I had problems seeing on the first match (the targets are in a dark hole because the range faces southeast) and ended up with a 184-3X, then shot a 191-6X and a 190-4X, the winds were hurting everyone that day, no one shot any good scores. Then on the next day I shot it twice at 600 yards and shot a 198-8X and a 195-6X (lost four points on shots 17,18 and 19 in fast building winds that just would not let me catch up to). But over all, I am very pleased with it and the load seems to be working well.

 

[mr.kirk]

I spent a few months with the 90s last year. I chambered a 6.5 twist kreiger for them. With H4895 I got them to shoot realy good at 100. I never managed to make them go fast enough to be competitive past 300. Same barrel loves cheap A-max pills, so I guess I did ok.

 

[FroggyOne2]

I will suspect that the problem was that you tried to use a 6.5 twist bbl. It really is to fast of a twist, the 6.5 twist came about from the SIE 90 grain bullet and trying to shoot in in a service rifle bbl. That bullet is not rated for a volicity of more than 2600 fps and the length of the bullet made it hard to get it to shoot without the fast twist. But with the Berger 90's, they have worked in up to a 7.7 twist, but it appears that the best twist rate may be a 7.2 twist with the Berger 90's. Powders to look at are Varget, RL15, 2000MR and N540 or N550. Lapua brass seems to work, though I have spoke to one shooter that was using LC brass. I will say, you will to fully prep the brass, meaning turning necks, uniforming the primer pocket, the flash hole size, de-burring the inside of the flash hole, trimming the brass. Weight sorting the brass after it is all the prep work is done, I load my brass from the heaviest to the lightest and shoot it in that order. Seems to work for me.

 

[Flybuster]

I will suspect that the problem was that you tried to use a 6.5 twist bbl. It really is to fast of a twist, the 6.5 twist came about from the SIE 90 grain bullet and trying to shoot in in a service rifle bbl. That bullet is not rated for a volicity of more than 2600 fps and the length of the bullet made it hard to get it to shoot without the fast twist. But with the Berger 90's, they have worked in up to a 7.7 twist, but it appears that the best twist rate may be a 7.2 twist with the Berger 90's. Powders to look at are Varget, RL15, 2000MR and N540 or N550. Lapua brass seems to work, though I have spoke to one shooter that was using LC brass. I will say, you will to fully prep the brass, meaning turning necks, uniforming the primer pocket, the flash hole size, de-burring the inside of the flash hole, trimming the brass. Weight sorting the brass after it is all the prep work is done, I load my brass from the heaviest to the lightest and shoot it in that order. Seems to work for me.

That's interesting, I'm assuming that's a bolt gun though. I have a AR-Spacegun with a 1-7.7" Krieger and about a 1000ct of 90 VLDs sitting here doing nothing. Maybe that's an upcoming experiment.

 

[Taildrag15X]

Like Froggy I have been using 24.50 gr. Varget, I have tried different cases, Hornady and Fed. Gold Match brass without really seeing any differnce in the excellent perforance from both cases.

I'm using a 1-7" Krieger, chambered with a PTG .223 Match reamer and then throated for an Ogive of 2.0250. With this I'm able to use 77 & 80gr. Sierra MK's, 77, 80 for 300-500 yds. and 90gr. Bergers for 600yds. +.

I took me awhile to figure out that the 90's worked better being jumped a little, was a real eye opener when I shortened the COAL.

 

[FroggyOne2]

I will suspect that the problem was that you tried to use a 6.5 twist bbl. It really is to fast of a twist, the 6.5 twist came about from the SIE 90 grain bullet and trying to shoot in in a service rifle bbl. That bullet is not rated for a volicity of more than 2600 fps and the length of the bullet made it hard to get it to shoot without the fast twist. But with the Berger 90's, they have worked in up to a 7.7 twist, but it appears that the best twist rate may be a 7.2 twist with the Berger 90's. Powders to look at are Varget, RL15, 2000MR and N540 or N550. Lapua brass seems to work, though I have spoke to one shooter that was using LC brass. I will say, you will to fully prep the brass, meaning turning necks, uniforming the primer pocket, the flash hole size, de-burring the inside of the flash hole, trimming the brass. Weight sorting the brass after it is all the prep work is done, I load my brass from the heaviest to the lightest and shoot it in that order. Seems to work for me.

That's interesting, I'm assuming that's a bolt gun though. I have a AR-Spacegun with a 1-7.7" Krieger and about a 1000ct of 90 VLDs sitting here doing nothing. Maybe that's an upcoming experiment.

just rememeber that 7.7 bbl the V was around 3K

 

[Flybuster]

I will suspect that the problem was that you tried to use a 6.5 twist bbl. It really is to fast of a twist, the 6.5 twist came about from the SIE 90 grain bullet and trying to shoot in in a service rifle bbl. That bullet is not rated for a volicity of more than 2600 fps and the length of the bullet made it hard to get it to shoot without the fast twist. But with the Berger 90's, they have worked in up to a 7.7 twist, but it appears that the best twist rate may be a 7.2 twist with the Berger 90's. Powders to look at are Varget, RL15, 2000MR and N540 or N550. Lapua brass seems to work, though I have spoke to one shooter that was using LC brass. I will say, you will to fully prep the brass, meaning turning necks, uniforming the primer pocket, the flash hole size, de-burring the inside of the flash hole, trimming the brass. Weight sorting the brass after it is all the prep work is done, I load my brass from the heaviest to the lightest and shoot it in that order. Seems to work for me.

That's interesting, I'm assuming that's a bolt gun though. I have a AR-Spacegun with a 1-7.7" Krieger and about a 1000ct of 90 VLDs sitting here doing nothing. Maybe that's an upcoming experiment.

just rememeber that 7.7 bbl the V was around 3K

I'm not experienced with the AR, but I think that's pushing it for a bolt gun.

 

[FroggyOne2]

Yeah, it was Jerry T that was doing the testing. Using RL15. I am using Varget. He is now using a 7.2 twist tight bore. Oh and he was using a 30 inch bbl and still is, so am I, but I am only getting 2850 fps.

 

[Flybuster]

Yeah, it was Jerry T that was doing the testing. Using RL15. I am using Varget. He is now using a 7.2 twist tight bore. Oh and he was using a 30 inch bbl and still is, so am I, but I am only getting 2850 fps.

Found it: http://forum.accurateshooter.com/index.php?topic=3634784.msg35034197#msg35034197

 

[mattt]

As to my coal with 90 havent got them yet but with 82 grain berger bt my coal is 2.512 with a 15th jump.

 

[mr.kirk]

Thanks Froggy. I'll study up on that. I will say that the 75 A-max pills love that 6.5 twist. I had some freebies that I was using for fireforming and they turned out awesome. I didn't even do any load workup, just used my 80VLD load.

 

[jbpmidas]

I did my ladder test this morning with 90 LRBT's and Varget powder with Wolf SR primers. I'm shooting prepped 1x fired Winchester cases also. I loaded them from 22.5 up to 24.3 in .2 increments. The length to the ogive is 1.995 which gives .008 jump. The 24.1 load gave a stiff bolt lift, then 24.3 blew the primer. This is the first primer I've blown and was shocked. I had a nice cluster of three shots of 23.5, 23.7, and 23.9 which measured .299". Shooting was done at 200 yards, prone off of a bipod. My shooting buddy shoots an F-T/r and got an average velocity of 2730 with 23.9 Varget in his rifle. In other loads, my rifle has given slightly higher velocity even though my barrel is 4" shorter. I attribute this to the shorter seating depth.

Don't know if this helps you, but I will update more as my load development continues.

 

[fivering]

If using Wolf SR primers, ALWAYS use the SRM primers, as the SR primers are too soft for high pressure cartridges.

 

[jbpmidas]

If using Wolf SR primers, ALWAYS use the SRM primers, as the SR primers are too soft for high pressure cartridges.

Thanks, but if I'm over 2700 fps, I'm happy with the velocity! My old .308 load was a 175SMK at 2620. The BC of this 90 LRBT is better than that 175SMK.

 

[manitou210]

Here is my friend shooting a factory Savage 26" 1/7 twist with 90gr VLD and CCI BR primers and Vt 550 at Connaught ranges last year at 900 Meters 6 1/2 " group