berger 105 VLDs

[paulT]

Hello all, read that berger were going to produce a thicker jacket version of their VLD range of bullets are they available ifso from who? also does anyone shoot the 105 berger VLD in their 243, how are you getting on with them, I recently recieved a 1 in 8 twist 243 barrel and was hoping to recieve a few 105 molly VLDs to try out, If they shoot as good as the 95g molly vlds in my 1 in 10 twist i will be very happy, regards paul.

 

[TonyR]

Hi Paul.
I am shooting the uncoated Berger 105 VLD in my 6mm BR. It has a 30" 1:8 Kriegher barrel. They run 2850 to 2900 fps depending on the load and make nice round holes. They all have reached the target so far.
In my opinion, it is worth sorting them by bearing surface and weight and uniforming the tips if you are shooting long range.
Mine are out of lot 1067 and I am very pleased with them.
Tony R

 

[paulT]

Thanks for info Tony R, Where do you order your berger vlds from, I sent a couple of emails 2 days ago about info with reloading gear and berger bullets to sincairs and i am still waiting for reply doesnt seem like they are interested in my order? how much do you shave off when trimming the meplats with the bergers also do you use a sinclair meplat trimmer, paul.

 

[BRhunter]

Paul,

The 243 chambering and the 105 Berger Vld's work pretty good.
Your 1/8 will shoot they without problems.You can contact
John Whidden,Whidden Gunsworks)for more informations he is the
winner of Camp perry 2007 with this caliber.
The 243 is a outstanding long range cartidge

Michel

 

[TonyR]

Hi Paul.
I trim them with Jihn Whidden's trimmer to 1.228 inches. This seems to get them all and the points are extremely uniform. Then I slightly point them with Whidden's pointer then trim them again at the same trimmer setting. I just shot a bunch done this way in a 1K benchrest match and I was very pleased with them, less so with me.
According to John Whidden, the trimming uniforms the BC and the pointing reduces the BC.
Hope this helps.

 

[TonyR]

Hi again, Paul. I forget to say that I got them from Sinclair off the website. No problems. I bought 500. Seemed to be plenty to get enough of one bearing surface and weight to be useful.

 

[TonyR]

Paul. Correction to my last post. Pointing increases BC. I get that backwards everytime I say it. Must be old age.

 

[paulT]

Many thanks for info TonyR, Forgot to ask you about oal with your loads, My 105 Vlds seem to give best accuracy when jammed do you also find this gives best accuracy, Also is there now a choice of Vlds with the extra thick jackets with the 6mm 105 molly vlds and ifso do you know the Lot number might be worth trying them out against the regular vlds for accuracy although i havent had any blow ups with the regular vlds running at 2970 with my 24in barrel, would be great if the 117 Vlds would stablize in my 1 in 8 twist if i run them hot, have you tried them in your 1 in 8 twist barrel, happy shooting paul.

 

[TonyR]

Hi Paul.
I jam them .015 which gives me a length to the ogive of 2.773 including the Sinclair comparator. I've never figured out how much to subtract for that thing so I can't give you the net length. I have heard of the 105 VLD being jammed up to .025 very successfully but I haven't tried that.
I have a box of the Berger 115 VLDs, but I have not tried them yet either. Not sure how they will do in a 1:8 barrel since the box says 1:7. It would be hard to see them going 2800 with the 6BR in any event, but I may load up a couple the next time I do some testing. I will be interested to hear how these thicker jackets do.
Tony