Berger 185gr Juggernauts loads?
- Thread starter Olllian
- Start date
Look for the thread 'Load development at 100 yds.'. It is chock full of outstanding information. Do not be intimated by the massive number of posts and views. Look at the first 4-5 pages to start. Here is one version of finding a load. Your barrel is different than any other and will like some loads more than others. There is one in there somewhere that is best. Check your seating depth every 500 rounds or so to maintain the optimum depth.
Do a ladder test to find your accuracy nodes. Start around 39 gr. and shoot one round each in .2 gr. increments while aiming at the same (small) aiming point. You will hopefully end up with an ascending string of shots vertically with some closer together than others (plot your shots on a piece of paper as you shoot). Work up to a max. load (Hodgdon web site is a great resource but several loading manuals would be better). Somewhere in the 43-44 gr. area was max. for me with Varget which has a VERY similar burn rate.
Start your loads jumping .020" off the lands for the ladder test. Once you find nodes try seating your bullets from .040" to 0.00" in .005" increments using a node you like that is less than maximum (pressures will build as you approach within .010" of the lands). If you do not have a Hornady OAL gauge, buy one. You will be using it a lot.
I am guessing that 43 gr. of 4064 (using match or Russian primers) jumped about .020" will work but one never knows!
Do a ladder test to find your accuracy nodes. Start around 39 gr. and shoot one round each in .2 gr. increments while aiming at the same (small) aiming point. You will hopefully end up with an ascending string of shots vertically with some closer together than others (plot your shots on a piece of paper as you shoot). Work up to a max. load (Hodgdon web site is a great resource but several loading manuals would be better). Somewhere in the 43-44 gr. area was max. for me with Varget which has a VERY similar burn rate.
Start your loads jumping .020" off the lands for the ladder test. Once you find nodes try seating your bullets from .040" to 0.00" in .005" increments using a node you like that is less than maximum (pressures will build as you approach within .010" of the lands). If you do not have a Hornady OAL gauge, buy one. You will be using it a lot.
I am guessing that 43 gr. of 4064 (using match or Russian primers) jumped about .020" will work but one never knows!
Mine are in the neighborhood of 3" COAL, but my barrel is chambered for that length. Is your chamber throated that long? Be careful of looking at other people's loads that are in the 43 + grains of Varget range if you don't know how your throat length compares to their throat length.
Do you have a way to measure to the lands of your chamber with that bullet?
Do you have a way to measure to the lands of your chamber with that bullet?
Olllian,
As far as a "good" COAL to start with. Make your dummy round to the lands and test on the lands and then work back in .005 increments to find your seating depth accuracy node. If you want to try to "tweak" the length go .002-.003 to either side of the node. We show for IMR 4064 a starting load of 37.0 grains and a max of 41.0 . Approximate velocities are 2307 to 2532 fps with an approximate fill ratio of 103%.
VARGET = 37.5 grains start , max= 41.6 grains. Approximate velocities 2306 to 2535 fps. Approximate fill ratio of 102% .
These loads are based on MAGAZINE LENGTH LOADED ROUNDS. By setting the bullet out of the case neck you will expose more cartridge case capacity and MAY be able to exceed these loads and velocities. PLEASE WORK YOU LOAD UP SLOWLY chcking for pressure signs and your accuracy on the target ( see Bryan Litz's 2 part article on how cartridge COAL and CBTO length can affect your load on our website under "external ballistics"). Also IF you find that your best group at 100 yards is rather on the round side and not as tight as you wish. Retest your load out at 2 or 300 yards. Sometimes long bullets take a longer distance to completely stabilize. The "roundness" of the 100 yard group indicates a condition known as "epicyclic swerve". Think of the bullet as a top. When a top first starts the base point travels in a discernible arc. Then it stabilizes and comes "on point".
As far as a "good" COAL to start with. Make your dummy round to the lands and test on the lands and then work back in .005 increments to find your seating depth accuracy node. If you want to try to "tweak" the length go .002-.003 to either side of the node. We show for IMR 4064 a starting load of 37.0 grains and a max of 41.0 . Approximate velocities are 2307 to 2532 fps with an approximate fill ratio of 103%.
VARGET = 37.5 grains start , max= 41.6 grains. Approximate velocities 2306 to 2535 fps. Approximate fill ratio of 102% .
These loads are based on MAGAZINE LENGTH LOADED ROUNDS. By setting the bullet out of the case neck you will expose more cartridge case capacity and MAY be able to exceed these loads and velocities. PLEASE WORK YOU LOAD UP SLOWLY chcking for pressure signs and your accuracy on the target ( see Bryan Litz's 2 part article on how cartridge COAL and CBTO length can affect your load on our website under "external ballistics"). Also IF you find that your best group at 100 yards is rather on the round side and not as tight as you wish. Retest your load out at 2 or 300 yards. Sometimes long bullets take a longer distance to completely stabilize. The "roundness" of the 100 yard group indicates a condition known as "epicyclic swerve". Think of the bullet as a top. When a top first starts the base point travels in a discernible arc. Then it stabilizes and comes "on point".
XTR
F-TR obssessed shooting junkie
Olllian said:
For you and anyone else reading this thread, when you ask for loads for Juggs you are going to get answeres from guys shooting F-TR. Most will have their chambers set up with 168 to 170 Freebore. That puts the bottom of the bearing surface about half way down the neck, and makes the bullets over 2.9* OAL.
Four yrs ago, before I got my own reamer, I got a barrel chambered with a reamer that had me shooting right at 2.85 OAL, mag length. At the TN state championships my ammo sat in the sun while I pulled targets, and in the next relay I shot 43.5 grains of Varget, in WW brass, blew 3 primers. The point is what works in other rifles may well not work in yours.
As for your OAL, most people find Juggs shoot well at about 10 off the lands. Last time I was shooting Juggs in a TR rifle shooting off of a bipod I couldn't tell a difference in group size from 10 to 35 off. Somewhere around 45 or 50 it became obvious the groups were opening up.
Using Max magazine length in my AICS mags 2.890 or there about, I'm using 43.3 grains of Varget, CCI250's, Lapua brass 185 Jugs in a 24 inch Bartlein.
getting 2620 fps. with no pressure signs. Since you state you'll be single loading I'd start soft seated into the lands for what ever OAL that would be and work backwards from there. That is if you have enough bullet in the case depending on your free bore.
Danny
getting 2620 fps. with no pressure signs. Since you state you'll be single loading I'd start soft seated into the lands for what ever OAL that would be and work backwards from there. That is if you have enough bullet in the case depending on your free bore.
Danny
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