Running the 90 VLDs at 2850 fps in Lapua brass with H4895 from a 30" barrel is definitely hard on brass; perhaps 3-4 total firings on approximately one-third of it so far before the pockets are trashed. I cull those with a primer pocket go/no go gauge. Whether the survivors have been work-hardened sufficiently to survive longer is as yet unknown. I know several people that have used Varget instead of H4895 and have been getting in the ~2820 fps range. That load seems to be much easier on brass.
Does the extra ~30 fps I get with H4895 make a difference? Hard to say. For a small case like the .223 Rem, I definitely like the fact that H4895 has smaller grains than Varget, but that in and of itself is not a deal-breaker. My take is that as long as the precision with H4895 loads is at least equal to that with Varget, I'll take the extra 30 fps at the expense of brass life. To push the 90s using a small case like the .223 Rem, we are asking a lot of it. To compete against .308 loads, we are also asking a lot from a [relatively] light bullet in terms of performance, even at only 600 yd. Moreover, at 1000 yd, the extra velocity might actually make a noticeable difference. Although I am no longer within close proximity to any 1000 yd ranges, I did shoot the 90s at 1000 yd for some time. Not too many people are currently competing in F-TR with a .223 Rem at 1000 yd, but if you are, the extra velocity is worth consideration, even at the expense of brass life. For MR matches only, I'd suggest keeping the velocity with the 90 VLDs a little lower and gaining a bit more life from your brass. The performance will still be competitive.
The 0.169 freebore reamer was developed by Dave Kiff in conjunction with a couple of Canadian and/or U.K. shooters around 10 years ago. At one time I knew who they were, but have since forgotten, so forgive me for not crediting you if you're one of them. In any event, they were seating the bullets into the lands at the time, probably about .010" or so. This is not surprising for VLD bullets, which have somewhat of a reputation for preferring to be seating into the rifling/lands. This historical observation may be due to the more abrupt transition from ogive to bearing surface on a secant ogive bullet and how it affects entry into the lands, and may also be affected by the shorter bearing surfaces often found on VLD bullets. However, it is not written in stone that VLDS must be seated into the lands in order to perform well.
Wade, when I first used the Hornady OAL gauge to determine the distance to the lands with a 90 VLD in my original rifle with the 0.169" freebore chamber, I pushed the bullet in to what I thought was a hard stop, then measured it. Surprisingly, it came up way short from what I knew it should be based on dummy rounds I had previously made. So I put the bullet/OAL gauge back in and pushed harder on the plastic rod. With sufficient pressure, the bullet moved in significantly further, reaching a "true" hard stop. With a little practice, it was possible to do this without pushing the bullet way into the lands, although it does require a bit of finesse. The bottom line is that the 0.169" freebore on PTG's 223 Rem ISSF reamer has a diameter only .0002" above bullet diameter. What I was experiencing was resistance when trying to push the bullet through that long, tight freebore that is only 2 ten thousandths over bullet diameter. Because the neck diameter cut by that reamer does not require turning (0.2527", no-turn neck), the long tight freebore means that the bullet will automatically be concentric to the bore when the bolt is closed. When fired, it simply has no place else to go but straight into the bore, similar to bullets seated into the lands. That is my best guess as to why I have not found it necessary to seat the 90s into the lands.
The upside to that is that load development with jumped bullets is pretty routine and you don't have to worry about any pressures that might arise from seating the bullet into the lands, especially on an H4895 load such as this that is already at the upper end of realistic working pressure. The downside is that when seating a bullet .015" to .020" off the lands in a chamber that was optimized for loads with the bullet seated .010" into the lands, you're giving up .025" to .030" of usable freebore. For that reason, the 90 VLDs in my load with the 223 Rem ISSF chamber have the boattail/bearing surface just slightly above the neck/shoulder junction. I am currently experimenting with a significantly longer freebore chamber to see how it stacks up. The load for the 0.169" freebore chamber is sickeningly accurate/precise, but it's also very hard on brass. A longer throat may help alleviate that to some extent, especially if you find you can get good precision with the bullet seated out of the lands by .015" to .020".
