Modied Berger 105s for Prairie dogs

[RAG]

Rag, I cut 68g Bergers back to the point to where they would whistle going through they air! When I shot ground squirrels, the squirrel just disappeared, totally detonated! We would walk out and try to find the squirrels and perhaps would find part of a spine attached to the rug!

Ha. Yeah. I recently had shoulder surgery and cant do any real lifting, but in my boredom I modified (and loaded) a bunch of 66 match HP bullets (made with J4 of course),...I chucked the them in a drill and then opened up with larger drill bit and then also thinned the jackets at the leading edge with a flat file. Prob have th BC of a brick now, but i plan to use on squeekers at sub 150yds...I expect similar terminal performance as you describe. Huge HO with paper thin jacket at first .15" or so...should immediately. dissentigrate

 

[RAG]

When I was making benchrest bullets for my own use, I tried various size of HP for use on p. dogs, ground squirrels, and coyotes. When you make bullets, you just do not point up the jacket to it's full potential, kinda like partially full length sizing brass.

If you trim back the meplat to where a .070 piece of wire goes in the hole, bullets open better. In fact, I made 65g 6mm bullets that did not explode on the surface and the vast majority of time did not exit the coyote.

Otherwise, a 6 Rem or 6 Rem AI shooting the 87g Vmax in a 10 twist is a nice option and using AA2700 that has one of the very coolest heat index factors, your barrel life will shock you. No flies on a 243 AI with a 87g V max with AA2700, cci 250 seals the deal.

Personally, I would have no interest in shooting a bullet that does not expand on p. dogs. Flip flops, helicopters, spinners, and flying dogs is where the fun is at!

Hmmm. 6mm AI with 87 Vmax huh? I like the sound of that. But I've been planning to a 243 AI 12 twist for the 70s, for my next full build...so maybe that would be my route. Do you surmise zero freebore would work well to shoot both 70s and 87s?

As luck would have it,, I ordered a 6mm 10 twist HV Krieger, about about 7 months ago. I forget why, except I think I wanted to chamber up a 6BR to shoot the long 55 grain NBLF (Nosler Ballistic Tip Lead Free) for when I shoot squeaks in CA. I suppose the 243AI would work here too...

 

[AckleymanII]

I would sure give the 87's a try in the zero freebore, or may give it .020 of freebore with a unithroater. In my 28" 12 T,

Fire forming with 47-47.5g of Win 760, Rem case, cci 250*** is 3750 fps
formed cases is 48.5g of 760 at 3850, and I have never used a full length sizer...never. 4030 is top end velocity when you hit pressure and still shooting in the 2's....I do not shoot this load.

You would only need 87's IF you were going to go to ranges over 600 yards.

I have a new hart 12 twist with muzzle break, zero freebore, and 1000 un fire formed neck turned cases if you are interested in a barrel that will just screw on a rem 700 with removable muzzle break..

Keith

 

[moorepower]

Yeah, so many things work well IMO. Fun to try different things. Certainly my 6x47, and 25x47 I'm working on will not be ideal high-volume rigs, but I plan to give-a-go on the windy days. Certainly, 20cal would be better 90% of the time!

And, I've shot thousands of sage rats and prairie dogs with my 20 tac, pushing the 39Bkings and 40-vmax at 3,910FPS...works VERY well. BUT, personally, if I could only have one, it's be my fast twist 6BR...mostly because I like hitting them hard and the barrel life always gets me 7000+ rounds with extreme accuracy. I'm, pushing 58-vmax at same velocity (3900 fps); personal field testing and radar testing by Applied Ballistics indicate the 20 cal 40max is only .18 G1 BC higher (which is much lower than claimed) compared with 58-vmax. The 40 vamx is a touch higher than 58vmax, but the 58 still hits 'em significantly harder! Only negative would be added recoil, but that's not problem for me since it's a 23lb bench gun. BUUUT, I could certainly see where people would prefer the 20s, and I get why so many people love the little 20 VARTARG, which is what I'd recommend for anyone who could only have 1 gun...but when my barrels get hot, I just pick up another gun. They all work.

Reason for my big bullet/big calibers...first two days of a prairie dog shoot last year were sustained 20mph winds, and I could either stay in my room, or go shoot. I chose to shoot. My Leica 3200.com + Kestral 5700 combo has been been a gamechanger too, but I can't wait to put Vmax inthe .34G7 25 cal bullets to the test.

What powder are you using with 58Vmax the 6br?

 

[Old Navy]

I would think a hole all the way thru would kill a PD without any expansion. Buy bullets made for what you intend to use them for. No need to get OCD.

I always hated it when I found a crawled off chuck that left a trail of blood clear back to the den.

 

[Djfergus]

I've built up a 6x47L, and chambering up a 25x47L also, to be used for longer range, or mid-range on those windy days, on Prairie dogs.

Has anyone tried modifying match bullets, such as the Berger LR Hybrid 105, for better expansion?

I bought a micro drill bit set, so im able to chuck the bullet in drill and upon up the HP just a bit. You can actually open it up a fair amount without affecting the outside Diameter… essentially just thinning out the jacket at the tip. I even went one step further by taking a file and thinning the jacket at the leading .1" of the tip. As.ling as bullet is chucked and spinning, it should remain concentric. I tested one group of 5 shots at 400 yards and didn't notice a difference in accuracy, but haven't tested in live targets yet.

My thought/hope is that bullet could be made more explosive without impacting BC much at all.

 

[RAG]

What powder are you using with 58Vmax the 6br?

XTerminator (AA2230). In past, if shot many kegs of Benchmark with great results too...just not quite the same velocity.

 

[RAG]

Interesting! That might me a bit too time consuming for my taste/use, but at least you aren't impacting BC. And I suppose if the entire front end is truly weakened sufficiently, would be extremely explosive as medium range. I will try a handful on P-Dogs, just to see, next Spring!

Thanks for sharing!