308 vld question

[bcpdshooter]

I'm going to be working up a load for a friend with 175 vld hunting bullets. I have read that they need to be seated in the lands. The rifle is a 308 11.24, 24" rock with a bisley match camber so getting to the lands and keeping them in the mag wont be a problem. I have had good luck with varget pushing the Sierra match kings and the 155s so I will start with varget.
My question is for those of you who have loaded th vlds, and varget what is the charge you started with?
And what is the top of the load chart?
Thanks for your help and I have a range in mind, I just wanted to pick your brain.
Thanks agin for replying to the op.

 

[B3dlam]

Re: 308 vld question

I would recommend using the load run up recommended by TresMons stickied in this section. Basically running from the min to a few laods over the max using 10% of the max load increments so it will likely be .4gr increments I cant recomend a particular charge as I have only shot the 168 VLDs.

As for the seat depth the 168s in my rifle prefer to be .12 off the lands.

Taken from Bergers Website:
The quickest way to find this sweet spot is to load ammo at four different COAL. Start with a COAL that allows the bullet to touch the rifling. The next COAL needs to be .040 off the lands. The third COAL needs to be .080 off the lands. The last COAL needs to be .120 off the lands. One of these COAL will outperform the other three by a considerable margin. It has been reported that the VLD bullets don’t group as well at 100 yards but get better as the bullet “goes to sleep” at further ranges. We have learned that by doing the four COAL test you will find a COAL where the VLD bullets will group well at 100 yards. Once the COAL that shoots best is established you can tweak +/- .005 or .010 to increase precision or you can adjust powder charges and other load variables. Frankly, those who do the four COAL test usually are happy with the results they get from this test alone.

 

[Aimsmall55]

Re: 308 vld question

44.8 varget. Lapua brass. Seated long enough where I can close bolt w/ no friction. Think it's 2.960" in a 700 LTR. With a 24" tube you'll be over 2700 fps easy. Just take an spent case put a Berger in there chamber it and ease the bolt back and then measure. Do it several times take the average and that should help. Or you could get an oal gauge.

 

[bcpdshooter]

Re: 308 vld question

In the lands at 2.899 40 gr varget ave fps 2536 5 shot group .270 center to center. It fit in the mag fine but the tip of the bullet hitting the feed ramp. 43 gr 5 shot group .382 center to center ave fps 2706.

Seating the next lot .040 deeper with the oal of 2.855. This feeds great plus with the little bit of jump I think I will gain fps so I'm going to run 42.5 and 43 again to see.
Also going to run 43.5 and 44 at this oal.
If the groups stay the same and I can get 2780 plus with this it will be great for a hunting bullet.
Thanks for the input and I'll update after I run the next set of loads.

 

[bcpdshooter]

Re: 308 vld question

The groups opened up and the fps were slower. Huh I figured coming off the lands would gain mv. Going to pull the seating out .020 and see if it will feed in the rifle. Looks like the vlds want to be closer to the lands.

 

[Niles Coyote]

Re: 308 vld question

.015-.020 off works well in mine, also a rock 11.27t but 21.75" long. It has been a while since I last loaded some but I dont remember them being much different than my smk load which is 44.6 +/- a tenth or two, brass depending.

 

[Twitch2120]

Re: 308 vld question

secant ogive bullets dont like jumping. keep loading them closer to the lands. my RUM wanted them touching or .005 off for peak performance.