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Berger 7mm Hybrids

bohem

PVA's HMFIC
Commercial Supporter
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 6, 2009
8,016
3,081
Southeast, PA
www.patriotvalleyarms.com
I am not done load testing, but here's some information that Bryan Litz passed to me when I was asking for a starting point with the 180gr 7mm "Hybrid" bullet. Official designation is the "XDR" I belive.

I realize this isn't a complete range report by any means, it's just starting points for other guys that got some of these bullets on the sale last month.

Bryan's Test Results:
G1 = 0.674
G7 = 0.345

He suggested loading them on a 0.015" jump, which happened to work out well for me as well.

I haven't finished load testing my 7mm-270 (that caliber is a story in itself) so I will refrain from any further info that I haven't tested enough to be comfortable with. I only have enough data to know what my next steps are going to be in the testing. I will update as I work through it. I would expect end results before June 10th, since I have to be at TVP on the 12th, so that's the drop dead date.

Cheers
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

When I ordered them, I was told I needed to sort them, so far I've only pulled 4 out of the 200 I sorted for length and any deformities. Speaks quite a bit for how tightly controlled Berger's QC process is, 2% failure rate at this point. I still have 2400 more to sort though.

I'll update more when I get time to shoot some more groups and I'll take some pictures.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

When I ordered them, I was told I needed to sort them, so far I've only pulled 4 out of the 200 I sorted for length and any deformities. Speaks quite a bit for how tightly controlled Berger's QC process is, 2% failure rate at this point. I still have 2400 more to sort though.

I'll update more when I get time to shoot some more groups and I'll take some pictures.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

I'm working through sorting another 400 now, I haven't had the chance to get back to the range yet, I should be back there sometime this week so I'll update it again as soon as I can shoot some more groups.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

If these bullets are not seating depth sensitive, it will be a winner with that high ass BC! I made sure to have APA cut the chamber and lead to my specs, which they did to the T. But after a few hundred rounds, I can no longer seat into the lands and be able to mag fead. I think these hybrids are the answer to 7mm shooters AKA throat burners. Then again, so is melonite
laugh.gif
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

I loaded up a ladder test last night for both seating depth and charge weight and I'm going to try to get out of work a little early today and make a run off to the range.

If it doesn't happen today, I'll have to shoot it tomorrow. The deadline to have the rifle ready for TVP in the beginning of June is quickly approaching so I need to get moving.

FWIW, I've sorted 600 of the bullets now, I have 11 that I culled out. Since these are "seconds" I'm pretty darn impressed, I've seen a certain other manufacturer that starts with an "S" have more variation from their regular stuff.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

I'm slowly getting a more complete idea of how they're going to shoot. So far, I know that they don't like to be touching or jammed into the lands on my rifle and I have a suspicious feeling that my 9tw is marginally stable for them. I'm not certain of that quite yet, so I'll elaborate more when I get another day at the range, probably Saturday or Monday, we'll see.

Sorry to keep you guys waiting, this is killing me just the same.

I did figure out that the rifle isn't a dud though, I shot 5 rounds of an non-optimized load under 120 Sierra SSPs into 1/4"wide by 1/2" tall group. I just need to do some more homework and get these Bergers shooting and I'll be in "wind cheater"-ville.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

Try some RL22 or RL25 powder. Those 2 seem to be more accurate for me than anything els Ive tried.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

Thanks for the advice. I'm shooting RL22 already since I have about 9 lbs left on the shelf from the dual duty it pulls with my 30-06 and 208 Amax's.

I went to run a ladder test first and then planned to take all the powder charge test loads and reseat them to whatever depth shot the best after the depth test. I seated all the charge depths to a touch/002 jam depth, since I planned to reset them.

I left work early, grabbed everything and ran to the range, only to realize that there was no way I was going to reseat everything back to an 030 jump since I left the hand press at home. D'OH!
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

Update::

No pictures are available since I didn't have a charged battery but I got some excellent results today at the range.

300yd, 52.5gr-53.5 of RL22 in 2x fired brass. Wolf LRmag primers.

I seated them to 3.326" which works out to an 0.015" jump to the lands.

It was very windy today, full value 11-13mph winds. I'm getting around 2850 fps from a 28" barrel, the load is pretty soft, I wasn't aiming to ring out the brass just get an idea of how it shot.

28" Shilen, 1:9twist barrel.
Rem 700 LH long action
7mm/270
Fed Brass
Manners MCS-T5/A stock
EGW 20 MOA steel rail
Burris XTR "med" rings
Nightforce 5.5-22x50 NP-R1 NXS

Shooting prone, bipod and rear bag.

The worst 5 shot group was appx 2"wide and 1.5" tall. The load I will be working on a little more is 1" wide and 1" tall. I'm satisified with them for now.

The 100y zero required 3 MOA to 300y and appx 1.5 MOA wind hold

650yd required a total of 12.5 MOA elevation and 3 MOA of wind to shoot an easy MOA group.

I apologize for the lack of photos. I will try to take some next weekend at TVP and report back how they do at long distances out to the "mile" target appx. 1700yd out. Maybe I'll hit it... that's definitely a question of the shooter, not the bullet though.
 
Re: Berger 7mm Hybrids

I shot those 180 Hybrids out of the 7mm/270 at Thunder Valley this weekend. I had a soft load in new brass that was only going 2780 and they were predictable and correctable at transsonic speeds out to a mile.

I shot all around the 12x12" plate at 1700yd, never hit it, but came very close. Elevation was very repeatable, my ability to shoot the wind at those distances was piss poor.