Berger 205 EH vs 210 VLD's

[dmossu]

Does anyone have any experience with either of these bullets? I am looking to try something else in my Bergara Premier Highlander in .300WM. I am currently reloading some Berger 215's, but they flat out won't shoot in this gun. I am getting slow velocities with 75gr of H1000 (around 2,700) and not great groups at all.

I am trying to decide if I want to pursue some 210 VLD's or 205's as I imagine that either of these will stabilize a bit better in the Bergara. I also have some Berger 200.20x's, but not entirely sure how those would perform on game.

 

[SaltyUte]

Any interest in selling those 215s or a trade for Berger 210 VLDs? In desperate need of 215s for my 300PRC.

 

[dmossu]

No interest in selling them now - I plan on building a PRC or Norma in the future and know these bullets will come in handy then lol

 

[SaltyUte]

No interest in selling them now - I plan on building a PRC or Norma in the future and know these bullets will come in handy then lol

No worries! @Broz from LRO is probably the most knowledgeable when it comes to the 300WM 215 combo.

 

[Broz]

Does anyone have any experience with either of these bullets? I am looking to try something else in my Bergara Premier Highlander in .300WM. I am currently reloading some Berger 215's, but they flat out won't shoot in this gun. I am getting slow velocities with 75gr of H1000 (around 2,700) and not great groups at all.

I am trying to decide if I want to pursue some 210 VLD's or 205's as I imagine that either of these will stabilize a bit better in the Bergara. I also have some Berger 200.20x's, but not entirely sure how those would perform on game.

Don't forget there are 208's and 220's now too from Berger.

My concerns are your velocity. That is way low for a 75 gr charge with a 215. Is it a real short barrel?

If the barrel is 24 or 26" you should be seeing closer to 2850. If you haven't seen pressure signs yet , I would keep going up on charge weight. You could have a slow lot of H-1000 or a very slow barrel. But if the rifle will allow it keep increasing charge weight. I would seat them -.005" off the lands, and do a two shot OCW test 1/2 grain at a time until I saw the first sign of pressure. It could be they will start to shoot better when you get closer to the sweet spot on charge weight. I would hope that would be from 2850 to 2950 area.

 

[dmossu]

Don't forget there are 208's and 220's now too from Berger.

My concerns are your velocity. That is way low for a 75 gr charge with a 215. Is it a real short barrel?

If the barrel is 24 or 26" you should be seeing closer to 2850. If you haven't seen pressure signs yet , I would keep going up on charge weight. You could have a slow lot of H-1000 or a very slow barrel. But if the rifle will allow it keep increasing charge weight. I would seat them -.005" off the lands, and do a two shot OCW test 1/2 grain at a time until I saw the first sign of pressure. It could be they will start to shoot better when you get closer to the sweet spot on charge weight. I would hope that would be from 2850 to 2950 area.

The barrel is 24" - and I 100% agree that it should be closer to that 2850 area. I tried a different lot of H1000 and it was similar velocity, actually a bit less, around 2,695 instead of 2,704 - regardless, too slow. I do use Norma brass and I have read online that it could take up to 80gr of H1000 to get pressure with Norma, no idea if that is true - but I did shoot up to 77gr without any pressure, but was using strictly chrono numbers, so those could have been skewed or incorrect ($100 Caldwell Chrono off Amazon).

 

[BRTreedogs]

Id sell it and build your prc

 

[dmossu]

Id sell it and build your prc

Hahaha I plan to build a gun real soon - I just need this rifle for hunting out west and not sure I could get everything ordered and built by this October

 

[BRTreedogs]

Hahaha I plan to build a gun real soon - I just need this rifle for hunting out west and not sure I could get everything ordered and built by this October

I've never had any luck getting a rifle from terrible to good.
If you in the ballpark they usually start out decent and you can tune them to better.

In my experience if your close to what other people have had luck with and no joy move on.
In the form of a barrel or a rifle.

 

[rifletuner]

I've never had any luck getting a rifle from terrible to good.
If you in the ballpark they usually start out decent and you can tune them to better.

In my experience if your close to what other people have had luck with and no joy move on.
In the form of a barrel or a rifle.

Yep, my experience exactly. From experience, most poorly shooting rifles are just a barrel swap away from shooting well. Very occasionally, you can get a dud action, but almost always its the barrel.

 

[ktm450]

My Sako S20 .300WM loves the 205’s 76.8 grain of H1000

My HCA .300WSM also loves them with 4831SC dumped a really nice bear with that combo and am excited to try it on Elk.

Both guns/loads are sub sub MOA

 

[DakotaBPNW]

I shoot 210’s out of mine over 78gr 7828 SSC. I get around 2940FPS and they shoot cloverleafs. Hold well out to 1,000 yards too.

 

[miller3483]

I’ve had good luck with the 210s in my Bergara B-14 Ridge. 75gr of H1000, Winchester brass, 215M primers. Shoots around MOA and is up to 2890 now that the barrel has settled in. Also saw good groups with the Hornady 200 eldx, no idea about speed on that one though.

 

[DakotaBPNW]

I’ve had good luck with the 210s in my Bergara B-14 Ridge. 75gr of H1000, Winchester brass, 215M primers. Shoots around MOA and is up to 2890 now that the barrel has settled in. Also saw good groups with the Hornady 200 eldx, no idea about speed on that one though.

I get right around 2860 out of mine with the 210’s and 7828SSC. I’ve proofed this load out to 1k and it holds true

 

[Johnc427]

Just loaded some of these up tonight In my 300 WM w/ H1000. Will report back when I shoot them