Sam Millard
WKR
Berger VLDs always seemed to have a reputation for needing to be seated into the lands or not very far off of them. I have been shooting/hunting/ testing with 6.5 140 grain hunting Bergers in a few 260s for the past year. One of the rifles has 638 of these sleek beauties through it since July of last year.
This rifle is chambered/throated around a Hornady AMAX seated long. I changed out the HS Precision/Wyatts extended box set up for a McMillan A3/Surgeon DBM running AICS mags. To shoot a 140 Berger VLD out of the magazine, it has to seated .100" off the lands. I shot several different bullets seated to mag length while waiting for the stock to show up, just to see what would happen. The easiest bullet to get shooting well that far off was the Sierra 140 SMK. The hardest/worst one was the Sierra 142 SMK. I had mixed results with the heavy AMAX and the VLDs, but I never changed my standard powder load.
After a little fine tuning of the powder charge, 5 shots out of the magazine, jumping .100" with the 140 VLD, has consistently shot under .5 MOA. There have also been some real smoker groups, with 10 shots coming in under .5! I shot the load out to 1268 yards last year with no problems.
I suspect that this barrel may be less sensitive to bullet jump because of the tight freebore, but the other 260s I have shot this bullet from don't mind the jump, either. Don't be afraid to try them in your rifle. It might take a little tuning, but these bullets are such fine killing machines at long range, it's worth the effort!
This rifle is chambered/throated around a Hornady AMAX seated long. I changed out the HS Precision/Wyatts extended box set up for a McMillan A3/Surgeon DBM running AICS mags. To shoot a 140 Berger VLD out of the magazine, it has to seated .100" off the lands. I shot several different bullets seated to mag length while waiting for the stock to show up, just to see what would happen. The easiest bullet to get shooting well that far off was the Sierra 140 SMK. The hardest/worst one was the Sierra 142 SMK. I had mixed results with the heavy AMAX and the VLDs, but I never changed my standard powder load.
After a little fine tuning of the powder charge, 5 shots out of the magazine, jumping .100" with the 140 VLD, has consistently shot under .5 MOA. There have also been some real smoker groups, with 10 shots coming in under .5! I shot the load out to 1268 yards last year with no problems.
I suspect that this barrel may be less sensitive to bullet jump because of the tight freebore, but the other 260s I have shot this bullet from don't mind the jump, either. Don't be afraid to try them in your rifle. It might take a little tuning, but these bullets are such fine killing machines at long range, it's worth the effort!
