Berger 7mm Hunting VLDs

[Winston]

Hi Folks,

I'm putting a 7mm barrel on my Panda, and have been looking for a projectile to use. It seems all the good Berger stuff is sold out everywhere, but there's a few thousand 180 hunting vlds available.

Anything wrong with these? I'm assuming there's a reason they haven't been snapped up like the rest of the heavy 7mm stuff. Can anyone enlighten me? Jackets to thin perhaps?

Undecided on cartridge at the moment, but will be a 7mm08 (vanilla or Ackley) or a 284.

Cheerio,
Alex

[AlanF]

Hi Folks,

I'm putting a 7mm barrel on my Panda, and have been looking for a projectile to use. It seems all the good Berger stuff is sold out everywhere, but there's a few thousand 180 hunting vlds available.

Anything wrong with these? I'm assuming there's a reason they haven't been snapped up like the rest of the heavy 7mm stuff. Can anyone enlighten me? Jackets to thin perhaps?

Undecided on cartridge at the moment, but will be a 7mm08 (vanilla or Ackley) or a 284.

Cheerio,
Alex

In my experience, orange box Bergers perform equally well with yellow. The only time you might have problems (with blow-ups) is if your bore is rough and/or your twist too tight and very high velocity, which is unlikely with the chamberings you're considering. I've used both the original thin jacket yellow box and current orange box VLDs (probably several thousand in total), and no blow-ups.

[macguru]

The only time I have had blow ups was with FACTORY savage barrels , and they looked rough as guts through the borescope. One was very, very accurate (.223 1/7 twist SS bbl) and the other was very INACCURATE (260rem 1/8 twist moly bbl). The only bullets that blew up were NOSLERS so I surmise they had thin jackets. I never had a problem with a proper target barrel ...... chances are that you will not either....

[Tim N]

I found the hunting VLDs as good as the target ones
Go a 284 or 280AI (sorry Graham )

[plumbs7]

I found the hunting VLDs as good as the target ones
Go a 284 or 280AI (sorry Graham )

Nigel no mates 7-08 Ai ! Lol!

Hunting vld's were fine in a 1-9 twist . 7-08 Ai with 308 brass was around 2760-2815 fps 180 vld hunting and now with 8- reloads or more on the lap brass the pockets are slightly loose but are fine eg haven't gotten worse ! If you are budget minded the above cal is good . But Tim is probably right about the 280 Ai ( 30-06 case) if you want to make a team or keep up with Saums in rough weather at longer ranges ! But would love to see more 7-08 Ai 's with people that are lot more skilled than me to see what they could do! It's a great little cartridge for what it can do! Good luck if you take it on ! Regards Graham.

[Winston]

I found the hunting VLDs as good as the target ones
Go a 284 or 280AI (sorry Graham )

Nigel no mates 7-08 Ai ! Lol!

Hunting vld's were fine in a 1-9 twist . 7-08 Ai with 308 brass was around 2760-2815 fps 180 vld hunting and now with 8- reloads or more on the lap brass the pockets are slightly loose but are fine eg haven't gotten worse ! If you are budget minded the above cal is good . But Tim is probably right about the 280 Ai ( 30-06 case) if you want to make a team or keep up with Saums in rough weather at longer ranges ! But would love to see more 7-08 Ai 's with people that are lot more skilled than me to see what they could do! It's a great little cartridge for what it can do! Good luck if you take it on ! Regards Graham.

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen, looks like some 180 hunting VLDs it is then.

Graham - your velocities seem to be bloody fast for such a small case and big pill. Would you mind sharing your load data and barrel length? Running some sims in quickload, I haven't been able to get anything close to the speeds you are getting.

Cheerio,
Alex

[plumbs7]

I found the hunting VLDs as good as the target ones
Go a 284 or 280AI (sorry Graham )

Nigel no mates 7-08 Ai ! Lol!

Hunting vld's were fine in a 1-9 twist . 7-08 Ai with 308 brass was around 2760-2815 fps 180 vld hunting and now with 8- reloads or more on the lap brass the pockets are slightly loose but are fine eg haven't gotten worse ! If you are budget minded the above cal is good . But Tim is probably right about the 280 Ai ( 30-06 case) if you want to make a team or keep up with Saums in rough weather at longer ranges ! But would love to see more 7-08 Ai 's with people that are lot more skilled than me to see what they could do! It's a great little cartridge for what it can do! Good luck if you take it on ! Regards Graham.

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen, looks like some 180 hunting VLDs it is then.

Graham - your velocities seem to be bloody fast for such a small case and big pill. Would you mind sharing your load data and barrel length? Running some sims in quickload, I haven't been able to get anything close to the speeds you are getting.

Cheerio,
Alex

Yep no problems ! Use with caution as per normal! Primer pockets are lose but have hung tuff. Have tapped the bench after seating and have never had one fall out yet! have had to throw a couple out after a lot of firings when the case head doesn't go in the the hand priming tool nicely.must use lap brass! Started out with new barrel at 46.7 Gr 2209 with hybreds summer load. Now after a 1000 rounds or more ( Bart barrel,panda action) 47.4 fed Lr primers 2209 winter load. Summer was 47.0 flat.
Case harden the first few rounds with 168 's at club level. Or use old .308 brass from your Tr rifle, with annealed necks.
Can't fireform with 180's , will wreck case! Fire form load 2209 45.5 Gr with either 168's (2700 fps) or I've just been fowling with 100 Gr hunting pills before a Comp ( 3150 fps ). Sml primers may not be able to achieve the faster velocities ? But the palmer brass would handle the case head expansion better. Maybe Cci 450 mag primers in a palmer case? But it burns 5 Gr of 2209 less to a .284 for similar velocities . But it is at its Max's but likes it ! Over 30 shots sd of 9 is about all I can get ! But have some runs of 2-4 fps spread . Hope this helps and be careful working up loads !
Regards Graham.
Ps even with that sd of 9 it held really good elevation at 1000 yds and that was repeated a few times as Dave Mc says " that great now repeat it "

[Winston]

Thanks Graham,

Looks like the 08 Ackley might be the way to go. Still a little way away from piecing it all together, but count on me leaning on you for some help once I have everything good to go.

Thanks again folks,

Alex