dsculley
01-28-2011, 12:19 AM
Hi all,
I have a Savage 110 in 7 MM Rem Mag. Using Berger VLD hunting bullets I worked up some loads with Dan Newberry's procedure (http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/). I did not have a time to get to the range after load development. I was hunting last weekend and took a nice buck at about 125 yards. The round hit exactly where I was aiming and exited through the elbow on the far side. The deer dropped in his tracks. The wound channel was massive. I know these bullets are designed for longer ranges that what I was shooting, but I am very pleased with the terminal performance of the Bergers. I selected them to use as a hunting round as well as trying some long distance shooting this spring/summer.
For those who have not tried Dan Newberry's method, the progression of groups was exactly as predicted, with groups going from left to right and low to high. The optimal charge was well below the max load in this case. I used load data provided by Berger. There were no pressure signs even in the max load tested. There were two loads in the progression that were nearly identical on the target and both of these were sub 0.3" groups. This method is a tool for load development that is worth your consideration in the future. One thing that I did different from the method in the article is that on the first round of shooting the 6 different loads I started with load/target #1. On the second round, I started with load/target #2, etc. I did this to allow for heat build-up in the barrel. I don't know if this affected my results any, but I assumed that the barrel temperature would be more even across loads by doing so.
By the way, this is the last week of deer season here in Alabama and with luck I will get to test this load again this weekend. If I do, I will let you know how the second performance of this load works out.
I have a Savage 110 in 7 MM Rem Mag. Using Berger VLD hunting bullets I worked up some loads with Dan Newberry's procedure (http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/). I did not have a time to get to the range after load development. I was hunting last weekend and took a nice buck at about 125 yards. The round hit exactly where I was aiming and exited through the elbow on the far side. The deer dropped in his tracks. The wound channel was massive. I know these bullets are designed for longer ranges that what I was shooting, but I am very pleased with the terminal performance of the Bergers. I selected them to use as a hunting round as well as trying some long distance shooting this spring/summer.
For those who have not tried Dan Newberry's method, the progression of groups was exactly as predicted, with groups going from left to right and low to high. The optimal charge was well below the max load in this case. I used load data provided by Berger. There were no pressure signs even in the max load tested. There were two loads in the progression that were nearly identical on the target and both of these were sub 0.3" groups. This method is a tool for load development that is worth your consideration in the future. One thing that I did different from the method in the article is that on the first round of shooting the 6 different loads I started with load/target #1. On the second round, I started with load/target #2, etc. I did this to allow for heat build-up in the barrel. I don't know if this affected my results any, but I assumed that the barrel temperature would be more even across loads by doing so.
By the way, this is the last week of deer season here in Alabama and with luck I will get to test this load again this weekend. If I do, I will let you know how the second performance of this load works out.