Reloading for New VLP 112 25-06

I am having a slight problem. I picked up some Sierra Pro-Hunter 100gr sp spitzer bullets cheap today. I mainly was going to use them to break in the new rifle and also maybe use them with my / our other 25-06 rifles. So I have a couple of reloading manuals, Sierra not being one of them. I picked up a 1lb of R22 to just try it out as I usually use R19 but it does not meter well in my Hornady powder measure and thought the R22 would meter better.

I size and trim my cases and drop 54gr of R22 in them and seat the bullet at 3.200 as per my Lee book. Its a hard feed when I go to cycle a couple of them through the gun. I know this means I am contacting the rifling. So I measure the case after extraction and they are now 3.176 so I set a few bullets soft / long in empty cases and feed it in. They each come back between 3.176 - 3.178 OAL. A couple of my other manuals tell me that is fine. This looks like the max OAL length I can use in the rifle. I check a couple of the other rifles and 3.200 is no problem on all the other ones. Even in my old Savage single shot heavy barreled J series is not as close as this one.

Is this normal in the VLP series 25-06 guns? It seems like this gun from the factory is set up to shoot 87gr and lighter varmint bullets. This is really no big deal if its the way its supposed to be as I bought this to shoot 100gr and less rounds.

Be glad your gun is throated this way, after a few hundred rounds downrange you will be moving the bullets out and just be where some people start out. 54gr is not enough with a 100gr bullet in my 25-06 don't be afraid to push the envelope (slowly) with the 25-06.

KAG, would there be ANY chance you have a bullet comparator? It would be very
interesting to see if your OAD measurement is the same as that in my .25-06 VLP.

kslefty is totally correct about a short throat. Be glad!

My VLP just did hit the 100 round mark this fall and should be pretty well broke in.
So far, the best load I've found is the Nosler 85gr BTBT, 54.5gr RL17 and Rem 9 1/2.
It gave me a couple of consecutive groups of 5/16" with this load.

Pull back to about .010 off the lands and start playing with your loads. Find your best accuracy, problably around 56 gr. and then start playing with OAL.

BTW, my 25-06's have always liked 100 gr. NBT's better than Sierras

I'm gonna run a ladder test with my VLP and 100gr. Noslers and RL19 this coming weekend. I'll also load 5 with 53.0 RL19 and see if what I have heard is true, which is automatic 1/8" groups.

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Originally Posted by steveinwv

I'm gonna run a ladder test with my VLP and 100gr. Noslers and RL19 this coming weekend. I'll also load 5 with 53.0 RL19 and see if what I have heard is true, which is automatic 1/8" groups.

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...Remember 53.1grs, 210M prs .015 off the lands..lol.. ;)..

Kag I did the same as you, only with 120 gr. sierra's. Book says 3.200 so I load one up and the same thing happens HARD BOLT so I gently push it in and then extract and measure, comes out 3.153.Now I go back to another manual and it says I am short, so I try another same result. Hopefully this is not a short cut chamber, because like you this is a brand new 112vlp 25 06.
I ended up loading a box and will take it down to the range when it warms up.
Hopefully I won't cause any damage to the gun.
Has this happened to anyone else?

This is not a short cut chamber, if it was you could not close the bolt as it would be moving the shoulder back not the bullet. 47 thousandths is about 10 pieces of paper, not enough to worry about. Are you gettiing your O.A.L. measurement from the same brand of manual as your bullets? The 3.200" is the published max. length when in all reality each gun may be quite a bit less and some quite a bit more.

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The 3.200" is the published max. length when in all reality each gun may be quite a bit less and some quite a bit more.

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One thing is for sure, if you run enough rounds thru a 25-06, eventually you will be able to seat them out to 3.20 ;D

3.296" kissing the lands with a Nosler 100gr. Ballistic Tip on my rifle.