Reloading

[elkslayer069]

my guess is that's it not the rifle it's the caliber what weight bullets are you shooting? 140's try dropping down to 127 grain bullet specifically the Barnes 127 lrx I have a buddy who was having the same problems his wouldn't shot a nosler bullet

[elkslayer069]

What powder are you using ? I recommend using  us 869

[meathunter]

This is the procedure recommended by Berger that Curly was referring to:

Solution

The following has been verified by numerous shooters in many rifles using bullets of different calibers and weights. It is consistent for all VLD bullets. What has been discovered is that VLD bullets shoot best when loaded to a COAL that puts the bullet in a “sweet spot”. This sweet spot is a band .030 to .040 wide and is located anywhere between jamming the bullets into the lands and .150 jump off the lands.

Note: When discussing jam and jump I am referring to the distance from the area of the bearing surface that engages the rifling and the rifling itself. There are many products that allow you to measure these critical dimensions. Some are better than others. I won’t be going into the methods of measuring jam and jump. If you are not familiar with this aspect of reloading it is critically important that you understand this concept before you attempt this test.

Many reloaders feel (and I tend to agree) that meaningful COAL adjustments are .002 to .005. Every once in a while I might adjust the COAL by .010 but this seems like I am moving the bullet the length of a football field. The only way a shooter will be able to benefit from this situation is to let go of this opinion that more than .010 change is too much (me included).

Trying to find the COAL that puts you in the sweet spot by moving .002 to .010 will take so long the barrel may be worn out by the time you sort it out if you don’t give up first. Since the sweet spot is .030 to .040 wide we recommend that you conduct the following test to find your rifles VLD sweet spot.

Load 24 rounds at the following COAL if you are a target competition shooter who does not worry about jamming a bullet:

    .010 into (touching) the lands (jam) 6 rounds
    .040 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
    .080 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
    .120 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds

Load 24 rounds at the following COAL if you are a hunter (pulling a bullet out of the case with your rifling while in the field can be a hunt ending event which must be avoided) or a competition shooter who worries about pulling a bullet during a match:

    .010 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
    .050 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
    .090 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
    .130 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds

Shoot 2 (separate) 3 shot groups in fair conditions to see how they group. The remarkable reality of this test is that one of these 4 COALs will outperform the other three by a considerable margin. Once you know which one of these 4 COAL shoots best then you can tweak the COAL +/- .002 or .005. Taking the time to set this test up will pay off when you find that your rifle is capable of shooting the VLD bullets very well (even at 100 yards).

Regards,
Eric Stecker
Master Bulletsmith

http://www.bergerbullets.com/vld-making-shoot/

I will be giving this a whirl. Funny thing is i just started in on my box of Berger 130 VLDS. Thanks for the info guys!

Yeah i was using the US869 exlusivley and since then i've tried RL-25, Retumbo,IMR7828SSC. today i'm going to try 12 rds in Norma217 and the other 12 i was going to try RL-33. we will see what happens.

-Meat

[yorketransport]

I've played with more than a few overbore cartridges over the years so I'll share some of what I've learned.

Big cases like the RUM or Nosler case are more efficient and much easier to tune loads for when heavy for caliber bullets are used. While velocity sells with cartridges like the 26 Nosler, the cartridge will perform better with a 140+ grain bullet. Plus, running 130gr bullets at full throttle can easily burn a barrel in 300 rounds or less; I've personally witnessed this multiple times.

Also consider that some of the lighter bullets can't hold up to the velocity of the 26 Nosler. Ballistic Tips and Accubonds do well but Bergers don't always hold up to 3500+ fps.

You didn't mention what primer you're using but the Federal 215 is the optimum in this case. Some of the super slow powders can be hard to ignite even with standard magnum rifle primers.

With as many loads as you've tried  something should have shown potential. At this point I'd reach out to Cooper and see what they have to say. Even a top name maker puts out a lemon every once in a while. I have a barrel right now that should be capable of much better accuracy than I'm getting. After trying multiple loads and different optics I've decided that it's just a bad barrel. It happens.

Where are you located? Maybe there's somebody near you who can act as a second set of eyes to go over the gun with you.