Amax 208, Berger 190VLD and Sierra 175TMK another day of reloading

I am going to skip the long story this time and just give the details and results of each load. For those who havn't read previous posts, these were shot using a Savage 110FCP 300 Win Mag

DISCLAIMER/WARNING FOR NEW RELOADERS:  This load data should be worked up to and is for ONE particular rifle (mine).  If you try this load in your gun, it may not feed and worse, it may feed but blow up your rifle causing injury or death. Be very carefull when extending your Cartridge Length over the reloading book published values as there can be dangerously huge increases in pressure. 

Hornady 208gr AMAX

Bullet: 208gr Amax
Brass: PPU full length resized
Powder: H1000  - 78gr  & 79gr
Primer: CCI #250
COAL: 3.605 & 3.485

I only loaded 5 rounds of each this time since that was the last of my 208gr amax. My results in the past have been dismal at best so just wanted to finish them off and maybe get one last stab at success. I had tried two different charges at the longer COAL and they actually performed well.

Results
My first group was with the 3.605 COAL and 78gr charge. @200 yards this grouped at 2.25 inches. Not terrible but not great either. My next group was with the same length but increase in powder charge to 79gr.  This time my 200yd group was  exactly 2" with a mean radius of .685".  This is actually pretty good.  The other thing I noticed is that the group tighted up considerably with the increase in velocity. There was a little sign of cratering on the primer but I think I could push this load a bit more and maybe tighten the groups even further.  Unfortunantly I only have 5 bullets left of the 208gr amax.  I guess I may have to order some more.

190gr Berger VLD

Bullet: 190gr Berger VLD
Brass: PPU full length resized
Powder: H1000  - 78gr
Primer: CCI #250
COAL: 3.580 & 3.495

Results
I loaded these to have a jump of  .017. I wanted to see if I could get a bit more consistency out of these loads.  I loaded 15 rounds again and shot 3 groups of 5. My best group @200yds was 2.25". Actually I shot 2 groups which were 2.25 and a third which was 2.85".  I had plenty of time and was waiting 3-4 minutes between shots to allow for barrel cooling. Conditions were great and temps were in mid 80's. I am a little depressed with these bullets so far but came across this article from Berger which gives me hope.   Getting the Best Accuracy from VLD .

Quote from that Article:

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:
1. .010 into (touching) the lands (jam) 6 rounds
2. .040 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
3. .080 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
4. .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:
1. .010 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
2. .050 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
3. .090 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds
4. .130 off the lands (jump) 6 rounds

 I am going to give this a try and post my results in a few weeks (hopefully). But hunting season is coming on and I probably won't do much shooting during this time.

Best Group of Day

Bullet: 175gr Sierra TMK
Brass: PPU full length resized
Powder: IMR 4350  - 72gr
Primer: CCI #250
COAL: 3.495

This rifle seems to love the lighter bullets like the 155 and the 175 MatchKing.  This load has worked pretty well in my rifle and I would love to find a heavier load which groups like this!

I only loaded 5 of these and it was the very last group I fired for the day. The group @ 200yds was 1.25".