87gr VMAX Bolt loads

[KMW1954]

This is from my new to me Switchback 6mmARC with a 22" Light Varmint barrel with factory brake.

Just completed shooting 4 powder OCW ladders using a 87gr Hornady VMAX bullet using; BL-C2, TAC, Benchmark and A2460 powders. These were shot at 200yds, bright sun, 50*, 5-7mph steady head wind. 75 rounds in total. All but the BL-C2 were loaded at .5gr increments while the BL was at .3gr increments.

Initial impression was that I was unimpressed with all of these. Only one close to looking as a possibility was a mid-range load with the A2460 which was a complete surprise as there is very little data with this powder. What I can say is that there was a definite POI shift with all 4. The BL-C2 and TAC WERE all high, the Benchmark was low and the A2460 showed the greatest shift from low to high within a full 2grain increase from start to max.. Haven't measured it but looks to be a full 2" shift.

So being new and unfamiliar with this gun and cartridge I don't know yet if the gun doesn't like the bullet, the weight, the powders or if this one just doesn't shoot.

[SpeyRod]

If you can try some LVR under them you will likely see decent speeds and sd’s. They are pretty good in my gasser with LVR.

[300BLK]

Did you do a break-in on that Swtichback? It took about 200 rounds before the 110T settled down.

2460 was the first powder I tried in the 110T with 85gr Speer BTs. It was less than impressive, so I tried 748 and groups shrunk immediately.

OTOH, Benchmark and 75gr VMax were the first combo tried in the Howa mini, and there is no point in trying to improve on that!

[grayfox]

One feedback I'd offer is that, for this cartridge and others with relatively smaller case volumes, doing a ladder at 0.5 gr delta's will most likely miss or obscure your nodes. Nodes generally tend to show at about 3% intervals, (sometimes also at a 1.5%), so what I recommend is a delta of slightly less than 1% volume... for the 6 Arc, this means 0.3 gr until you want to narrow it down to a 0.2 gr. But 0.3 to start with. 0.5 makes some sense for a ladder in 308-family cartridges since they are about 50 grs +/- case volume. But for the grendel and the 6 Arc, 0.3 is a better choice. A 0.1 gr interval doesn't help much, it tends to use up too many bullets, and the MV delta for a 0.1 gr powder change is small enough to be lost in your MV SD interval/uncertainties -- down in the weeds so to speak.
This way, for the 6Arc, if you do a load range of at least 1.5-2.0 grains total front to back, you are most likely to have at least 1 node show up for you.

[KMW1954]

Did you do a break-in on that Swtichback?  It took about 200 rounds before the 110T settled down. 

2460 was the first powder I tried in the 110T with 85gr Speer BTs.  It was less than impressive, so I tried 748 and groups shrunk immediately.

OTOH, Benchmark and 75gr VMax were the first combo tried in the Howa mini, and there is no point in trying to improve on that!

In this case the rifle was purchased used with an unknown round count. Was told it was about 50 but I highly doubt that.

The 87gr VMAX was last loaded with 2460 and what looked like the best of the best which was 26.5gr so I loaded in .2gr from 26.1 to 26.9.. Still not impressed and not going to try any more of the VMAX.

Also loaded a ladder of 105gr Hornady also with 2460, big improvement but still nothing to brag about.

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One feedback I'd offer is that, for this cartridge and others with relatively smaller case volumes, doing a ladder at 0.5 gr delta's will most likely miss or obscure your nodes.

These being the first ever attempt with this cartridge I wasn't so much looking to find a good load as I was looking to see which of the 4 powders I have on have would be viable to use along with this VMAX bullet.

Now after shooting a whole box of 100 these bullets look to be a bust in this rifle. Though it's not a complete bust as I now have 100+ piece of fire formed brass from this rifle.

[grayfox]

Yeah I got a box of the 87 vmax but most of them still sit on the shelf... can't say I found anything to write about for them. Might shift them over to my 243.
I also tried some 87 vld bergers, they were/are ok, especially in a shorter barrel -- sort of, but again, haven't really done a lot with them. For the "lighter" bullet scene I'm pretty much settling on the 90 gr sierra tgk, this one does enough I think that I got 2-3 boxes plus I found some 2d's on midway. So settling in on them. Lever and varget powders.