Thread: 123sst and 130 berger vld hunting in 260

I had a semi custom rifle built from a t3 a couple of years ago now the barrel is true flight ultra match 1/8.5 twist at 18 inches I have never developed a load for it just chucked something together and went shooting
So I need to give it justice and get it shooting how it should

And i am useing a standard medium length mag
Seated to mag lenth both the vld and the sst are below the shoulder vld slightly more so

Nothing can be done about that yet so will have to live with it

I was going to stick to win760 as being a ball powder it takes up a little less room in the case which will help since the bullet is taking up a fair bit also 760 gives good speed according to manuals which I need to try and keep up as much as I can in the short barrel

Dose anyone have any experience with shooting these bullets in the 260
Any advice?

Also id really like to know how you think they perform hunting
I know the Bergers are really designed as a longer range pill so how do they perform on game at 0-300m?

Mate, I've been watching the Air Arms channel on YouTube.

They were using the Berger VLD in their .260 rifles and loved the terminal performance + accuracy of the bullet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTW6...0o-0QZeEiQppvH

The whole oxwagon series is excellent!

Yeah the Oxwagon vids are pretty good eh.

I use to use the 123gr Amax in my 20" 260 using H414 (W760) I had them doing 3k from memory, i can look up my old data and let you know.

Originally Posted by GWH

Yeah the Oxwagon vids are pretty good eh.

I use to use the 123gr Amax in my 20" 260 using H414 (W760) I had them doing 3k from memory, i can look up my old data and let you know.

@GWH yeah be great if you could look up your load data id always work up anyway but handy to know what others are useing

Yeah I watch air arms sa aswell i was into pcp air rifles for awile sold my last one a few weeks ago no need for them now ��

I have done a load up with the 123sst in my 22” barrel sst. About 2850 with 44gr 2209 in lapua brass. Haven’t had a chance to try it on game yet. The 123 was designed for the 6.5 Grendel and supposed to open up at lower speeds I think

Cheers cowboy yes they are designed for the grendel according to hornady
I own a grendel aswell but only shoot 100gn bullets as I have the 260 for bigger stuff
Im useing lapua brass aswell i was useing r&p but since im going to get this thing going strong I thought id start fresh and get nice brass for it

I have loaded some test loads
Of both the 123 sst and 130 vld
Both seated so they will only just fit in the mag with like a 1mm gap just to stop them from sticking
Haven’t actually messured them yet will do before i shoot them
Useing h414 and cci large rifle mag primer and brand new lapua brass
Started a gn above minimum book load
Working up in .5 gn increments to max book load
3 rounds at each charge
Will try them and depending how pressures and accuracy look i may be able to go slightly hotter
Still plenty of room for powder

Please excuse the gore.

Mod 7 260 shitty small mag box so seated well down neck
130 vld in front of some 2209 doing 2820
Red at 190 yards

Also a couple of other threads on the 130s

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....hunting-40211/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....130-vld-37613/

@Gibo only the non hunter would call that gore
A hunter would call that perfect bullet performance
That deer wouldn’t of known what happened just dead
We never want anything to suffer if we can help it so a bullet that dose its job well is a Beautiful thing to a hunter

Originally Posted by Gibo

Please excuse the gore.

Mod 7 260 shitty small mag box so seated well down neck
130 vld in front of some 2209 doing 2820
Red at 190 yards

Attachment 83186

Is that your screen saver Gibo Go the mighty VLD. The 135gr Classic Hunter has me interested enough to try soon.

Originally Posted by Mathias

Is that your screen saver Gibo Go the mighty VLD. The 135gr Classic Hunter has me interested enough to try soon.

Ha Ha nah my screen saver is your mrs

Tested the vlds the this morning inbertween playing with my new 45/70
Powder was h414 (or winchester 760 same shit different label)
Cci large magnum primers
Min loads not all that impressive still around an inch at 100
As the loads got hotter grouping got better the best being 40.5gn one grain under the book max with a group of arround 1/2 inch maybe a little smaller need to messure which ill do tomorrow the max load of 41.5gn showed no pressure signs and was also a good shooter just a touch bigger than the best group
So im thinking I might take advantage of the hotter load and higher speed due to short barrel as it’s still a very good shooting load

The VLD projectiles traditionally prefer to be near the lands according to Berger and that was certainly the case in my .243

I'll be sending my mag off to get some attention so it can take the ELD-M projectiles.... or you can buy from mountain tactical. Either way, more mag space would be a good investment.

Def worth seating some out just to see what the potential is? If it's not working for you then no need to go any further with the mags.