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Only that you might have a hard time getting the longer/heavier bullets in there like 115 dtac. Otherwise you’re good to go. My latest barrel was apparently NOT cut with an Alpha reamer and now need to go through and small base size all my alpha brass
A .120 versus .170 freebore will just limit how much you can jump, with heavier 109+ bullets you’ll be lucky if you can go as much as 20 thou off, chances are you’ll have to go more like 10 thou off… that said, it’s not a huge deal.
BC is a function of velocity. If you look at Hornady they quote different values for different velocities hence the question. 2,800 sounds sufficient though.
I don't have a choice at this point in time. Maybe on the next barrel.
That’s the great thing about the DTACS , you don’t have to push them hard. Last years barrel I ran them at 2775fps with a trued BC of .310 . Shot them in matches out to 1300. This years barrel Im shooting them at 2815fps with a trued BC of .313. Don’t know if it’s just them or that I’m using Proof 1-7 blanks but they both shoot the smallest groups at 500 and 1000 than any other bullet barrel combo. My new barrel has a .185 freebore.
You’ll have more wind change with 108’s than you will 115 DTACS. I’m finishing out an old barrel right now using 108 BT’s and there’s definitely a difference between the two.
DTACs weren't part of my analysis (at the time, they were seemingly less available than berger 109s) - but to do apples to apples - what's the spread between W1 and W2 on your Kestrel, there?
Wind 6mph and 10mph
I ran my numbers at 90 degrees (vs 52) - which should pull you down to about a 2mph change crossing .5 mil with the 108.. and I'd guess about 3mph with the DTAC (same as A-Tip). Don't have my Kestrel in front of me to do it myself, but looks like that'd line up. But at 1000, you've got what, 550 ft/lbs retained energy? Maybe more? After shooting these 108s for a while, that's actually a bit more significant for me than the wind difference at 1000 yards.
OMG I'm so glad I found this!! Thank you for posting this solution. I'm getting ready to go from barrel #2 to barrel #3 and I COULD NOT get my brass to freely chamber in #3. Thought I was going to have to scrap almost 400 pieces of 4x fired Alpha.
looks good got lapua brass on back order & ordering a barrel fro krieger already got rifle just going to switch barrels
Or just buy a RCBS matchmaster fl bushing die. It sizes tight as hell. My original 700x pcs 6gt ocd from 4 years ago, has idk, 8-10 firings on it. Several barrels now. I don't run hot, 2850-2950 with 109-115gr bullets in 28" barrels with H4350. They still come out the die @ 470-47025 using my micrometer. Never had a clicker cept when I sized one rotation with a BC Micron die that I bought on here. The RCBS sized the web down almost 001 smaller than the spendy BC die. Sold it very shortly after, ran all that brass through the RCBS, clickers gone.......
For sure I would have resized everything with a RCBS Matchmaster before tossing the brass.
Good to know as that's exactly what I've ordered. How many rounds are your barrels lasting? I'm looking at running the same bullets/speed/barrel length as you.
I pull em at 2500. Running a cool powder is important. H4350 VS varget or rl16 makes a difference. My first I ran rl16 at 2950mv, 1800 rounds and fire cracking was so bad it'd tear up jackets and down range performance suffered. Still shot pretty well inside 400y. But the BC was all over from bullet damage. It coppered like a mofo too. My hawkhill barrels have been great. Glad I still have 6 more blanks on the shelf.
Yes, the challenge is going to be finding something equivalent to H4350 as we can't get that anymore here. N150 might be close.
The gun ran great.
You have another 3-4gr powder cap over the br variants that you're speaking of. So why not run a dtac or 112mb at the same velocity those guys are running 105s? Been running the 115s 2820/2880 in 26-30" tubes with 35.6-36.0 H4350. It works very well. My favorite is my 65cm with 153.5 Bergers at 2620-2630fps.
I recognize Litz's point about BC consistency with the 105 hybrids.
I mean, those guys shooting a 105s in a dasher at 2850 could run 110 atips at 2730 and have same wind holds. All these rifles do the same thing, some have more recoil, more energy on target, some less. There's so many ways a guy can play this game.
Again it sounds good in theory, but when you shoot the matchburners at distance (on paper) against the bergers, you’ll understand why the berger is the better option. At least that was my experience with the 112MB and 110SMK.
I am keeping my eyes open for some N555 too but everything is sold out here at the moment. I'm aiming for midrange F-Class targets so I don't have some of the same issues the PRS guys have with recoil or splash. I want reduced wind drift most of all to keep me competitive with with the 6BR and 6.5CM people I shoot with
Are you saying specifically compared against Berger 105gr Hybrids or Berger in general? Like for example, what about the Berger 115gr VLDs or the new Berger 109gr Hybrids?
I’ve only used 105 & 109 Hybrids. I’ve read the VLDS are seating depth sensitive and I know the hybrids are not. Throat will erode 0.010 over the course of a 2-day match and tuneup, so I have no desire to shoot a bullet that is finicky about seating depth.
I can agree with this 100%. Even a 5% bc es spread isn't going to be noticeable on a target. Take a 112 MB for example, I've used them with a 308g7 to 1200y. Anyways, run a ballistics chart at 301g7, and another at 315g7. Difference is not even a tenth/elevation till you get to 1k yards. Now the 112s I had from 4-5 years ago, were junk. Huge bto variation, weights were all over, and the pressure rings were of different diameters. I only use those to season a new barrels first 100-150 rounds. However the last 2500 I bought this spring, have been very consistent. Sierra 107s are as consistent dimensionally as any Berger within the same lot. There is noticeable changes lot to lot, but my Berger 156s from last fall, have a base to ogive 0.030 longer than the ones I acquired 4 years ago, 30 thou is a huge fn difference. I've shot a lot of 109s, 140s, 154s, and there is always variation from lot to lot, all the newer from last 2 years seem to have longer bearing surfaces than my older lots.
The 108eld-m (and I assume 109s) are straight murder seeds on whitetail.
We will be finding out this year about the 109 eld’s.
Myself as well. I have 109eld at 3080 from a 22" barrel, shoots really well, 112 Barnes at 3050 same rifle, shoots equally as well. I'll be testing these two bullets on lots of game this fall. Had great luck with the 108 elite hunter last year at 3050mv from 400-730y.
Assuming this a 6GT, what powder are you using to obtain those velocities from a 22” barrel.
These are 6cm velocity. I do have a 112mb load for my 24" 6gt running H4350. Shoots really well at 2910. Bout 0.7gr below pressure signs.
