Berger Bullets has improved its online stability calculator. Tests have shown that bullets can suffer from reduced BC if the bullet rpm (spin rate) is less than optimal, even if barrel twist rate is otherwise fast enough to stabilize bullets in flight. Now, the improved, free Stability Calculator can determine if you need a faster-twist barrel to enjoy the best BC from your bullets.
By Bryan Litz, Chief Ballistician forBerger Bullets
We’re happy to announce a major upgrade to our Twist Rate Stability Calculator which is free to use on the Berger Bullets webpage. The old stability calculator was pretty basic, and would simply return a gyroscopic stability number based on your bullet, twist rate, and atmospheric conditions. This was used to determine if your barrels twist rate was fast enough to stabilize a particular bullet or not, based on the Gyroscopic Stability Factor (SG) being greater than 1.4.
Stability and BC — How Bullet RPM Affects Ballistic Coefficients
The new calculator still calculates SG, but also goes much further. In addition to calculating stability, the upgraded calculator can also tell you if your stability level is harming the effective BC of your bullets or not. Extensive testing has proven that bullets fired with stability levels between 1.2 and 1.5 can fly with excellent precision (good groups), but suffer from a depressed BC, sometimes as much as 10%. Shooting the bullets from faster twist rate barrels allows for the bullets to fly better and realize their full BC potential.
Bryan Litz shot his first F-TR match recently, and he came up a winner — a big winner. Competing at the Midwest Palma event, Bryan topped the F-TR field, winning by 15 points. In fact Bryan ended up finishing within 10 points of F-Open winner Alex Lipworth. In the 20-shot, 1000-yard matches, Bryan averaged an impressive 195-7X, with a stunning 196-11X score in one match. (Consider that the 1000-yard X-Ring is just five inches in diameter!) Not bad for Bryan’s first attempt at the F-TR game.
We all know Bryan has serious long-range shooting skills. But he also had a secret weapon — a wickedly accurate, wood/carbon-stocked, low-profile F-TR rifle built by John Pierce. With this Pierce rifle, Bryan had to abandon the hard-holding style he uses in sling-shooting competition. Instead he adopted a “less is more”, almost-free-recoil method — and it worked. Is this the future of F-TR? Read on and learn what Bryan has to say about F-TR shooting, “belly benchrest” style.
Sling Shooter Tries F-TR
by Bryan Litz
I’ve been coaching the Michigan F-TR team for a while and finally decided to participate in the competition. F-TR is more rifle-centric than Palma, meaning the precision demands are greater due to the smaller scoring rings. After seeing Eric Stecker’s results with his Pierce rifle at the 2014 Berger Southwest Nationals, I asked my good friend and Michigan team-mate John Pierce to “build me one like Eric’s”. This is the same basic set up as John’s own F-TR rifle as well. It’s a Pierce F-TR action with a 30″ long, 1:9″ twist Bartlein Barrel chambered for the Berger 215gr Hybrids. The barreled action is bedded into a light-weight, BR-style stock built by Bob Scoville. A Phoenix bipod underneath and a Nightforce 15-55X Competition scope complete the package.
Click Image to Zoom
Loading the .308 Winchester with Berger 215gr Hybrids
I received the rifle just one week before the Midwest Palma match. During that week prior to the match, I put over 700 rounds on the rifle. I did some load development but was mostly learning to shoot a new rifle in a new discipline. I settled on 215gr Berger Hybrids seated 0.015″ off the riflings over a stout charge of Varget in Lapua Palma (small primer) brass with CCI BR4 primers. The only brass prep was mandreling the necks of the new brass for consistent neck tension. Bullets were slightly pointed, but nothing was segregated by weight, base-to-ogive, or anything. All the ammo I shot in Lodi was loaded in brand-new Lapua brass.
Check Out Bryan’s Set-up with the Rifle (Click Photo to Zoom)
Learning the F-TR Game — Adapting to a New Shooting Style
Coming over from sling shooting, I knew there would be unique challenges to F-TR which I wanted to learn prior to (not during) a major tournament. I learned a new shooting position which doesn’t involve drawing the right knee up. For F-TR I get more straight behind the gun rather than at an angle. I found that the rifle shoots best with very light cheek, shoulder and grip pressure, approaching free recoil. This is how Eric Stecker shot his similar rifle into second place in the SW Nationals. I learned the rifle’s sensitivity to different bipod and rear bag supports, and found the best buttplate position to allow the rifle to track and stay on target after recoil. This set-up shot best with a mostly free-recoil approach, that means “hovering” over the comb, rather than resting your head on the stock. This took some “getting used to” in terms of neck and back muscle tone. These are the kind of details I think it’s important to focus on when entering a new dicipline.
“I love the way this Pierce F-TR rifle flings brass, and wins tournaments. None of my sling guns ever had an ejector. With this rig, it’s become one of my favorite things to eject the brass and just let it fly!”
I think many shooters consider themselves ‘ready for a match’ the first time the rifle shows them a couple 1/3 or 1/4 MOA 5-shot groups from a bench at 100 yards. While making the rifle shoot precisely is certainly a prerequisite for successful match shooting, it’s certainly not the whole story. So as soon as I got the load and rifle shooting 1/2 MOA from the bench, I proceeded to shoot many 10- and 20-shot strings from the ground at 300 and 1000 yards. I shot more than 500 rounds this way, studying the rifles character, and learning to shoot it. It’s amazing how much the precision (grouping) is affected by subtle variables in the set-up, especially when shooting heavy bullets. I truly believe that many F-TR rifles are hindered in their precision potential by something in the way they are set up and shot.
Advice on Shooting the Heavy Bullets in a .308 Win
I believe F-TR set-ups are way more forgiving with light- to medium-weight bullets (155 to 185 grains). By this I mean that it’s easier to shoot good groups with a variety of bipods, rear bags, etc. But as you get into the 200 – 215 grain bullet weights, the precision of the rifle (i.e. group size) becomes very sensitive to set-up and shot execution. I was able to find a good set-up which let the rifle shoot very well on a variety of surfaces (hard gravel, soft grass, sand, etc.). In Lodi, the rifle shot well all week.
Having done so much preparation and training with the rifle the week prior to the match, I felt very prepared and confident. The results were actually better than expected. There were no problems at all with equipment, and I just shot the rifle the way it liked to be shot. In the end, I won the F-TR Division. I can say there were many shooters interested in the Pierce rifle!
Impressive Performance
Bryan observes that this rifle held 1/2 MOA of vertical at 1000 yards for 17 out of 20 shots. That’s impressive accuracy. Bryan was in first place each day of the match, including the 3×1000 on Friday where he averaged over 195-7X. Remarkably, Bryan finished just 10 points behind the F-Open winner, with the next closest F-TR competitor 15 points behind Bryan. In fact, with his .308 Win, Bryan out-scored 75% of the F-Open shooters. CLICK for match results.
Bryan gave credit to his smiths and his team-mates: “I’d like to thank John Pierce for building a great F-TR rifle and thank my dad, Bill Litz, for loading the best ammo on the planet. Finally, I’d like to thank the Michigan F-TR team for helping me learn how to shoot F-TR.”
Bryan writes: “Here I am with ‘The Man’, John Pierce, and the epic F-TR rifle he built for me. This thing shoots ‘No S***’ 1/2 MOA Vertical at 1000 yards.”
Ten shots… 1000 yards … 2.6872″. Think about that. Ten shots you could cover up with a coffee cup. That’s some amazing shooting. Is this a world record? Consider this — we believe this is the smallest 10-shot group ever shot at 1000 yards in any form of rifle competition, by anyone, anywhere, anytime. It is smaller than the existing Williamsport Light Gun and Heavy Gun 1K records. The IBS and NBRSA do not shoot 10 rounds for Light Gun, but this 2.6872″ group is smaller than the current IBS (3.044″) and NBRSA (4.322″) ten-shot HEAVY GUN records.
This amazing group was shot by Jim Richards at the Deep Creek Range outside Missoula, Montana during the 4th Light Gun Relay of a 1000-yard match. Jim was shooting the small 6mm Dasher cartridge with 105gr Berger bullets. Fellow Deep Creek Shooter Tom Mousel says this should be a new world record. The Deep Creek Range shoots under Williamsport rules, with ten shots for Light Gun. The current Williamsport Light Gun record (as listed) is 3.835″ by Cody Finch in 2006, but we’re told that Paul Martinez shot a 3.505″ at Williamsport last year. If approved at 2.6872″, Jim Richards’ new record is 23% smaller than the 3.505″ previous record. That’s remarkable — Jim Richards utterly demolished the previous mark. (As measured, Jim’s group is also smaller than the current Williamsport Heavy Gun record, 2.815″ by Matt Kline in 2010.)
The Record-setting rifle features a Borden action, Shehane ST 1000 fiberglass stock, and Nightforce Benchrest scope. The Krieger barrel was chambered by King Machine for the 6mm Dasher, with a 0.269″ neck and 0.103″ freebore. Jim Richards was running Berger 105gr Hybrid bullets.
The rifle was purchased used from Tim Claunch. We suspect Tim wishes he had not parted with it! Any gun that can put ten shots under three inches at 1000 yards is a “keeper”, that’s for sure.
Forum member Wayne B. says: “I am really happy for Jim. He has asked 1000 questions, slept in his pickup, upgraded his equipment, bought a rifle from another friend of mine and now he is a world record-holder. The men and women who shoot at Deep Creek in Missoula Montana are the best group of shooters in the world bar none! They will give you all the info you need to win and if you don’t have what you need they will loan it to ya, up to and including a rifle and ammo.”
The wind gods smiled on the shooters at the Berger Southwest Nationals on Thursday. For most of the day, the wind flags were hanging straight down or barely moving. Many shooters managed to go through the 800-yard stage without dropping a point. Conditions got tougher for the 900-yard and 1000-yard stages but it was still a day of low winds and high scores.
Team Grizzly made the most of the good conditions in the F-Open Division. Coached by Trudie Fay, and anchored by 2013 World Champion Kenny Adams, the four-person team shot brilliantly, scoring 1786 with 104 Xs. That beats the existing 800/900/1000 Palma course National record by five (5) points and ten Xs. The previous record, 1781-94X, was set by Team Berger in 2008.
During the match we had a chance to chat with Shiraz Balolia as he was getting his .300 WSM ready for the 1000-yard stage. Since stepping down as the captain of the USA F-Open Team, Shiraz had told us that he planned to shift his priorities, and devote more time to non-shooting activities. But here he was, back in the thick of competition. Shiraz smiled and said “You’re right, I was planning to get away from shooting a bit. But I just couldn’t miss this match … I guess I have the bug”. When a man’s this good at long-range shooting, you can’t keep him away from the firing line for long. Shiraz serves as Captain of Team Grizzly.
The Berger Southwest Nationals (SWN) have kicked off at the Ben Avery Range in Phoenix, Arizona. Overall attendance has been impressive for this important shooting event. Approximately 275 shooters have registered. On Wednesday (February 5th) roughly 200 shooters competed in a 600-yard Mid-Range event, with three 20-shot matches. The wind clinic on Tuesday the 4th was also well-attended with 130 or so participants.
In addition to the rifle competition (continuing through Sunday), there will be other fun events. On Friday, after the 1000-yard match, there will be a SWAP meet.On Saturday, there will be a Banquet dinner at the Ben Avery Indoor Range.
The Mid-Range match was tightly fought. We don’t have official results yet, but we’re told that Jim Murphy was at the top in F-TR, followed by Lige Harris, Gerry Wiens, Grant Ubl, and Eric Stecker.
Next up is a 4-person Team match (800, 900, 1000 yards) starting bright and early on Thursday. AccurateShooter.com will be reporting directly from the match. Watch the Daily Bulletin for photos from the match and interviews with the shooters.
To learn more about the Berger Southwest Nationals, watch this video featuring footage from the 2013 event. Helpful interviews with last year’s competitors provide useful insights into conditions at Ben Avery. One regular shooter at Ben Avery told us: “On a typical day, when the wind builds it is pretty gradual and progressive. But when it starts to die, it can drop off quickly, with a pretty big change from shot to shot.”
Watch Berger SW Nationals Preview Video
Berger SWN Events Schedule (Thursday – Sunday)
The remaining action starts at 9:00 am each morning, Thursday through Sunday.
Thursday, 6 February 2014, 9:00 AM 4-Man Palma Team Match: 15 shots for record at 800, 900 and 1000 yards.
(Divisions – Palma, F-Open, F-TR)
Practice available to those not shooting with a team.
Friday, 7 February 2014, 9:00 AM – Start of Grand Agg Individual Palma Match: 15 shots for record at 800, 900 and 1000 yards.
(Divisions – Palma, F-Open, F-TR)
Swap Meet – after conclusion of fire at 1000-yard line.
Saturday, 8 February 2014, 9:00 AM Individual 1000 Yard Matches: Two 20-shot matches at 1000 yards. Any Rifle-Iron Sight (Any sight for F-Class shooters). (Divisions – Palma, Any Rifle-Iron Sight, F-Open, F-TR) 4 Man Team Match: 20 shots at 1000 yards. Any Rifle-Iron Sight (Any sight for F-Class shooters). (Divisions – Palma, Any Rifle-Iron Sight, F-Open, F-TR
Sunday, 9 February 2014, 9:00 AM Individual 1000 Yard Matches: Two 20 shots matches at 1000 yards. Any Rifle-Any Sight (Any sight for F-Class shooters). (Divisions – Palma, Any Rifle-Any Sight, F-Open, F-TR)
With the Berger Southwest Nationals kicking off February 4, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona, we thought our readers might enjoy a very interesting interview with the top decision-makers at Berger Bullets, namely company founder Walt Berger, plus Eric Stecker, Berger’s Executive Vice President.
This interview covers a wide range of topics in seven (7) separate segments. We’ve embedded the first two interview sections in this article, with links for the other five below.
Sinclair Int’l has released a 7-part series of video interviews with Walt Berger (founder of Berger Bullets) and Eric Stecker (Berger’s Exec. VP and Master Bulletsmith). The series is hosted by Bill Gravatt (who was Sinclair’s President at the time the interview was filmed). You can watch Parts 1 and 2 of the interview here, and we’ve provided links to the remaining Parts 3 through 7. All seven interview segments offer interesting material. Part 6 mentions the Berger Reloading Manual (many years in the making). Part 7, over 13 minutes long, contains interesting discussions of bullet testing and the hunting performance of Berger VLDs.
NOTE: You can view this entire video series (and many other videos) on Sinclair’s YouTube Channel Page.
The Berger Southwest Nationals, one of the biggest shooting events west of the Mississippi, kicks off next week at the Ben Avery Range near Phoenix, Arizona. The event begins with a Shooting Clinic on Tuesday, February 4, and concludes with 1000-yard Matches on Sunday the 9th. The host Desert Sharpshooters Club, and the staff at Berger Bullets, are working very hard to make this the best SW Nationals ever. And if you are interested, there is still time to register. Berger tells us: “It’s not too late to sign up for the 2014 Southwest Nationals! The match runs from Feb. 4-9 at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility. We have a great schedule and prizes.” The weather will be good (it was 74° in Phoenix yesterday), and there will be thousands of dollars of gear on the Prize Table. If you want to join the fun, download the entry form below, and, as soon as you can, send an email to michelle.gallagher [at] bergerbullets.com.
The Berger Southwest Long Range Nationals are held every February at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility just north of Phoenix, Arizona. Berger has partnered with the Desert Sharpshooters Rifle Club and the Arizona Game and Fish Department, resulting in a “must attend” event for long range shooters around the world.
Ben Avery is a truly world-class facility, with 98 firing points, carefully maintained firing lines and plenty of wind flags. As the match sponsor, Berger provides the “extras” – ice chests full of drinks on the firing line, a banquet on Saturday night and awards to the winners, including over $3,500 in cash prizes and over 30,000 bullets in awards.
Berger’s customers said “Make more bullets!”, and the company listened. Over the next few months Berger will more than double its capacity, by adding SIX new bullet-making machines, up from five at the beginning of 2013. You can do the math: 5 + 6 = 11. That means that Berger will have more than twice as many machines turning out bullets for the yellow and orange boxes. Bringing six new machines online represents a major commitment by Berger to increased production. This has been the “number one priority” for the company according to Berger ballistician Bryan Litz.
Bryan explained that Berger has already increased its output in recent months. In 2013 Berger produced 45% more bullets than in 2012. That’s a big boost. But, Bryan added, even with that 45% greater output, demand was out-stripping supply. So Berger determined the best long-term solution was to increase production capacity… and that meant acquiring new bullet-making machines. So 2014 will mark the “Rise of the Machines” at Berger, and that’s good news for fans of Berger Bullets. Within a few months you should see much greater availability of Berger bullets at gun stores and online vendors.
Bryan Litz Explains That Berger is Doubling Production Capacity This Year (SHOT Show Report)
Unlike Cracker Jack, there’s not a “prize in every box”. But you just might find a little something special in one of your yellow (or orange) boxes of Berger Bullets. That’s right, Berger Bullets has included some Free Bullets Coupons in randomly selected boxes of bullets. You might be a lucky fellow and score some free bullets. Forum member Ron B (aka “Snakepit”), found a nice surprise recently in a box of Berger 6mm 105gr Hybrids:
“I just opened up a new box of Berger Bullets and inside was a yellow tag that said ‘~WINNER~ You have won FREE Berger Bullets’. I called the number on the tag and gave them the Validation Code. The representative said I’d won three (3) boxes of the Berger Bullets of my choice. He said I had one of the best coupons Berger put in the boxes at random. So I now have three, 100-ct boxes of 6mm 105gr Hybrid Target Bullets coming to me from Berger’s next production run. Thank You Berger!”
Praise for Berger Bullets Prize Promotion
Forum member AndyT likes the Prize Program: “Nice to hear that some reloading companies are thinking of the civilian shooters. Well done Berger — keep it up and nice one to the winners.”
Fellow Forum member agr516 agrees: “Good to see a company who has all the demand in the world to sell their products think enough of their customers to give them something back to show their appreciation. Well done, Berger!”
As a member of the World Champion Team USA F/TR squad, Paul Phillips regularly competes (and wins) at 1000 yards. Paul is also a long-range hunter. Here’s his story about developing his ultimate long-range hunting rifle. Chambered for the .338 Lapua Magnum, this rig is accurate out to 1800 yards.
The Long-Range ChallengeBy Paul Phillips
Being an avid big game rifle hunter, my goal was to build the most accurate long-range hunting rifle possible that would still be light enough to carry. My thought was to use the same type of high-quality components as what I used on my US F/TR Team Rifle, except in a bigger caliber — a caliber that would have plenty of knock-down power at very long ranges. After extensive research, including both ballistic data analysis, as well as discussion with top gunsmiths and champion long-range shooters, I chose the .338 Lapua Magnum. My past experience from being a member of a USMC Scout Sniper Platoon and a shooting member of two World Champion U.S. F-Class F/TR teams, I knew that this rifle was more than capable of performing the task. After establishing that the rifle had half-MOA accuracy at 600 yards, we wanted to see how far the rifle could maintain sub-MOA accuracy, to see what the cartridge and rifle could achieve. Could this gun shoot sub-MOA at a mile? That was our challenge.
Rifle Components and Gunsmithing
My rifle was built on a Stiller Tac-338 single-shot action. It has a 30″, 1:10″-twist Brux barrel, a McMillan A-5 stock with Magnum fill, a Sinclair Bipod, and a Remington X-Mark trigger set at two pounds. The rifle wears a Nightforce NXS 8-32x56mm scope in Nightforce rings on a +40 MOA rail. I chose David Tooley to install the barrel, custom brake, apply a Cerakote dark earth finish and bed the stock. After speaking with Mr. Tooley in great length, I chose his no-neck-turn match .338 Lapua chamber specifically designed for the 300 grain Berger Bullet. This rifle weighs 17 pounds and, with the muzzle brake, it recoils like a standard .308 Winchester.
Load Development and Accuracy Testing
I used the 600-yard range at the Midland County Sportsman’s Club. If I was going to have any chance of hitting small targets at a mile, I would need to find a load that could produce half-minute (0.5 MOA) or better accuracy. I found an accurate load that gave me consistent half-minute groups that chronographed at 2825 FPS. My load consisted of Lapua brass, Federal 215M Primer, Alliant Reloder 25, and Berger 300gr Hybrid OTM bullet. With the Berger 300-grainer’s listed 0.419 G7 BC, this load would be good enough to reach 1880 yards before going subsonic. This load’s calculated energy at one mile is 960 ft/pounds. This is similar to a .44 magnum pistol round at point-blank range.
With my +40 MOA scope rail, my 100-yard zero ended up with the elevation at the bottom of the tube and the windage just 2 MOA left of center. This left a full 65 Minutes of Elevation — enough to get out to 1800 yards. This gave me the capability to aim and shoot from 100 yards to 1800 yards with a projectile that is still supersonic at 1800.
Hitting a 10″ Balloon at One Mile
For a one-mile target, I chose a balloon inflated to 10″ in diameter. The balloon would be a challenging, reactive target that would show up well on video. I teamed up with a fellow long-range shooter, John Droelle and friend Justin Fargo to attempt this feat. Using my known 600-yard Zero, my ballistics program showed my come-up for 1783 yards to be 53 MOA. After two sighters that measured 4 inches apart, I adjusted up one minute from my spotter shot and nailed my 10″ balloon at one mile. This video was recorded with my iPhone attached to my 25-power Kowa spotting scope, so it may seem a lot closer than it really is. Below is a video of the shot. Needless to say I achieved my goal and was very excited.
Watch Hit on 10″-Diameter Balloon at One Mile with .338 Lapua Magnum
After my balloon shot, I let my friend Justin Fargo, a novice shooter, try his skills. Justin told me that he had never shot past 100 yards using a common deer rifle. Surprisingly, Justin not only kept all his shots under 1 MOA, he hit the 9-inch white circle in the middle of the target. This bullet hole measured only 4.3 inches from the center of where he was aiming. Truly amazing! The target below shows Justin’s shots at one mile. Note that All the hits are located within the 24-inch black circle.
What I Learned — With the Right Equipment, Even a Novice Can Make Hits at a Mile
The above results demonstrate that even a novice shooter with a high-quality, custom rifle and match-grade ammo can make extreme long range shots with great accuracy. It is very important to understand the ballistics of the bullet and the effect of wind drift to make precision, first-shot hits on your target. It is also important that you know your target, backstop and beyond when making these shots. To date, I have shot approximately 40 shots at a mile in calm conditions while averaging 3-shot groups between ½ to 1 MOA (1 MOA is about 18.5″ at that distance). My next experiment is to see how well these bullets perform traveling at subsonic speeds out to 1.5 – 2 miles. Stay tuned!
Special thanks to the following people that helped out with this project: Geoff Esterline, David Tooley, Dick Davis, John Droelle, Ray Gross and Bryan Litz.
Editor’s Comment: The point of this article is to show the kind of accuracy a precision rifle system can achieve, consistently, at extreme long range. Though this rifle will do duty as a hunting arm, Phillips is not advocating that a .338 LM be used to harvest animals at the full limit of its supersonic range. Because winds are hard to predict at extreme long range in a hunting situation, Phillips cautions that the practical distance at which he would shoot game with a rig like this is much, much shorter.
The Berger Southwest Long Range Nationals are held every February at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility just north of Phoenix, Arizona. Berger has partnered with the Desert Sharpshooters Rifle Club and the Arizona Game and Fish Department, resulting in a “must attend” event for long range shooters around the world.
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