[Ericbc7]

Great pic of bolt stop Dog!
Berger website recommends trying VLD's at up to .130 inches from the lands. Read that again: one hundred and thirty thousandths from the lands!  Read the VLD posts on Berger's website and follow the directions.

Jam can work well but Berger wants shooters to succeed!

Also Berger has several different kinds of bullets, the hybrids are less sensitive to seating depth.  I suggest you do more research (good start here) and see what prints best on paper.  There is no substitute for trying with your own set up.

[Ericbc7]

I don't have any experience with 7mm-08.  Hodgdon lists start load for Varget +120 gr (not sure if barns  ttsx). At 42.5 gr and max at 45 gr.  alliant shows 42 gr of reloader15 for 130 gr sp.

Google search will get you lots of loads and get you starting point.

Good luck !

[Ericbc7]

Nice shooting!

[Ericbc7]

The rail will set things higher for certain.  My Viper PST with it's 50mm objective easily clears the barrel with med rings and rail. My SWFA SS 10×42 fits with low rings plus rail.  Unless you go with a huge objective (60+ mm od objective) high rings plus rail would rarely be needed for scope clearance at least.

[Ericbc7]

There is a good video on you tube of a .204 Tikka ( I believe) shooting at 400 yds, sorry I don't have the details. 
Add me to the list of those who don't care for the slow twist that most manufactures seem to think 22-250 shooters want.  A high bc .75 or 80 gr bullet at 3,200 fps (is this in the ballpark of doable speed?) would be impressive!

Anyway, I would like to try a 20, so that gets my vote.

[Ericbc7]

I am curious who had problems with Lapua brass in a standard chamber.  I have heard of problems with the occasional tight necked custom chamber, but not in a standard one.

[Ericbc7]

Welcome Dinny!
I prefer the one piece rail Larkin mentioned, it gives you more options for mounting your optics than the two piece rail-bases.  If we were talking about a Rem style open action, I would go with the one piece to reduce action flex also, but this is not much of a concern with the T3 action.

Rings? SWFA (low cost) on low end and DNZ Freedom Reaper one piece (higher price, tall) in middle or any of the costly high end brands.  Im not personally familiar with the zee rings.

Good luck and good shooting.

[Ericbc7]

Glad to hear your on the mend!

[Ericbc7]

I love my .223 Sporter including the stock except for one thing; it is annoying to be forced to remove the cheek piece to remove the bolt!

I bought mine last summer in South Dakota for about $1,500 ($1,450 plus tax).

[Ericbc7]

I second the thanks for doing what you can!  Your rifle club buy was a great promotion (sorry I couldn't participate). 
Question on billet magazines… What do you mean? 

[Ericbc7]

Ok to be clear the varmint was 24″? And the light was about 22″?

So much thanks for the info!
I'm trying to correlate my 24″ Sporter with your Varminter.
This is good work and should be noted on every target forum!

[Ericbc7]

I use a clamp on muzzel brake on my 30-06 T3 Hunter, and it shrunk my groups a bit.  I also use the MT steel recoil lug and torque the bolts to about 35- 45 in lbs (wood stock Hunter).  This phenomenon of 2in and 1 out is not uncommon. Honestly it's hard to track down, if first shot is out then it might be tecnique if it's 3rd or 2nd shot then maybe bedding or trigger.  If cold barrel or clean barrel then first shot should be the out one.

[Ericbc7]

I hear what your saying Al, and in the scenario you presented you are quite correct.  In fact if you use one of the popular ballistic programs on your smartphone this might be neccasary.  If you have a switch barrel gun or, like I do, switch scopes between rifles and you are familiar with using micrometers or any turret-like measurers, this can save you in a match from wasting your sighting rounds.  But to be clear, Al is correct if you can dedicate one scope/gun package.  And since none of us like to do math when the big buck presents itself get to know your setup.

As to the uncertainties…I'm thinking 6 of one and 1/2 dozen of the other.  If you have a decent rangefinder then wind is the ultimate uncertainty and my advice is not going to help you there (unless your switch barrel shoots right or left of your other barrel).  I usually set my scope at 200 also when I'm hunting since I rarely have time to codgitate over settings.

To increase Al's point, when your dream buck steps out of the brush at 300 yards while you have been setting up on the nice one at 700 yards, you want to be able to crank that turret down to your zero without reading the micrometer!

[Ericbc7]

Ok so I asume you want a 6.5 bore based on a 223 cartridge face.  I don't know for sure but I bet the cost of drilling and rifling a factory barrel will be much higher than buying a new barrel and having it installed on your old action particularly if you can use your old bolt face.

[Ericbc7]

+1 on Dogs advice, the Freedom reaper from DNZ is about twice the cost plus rail that the very nice game reaper costs. Also the Freedom reaper one piece is a lot taller with the rail than the game reaper in medium or low.