Precition 308 rounds - Berger 168gr Hybrids

[Klve]

Hello everyone. I need some help with my first precition 308 rounds.
I'm new to the forum as well as reloading, so any help will be much appreciated.

Although this are my first rounds, I've always been interested in reloading and I've been reading a lot lately but there's still a lot to learn.
I'm going to be reloading for my Tikka Roughtech in 308, with a 22" Barrel, with some Federal fireformed brass, Berger 168 Hybrid Target bullets, Vihtavouri N550 and CCI Large Rifle Primers n200. I've to get things clear here, I'm not in the best country when it comes to reloading so there is no much room to try other components, what you see here is what I'm stuck with and my goal is to get as much precition as I can with what I have. Being able to shoot somewhat constantly at 1000yds is my primary objective.

1- The CBTO lenght to the lands came out at 2.280" when measured with the Hornady tool using these same pills, so here comes the first question: with how much jump should I start with?
I was thinking that .030 or .020 off the lands would be a good base line in order to find a good charge weight, and go from there. If later on I feel like my groups may improove I always have the possibility to play the lenght slightly. What do you think? Has anyone had previous experience with this bullet regarding seating depth?
I also attach a few pictures of the bullet loaded into the case at max CBTO lenght (touching the lands) because I'm worried about not having enought meat to preperly grab the bullet (keep in mind I'm considering seat it about .030" or so further in)
Note: I'm not worried about mag lenght since I can always find a 30-06 mag and drop a long action bolt stop or even a 6.5CM mag wich wouldn't require a bolt stop swap.

2- Regarding charge weight, I'll work with a ladder test (maybe 15 rounds with 0.2gr increments starting from 43.0 up to 46.0?)
I've no access to reloading books at leat for now so if someone is kind enough to share loading data from something like Berger Reloading Manual or any other source that would be great, since the only info I've been able to get online about this powder and bullet was Vihtavouri's web page, and I'd like to see other comparatives.

Lastly, my plan is to have an all year round load wich I understand is not the easiest thing to do with this powder considering how temp. sensitive it is. Temperatures here may vary from 5°C (40F) up to 35°C (95F) so maybe doing my tests with middle ground temperatures is the best idea.

I'll keep you updated when I try my loads and we go from there . Thanks in advance

 

[AJC1]

There are many ways to play the oal game, and I use two different methods. I run powder tests in 308 at 2.800 or .20 off touch or one caliber of bullet seated. I've not used that bullet so I don't know if it's jump tolerant or sensitive, but if this is your first ever set just going with 2.800 will probably work just as easy as any other.
One cannot change how sensitive a powder is to temperature so if you run a good test resulting in several nodes picking one lower than max sure helps prevent over pressure. If you are in the target crowd very long you will see many loads over book max. The higher the mv the shorter the flight time and effect of wind.

 

[Charlie98]

Plugging the numbers quickly into QuickLoad, it looks like you are going to run out of room for powder before you get into serious pressure trouble... VV N550 is quite slow.

Like John says... I would start at 2.800" or 2.810" and go from there.

I understand what you are saying about using what you can get... but is VV N550 the best powder you can get?