|
|
Post by Cwi555 on May 9, 2013 14:43:06 GMT -7
Hmmm Those golden sabre's and silver tips are inspiring...
|
|
|
|
Post by Nicodemus on May 11, 2013 3:59:50 GMT -7
Sorry but I can't leave this alone, I really like reloading and the satisfaction I get when it all comes together and it is great. Part of the load is also the setting of the bullet, how far does the bullet push into the brass, does it compress the powder, does the bullet touch the lands and groves in the bore? So many different combinations of many things that make a difference with the load. Yes, the satisfaction is GREAT when it all comes together! I remember the first time I found the SWEET SPOT where the load matches the harmonics of the barrel. I had loaded up 5 cartridges, chambered the first round and fired. Chambered second round and fired. What the heck, I'm only seeing one bullet hole! Chambered the third round and fired. Still seeing only one bullet hole on the target! Chambered the fourth round and moved point of aim two inches right and fired. Now I'm seeing two bullet holes. Got up off the bench and walked down 100 yds. to the target, examined it, and sure enough the first three shots were in the same hole. Yes, satisfaction indeed!  |
|
|
|
Post by woodyz on May 11, 2013 7:09:28 GMT -7
I can't do it any more, but I used to love it when I would take an ace of spades playing card and put it up with the other 100 yard targets and other shooters would ask if I was going to use that card as my target. I would say no I was going to use the spade as my target, and then be able to put five rounds into the black and not cut any white. My load is still capable, my rifle is still capable, it is my body that has failed me. |
|
|
|
Post by thedude74 on Apr 22, 2020 2:30:01 GMT -7
You guys might find this interesting. This winter and spring I've been working up loads for different rifles now that I'm in the remote(semi remote?) Wilderness. Have a hundred yard range on the property and could extended it several hundred if it wasn't for all the spruce, Birch and alders...freeking alders.
Anyway worked up loads for 308, 45-70, 300 wsm, 338 rum and 375 Ruger. Using a chronograph and three shot groups worked up accurate loads for all them. The least accurate is the 375 Ruger with 3 shots just a hair over an inch @ 100 yards with reloader 17 and Barnes 270 tsx @2795 fps. The rifle weighs just under 7.5 lbs with scope. As one can imagine it's pretty punishing to shoot from the bench. Good enough for moose and bear though.
I had (yes, had) three loads that shot sub moa out of the 300 wsm. 150 nosler ballistic tip with magpro, Hornady 165 SST with h4350 and 180 hornady interlock with reloader 19.
The 300 wsm is a 700 ss in a Bell and Carlson Alaskan Ti stock that I purchased and glass bedded. Scoped it's right at 7 1/2 lbs.
Decided to cut an inch off the 24" barrel and recrown it. An ounce lighter a little more compact good trade off for the 35 fps lost....so I thought.
After glass bedding and experimenting free float vs full bedding vs several pounds of forend to barrel pressure on a few different rifles....you'd think I was smarter than to grab a hacksaw and 11 degree crown cutter while ignoring potential changes in barrel harmonics.
As is turns out I'm not. Lol.
So here's where it gets amusing. The 165 SST that shot 3/4" groups now looked like a shotgun pattern. The 180 grain loads opened up to three inches. No, not good. Didnt even try the 150 loads as I was feeling sick to my stomach after ruining a good thing. Went through several powders, several bullet weights, Barnes, Hornady, nosler....
Finally got the 180 Hornady interlock shooting about 1.25"-1.5" groups with reloader 19....
Thought ok. Dial it in a bit with seating depth, primer, tenth of a grain more or less powder and should be under an inch again.
Oh, but it gets better. Finally got it to shoot .9" and used up the last bit of reloader 19 in the can....switch to a new lot/ can of reloader19 and lost 70 fps and accuracy was back to 3" groups!!
Dang it!!!! Before I could get the velocity/accuracy back up to to the sweet spot at about 2970 fps started seeing pressure signs(slight bolt drag).
Crap. Start all over.
Burned up almost three boxes of Barnes 165 tax, 168 ttsx and 175 lrx...all loads initially seated .050" off the lands. Rl 17, 19, h-4350, magpro and imr4831....nada. nothing under three inch groups...some bullets missing a 10" target all together.
Switched back to H4350 (fresh 1lb can)with the 180 interlocks after several flew over the screen of the chronograph I loaded up three...etc etc. Now getting about 1.5" groups.
For the heck of it I dropped back one grain of powder and used a 180 grain Trophy Bonded Tip. Chronograph 3003 fps. No pressure signs. First three shot group .9"...next three shot group .6"
Loaded up the remaining bullets(about 65), zeroed the scope dead on at 225 yards...and quit messing with it.
Very happy with the tough trophy bonded bullets. Heck a 180 grain @3000 fps is what a 300 win mag is all about. Really doesn't do anything a 30-06 won't do just does it a bit further out.
So it seams the ounce less and 1" less barrel cost about 30 fps....and $200 in, bullets, primers and powder.
|
|
|
|
Post by woodyz on Jun 4, 2020 16:08:40 GMT -7
I remember spending a whole summer loading 5 shots at a time to find that sweet spot between the load, the rifle, and me on my .243, back in the 80's. The guy who got me to buy the rifle had me just keep trying, he knew it was there, I just had to find it. Then when I did it was such a feeling that I didn't even need to shoot the 5 shots to know I had found it, the first shot felt like I was just breathing the bullet into the hole, no effort at all to hit that same spot, over and over again. I still use the same load combination, BTHP (boattail hollow point). Everytime I seated a round I could feel the lands/groves biting into the bullet before I would send it traveling at just under 3000 feet per second From a 1971 26" Remington model 700 with a Weaver K6 scope I put on it in 1986. Everyone would tell me how my load was too small for the deer/moose/elk/hog I was hunting, but everytime I put that bullet into their big brown eye, they would fall over dead. It was never about knockdown power and always about shot placement. My load was to place my shot, not to kill the target. I shot the same rifle with the same scope just the other day and it still does better than I do. I still hit the head of the nail holding the red peanut butter lid to the post at 100 yards. Even through a scope I can find a 4" red lid these days when I can't see much else. It did a lot better than my 1970's M14 which must be sighted in after cleaning and won't hold a sight-in for a month, even after a custom bedding and custom stock.
I shot 60 rounds of 9MM just the other day using a playing card in a 9" pie pan at 25 yards, I can say I hit the pan all 60 shots, but, while I did hit the card, I did not hit it all 60 times. Used to be I could have shot out the ACE of SPADES with the first five shots, now I am happy with hitting the card with my first five shots and the pan with all 60.
|
|
