rockhound78
Silver $$ Contributor
Had Brad at Urban Rifleman make one of these for me with the short freebore, and got it installed, put a Witt brake on it and finally got in my size die. Had some Alpha brass I necked down and proceeded to load using data from the Hodgdon site. Tried cfe 223 first but muzzle blast was not consistent. Suspect powder was just too slow for the 53 vmax. Great speed though, 3928fps with a 38gr load and 3938fps for the 39gr load.
Decided to try a faster powder for the 53's, but keep the cfe223 for heavier bullets. Loaded some 60gr vmax, 55 zmax and 55 Blitzking with the cfe223 and decided on Varget for the 53 vmax and 55 blitzking.
55gr Blitzking went 3920fps with a .437" ctc group (4 shots-all I had left) with cfe223. Didn't shoot the 39gr cfe load as I only loaded two to get velocities. Varget loads went 3893fps and a .476" ctc group with the 55 blitzking and 3958fps and a .607" ctc group (also 4 shots) with the 53 vmax 60vmax and 55 zmax were only so-so.
Will try a ladder of charges next and see how things work out. Note that the wind today was full value from the left at 15 gusting to 20mph, so lot of room for improvement. I suspect group sizes would have been half of what I got, if the wind had been calm, had I done my part
Using CCI #41 primers. Velocities for the 53vmax and Varget were about 200fps faster than the Hodgdon load data indicated and the 55 blitzking was also quite a bit faster, I suspect due to the slower twist. Might also try Shooters World Precision side by side with the Varget.
Decided to try a faster powder for the 53's, but keep the cfe223 for heavier bullets. Loaded some 60gr vmax, 55 zmax and 55 Blitzking with the cfe223 and decided on Varget for the 53 vmax and 55 blitzking.
55gr Blitzking went 3920fps with a .437" ctc group (4 shots-all I had left) with cfe223. Didn't shoot the 39gr cfe load as I only loaded two to get velocities. Varget loads went 3893fps and a .476" ctc group with the 55 blitzking and 3958fps and a .607" ctc group (also 4 shots) with the 53 vmax 60vmax and 55 zmax were only so-so.
Will try a ladder of charges next and see how things work out. Note that the wind today was full value from the left at 15 gusting to 20mph, so lot of room for improvement. I suspect group sizes would have been half of what I got, if the wind had been calm, had I done my part
Using CCI #41 primers. Velocities for the 53vmax and Varget were about 200fps faster than the Hodgdon load data indicated and the 55 blitzking was also quite a bit faster, I suspect due to the slower twist. Might also try Shooters World Precision side by side with the Varget.
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