No signs yet with a pick or visually. I do check regularly because these long tapered cases are prone to it.
22 PPC and 222 for 1000yd BR
- Thread starter Evan
- Start date
No signs yet with a pick or visually. I do check regularly because these long tapered cases are prone to it.
Sunny, windy, but pleasant. I don't know how much weight to place in the results today, but I figure some folks like to see, anyway:
Note that the CCI450 boosted speeds up compared to the Rem 7.5.
Oof. This isn't the first time the Berger 85.5 LRHT has played with my heart. I think this blind squirrel randomly stumbled across a nut and this absolute stunner of a 500 yard group won't repeat. I will try though!
I wanted to test a new 6.5x47 barrel I have to see if I should bring big artillery with me to the Rendezvous, but it's hard to get excited about it now for some reason:
What's all that powder and lead buying me except a louder boom and a sharper smack in the shoulder?
Note that the CCI450 boosted speeds up compared to the Rem 7.5.
Oof. This isn't the first time the Berger 85.5 LRHT has played with my heart. I think this blind squirrel randomly stumbled across a nut and this absolute stunner of a 500 yard group won't repeat. I will try though!
I wanted to test a new 6.5x47 barrel I have to see if I should bring big artillery with me to the Rendezvous, but it's hard to get excited about it now for some reason:
What's all that powder and lead buying me except a louder boom and a sharper smack in the shoulder?
Shooter13
Gold $$ Contributor
I have a Borden BRMXD drop port, pulls the 6PPC just fine, it has the BR/PPC boltface. Let us know what he finds. Thanks
What bullet for the 6.5? That new barrel looks to be a good one.
I do like my 22cals for killing paper. Really appreciate your work on the 224 benchrest front.
Those are 133gn Vapor Trails. It’s certainly “fine” haha. The little 22s do so well with so much less that I feel like I’m swatting bugs with a sledgehammer.
Another day, and many excuses. Sometimes you look at the forecast wind, see a window of low wind in the morning, decide to take some time off work to drive 75 miles out to your shooting spot, only to be in a giant wind storm that arrived hours early. It was a cold 35 degrees and a stiff but relatively steady wind supposedly "only" 17mph. Regardless, still managed ok for needing 4MOA on the scope and a sharp eye on the flags for subtle changes in "blowing straight out horizontal" and "blowing straight out horizontal with some whipping"
First up, everyone's favorite: Reloder 17. I did not hit pressure, and 25.0gns, while not crunchy, is full up and consistent seating depths were starting to suffer. Wouldn't it be sweet if that 24.8gn group became a regular occurrence? I shot a small one like that last time out too. It's teasing me!
For once, RL17 was not the speed demon it typically is. I also have no explanation for the one extreme low speed that dropped down. I need to check the water capacity of that case, but in lieu of anything substantial, maybe I just had a brain fart and didn't put enough powder in that case.
I did a node and seating depth check and seem to have a happy place with IMR-4320 and the 90gn SMK:
And I had an odd occurrence. 3 fail-to-fires:
Top 3 didn't fire, despite solid pin strikes. The 4th on the bottom is for reference. I took these apart and measured them. Headspace is consistent and correct. Primer pockets are consistent depth with all my others at 0.125". Norma has pretty deep pockets out of the box; my K&M uniformer doesn't even touch the bottoms. I haven't had any trouble before and there's no sign why these failed to go off. These CCI450 are from an older 2017 batch that has worked fine in the past in this and other rifles. I set these three cases aside for now.
First up, everyone's favorite: Reloder 17. I did not hit pressure, and 25.0gns, while not crunchy, is full up and consistent seating depths were starting to suffer. Wouldn't it be sweet if that 24.8gn group became a regular occurrence? I shot a small one like that last time out too. It's teasing me!
For once, RL17 was not the speed demon it typically is. I also have no explanation for the one extreme low speed that dropped down. I need to check the water capacity of that case, but in lieu of anything substantial, maybe I just had a brain fart and didn't put enough powder in that case.
I did a node and seating depth check and seem to have a happy place with IMR-4320 and the 90gn SMK:
And I had an odd occurrence. 3 fail-to-fires:
Top 3 didn't fire, despite solid pin strikes. The 4th on the bottom is for reference. I took these apart and measured them. Headspace is consistent and correct. Primer pockets are consistent depth with all my others at 0.125". Norma has pretty deep pockets out of the box; my K&M uniformer doesn't even touch the bottoms. I haven't had any trouble before and there's no sign why these failed to go off. These CCI450 are from an older 2017 batch that has worked fine in the past in this and other rifles. I set these three cases aside for now.
RegionRat
Gold $$ Contributor
In for the disassembly report.
The strike indents look normal, so I doubt the bolt needs inspection. Are those grey offset rings on the primers just a reflection artifact? It could just be the tilt and some with the lighting.
Good luck with the troubleshooting, it just goes with the territory but the results are worth it.
The strike indents look normal, so I doubt the bolt needs inspection. Are those grey offset rings on the primers just a reflection artifact? It could just be the tilt and some with the lighting.
Good luck with the troubleshooting, it just goes with the territory but the results are worth it.
I can't seem to find a problem. Everything checks out. I guess several primers could be bad? It would be the first time ever though. I even checked the bolt: nothing in the way of the firing pin, all clean, about 0.052" of pin protrusion and ~0.265" of fall. Stumped! I think I will recheck my shoulder bump; screw my die out and bump the shoulder 0.001” at a time until a stripped bolt will close without drag. 1.071 is how they come out of the gun. I have in my notes that 1.069 was still “snug” on the close. I aim for 1.068 and accept 1.067 when it happens from time to time. Two fail-to-fire are 1.068 and one is 1.067.
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Today was hot at 85 degrees, and calm with a flickering breeze. I bought out some Lapua 222 to test out again. It's important to note that this Lapua has about 0.2gns less fired water capacity than the Norma, requiring loads to be reduced. I shot a lot today, so I apologize in advance for the large number of relatively random results here:
3031 - not bad!
The 222 has some uncontrolled chaos in it that I haven't had to fight with other cases. It just pops them out there seemingly at random.
Win 748 really has a lot of room to pack it in but 23.6gn had hints of heavier bolt lift, and primer flattening. I need to proceed slowly from there.
3031 - not bad!
The 222 has some uncontrolled chaos in it that I haven't had to fight with other cases. It just pops them out there seemingly at random.
Win 748 really has a lot of room to pack it in but 23.6gn had hints of heavier bolt lift, and primer flattening. I need to proceed slowly from there.
I went to the Rendezvous with the 22 PPC and I figure some people might like to see what the little guy could do at Vapor Trail:
Vapor Trail is a nice place to shoot. I definitely recommend it. I ended up shooting 27.9gns of Varget, Norma Brass with 6 reloads on it, sorted 90gn SMK, and CCI 400 primers. This was producing velocities of ~2940fps.
At 600 yards, I really couldn't keep it together. I'm happy with the 2.321" group; I like to think the 3 shots in a tight cluster were shot together and the other 2 escaped before or after.
At 1000 yards, things were a bit more respectable, I think:
I really can't complain about the 3.974" and 4.616" groups. I consider the trip and results a success - in a field of stiff competition, I kept up with the crowd.
Vapor Trail is a nice place to shoot. I definitely recommend it. I ended up shooting 27.9gns of Varget, Norma Brass with 6 reloads on it, sorted 90gn SMK, and CCI 400 primers. This was producing velocities of ~2940fps.
At 600 yards, I really couldn't keep it together. I'm happy with the 2.321" group; I like to think the 3 shots in a tight cluster were shot together and the other 2 escaped before or after.
At 1000 yards, things were a bit more respectable, I think:
I really can't complain about the 3.974" and 4.616" groups. I consider the trip and results a success - in a field of stiff competition, I kept up with the crowd.
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