243 - IMR 4350/H1000 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

Great video! Makes a lot of sense to at least check it that way. Is it a requirement to remove the firing pin to do this test?

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

Removing the firing pin assembly gives you a better feel, but most don't require a tool


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBHUQPdmN5E


some people just use there shoe strings

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

Ruger you turn right put finish nail in and unthread

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I went out and shot the ladder group I loaded and then shot the 40.0 gr loads and the 41.4 gr loads and I think I have definitely decided to go with the 41.4 gr loads. With the 41.4 loads I shot well under 1/2" groups @ 100 consistently (which was slightly better than the 40.0 loads) and even had 5 left to shoot @ 550 yards and that group was only 3" wide and less than 2" tall. I think I'll load up 20-25 more of the 41.4 loads and go shoot some 300 yd and 600 yd groups later today.

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

ya, I shot the 107 custom competition at 3 hundred yards...not good, I think I seated them to short cause it was my worst experience yet...I hope they work better

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

my first load with hybrid 100..

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

In my quest for perfection (or as close as I can get) I decided I wanted to be able to measure and sort my bullets by the bearing surface, so I ordered an extra Hornady bullet comparator body and insert to go along with the ones that come with the Hornady O.A.L. gauge that I have and I measured 100 of my Sierra 107 gr matchking bullets tonight and found a bigger range in the bearing surface than I thought there would be. There was a spread from .530" up to .550" (.020" spread) in the bullets bearing surface so I separated them into .005 increments for future load testing. I also had 50 of the Berger 105 gr match grade bullets that I thought about load testing but haven't gotten to them yet so I decided to do a measurement on those as well and in those 50 bullets I only found a .005 spread in the bearing surface (other than 2 oddballs) so I may decide to do some serious load testing using those bullets as it seems their mfg tolerances are obviously much tighter.

Bullet comparators in the calipers and zeroed.........

One of the Sierra 107 gr bullets bearing surface measurements............

The .005 increment separated bullets...........

So hopefully my next round of load testing will show closer overall FPS ranges in 5 shot groups as well as tighter, more accurate groupings since I can separate my loads according to bullet bearing surface. I guess time will tell. I'm sure I'll go test a few groups this w/e and see.

I also decided to upgrade my dies and I should have my Redding competition dies by the middle of next week and should be able to control tolerances on my loaded brass even further, especially neck tension and bullet run-out. I will also be getting a bullet pointing die as soon as they become available from Midway again, supposedly in about another week, to go along with the meplat trimmer I already have so I can get my bullets BC values to the highest possible range which should also help in overall accuracy.

My quest for 1/4 MOA (OR LESS) continues................... 8)

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

Micrometer die is a good idea, I like my RCBS cause of the load window.. Forster gets good reviews.

 

[normmatzen]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I mentioned that I went to H1000 in my 243 WIN bench rest gun.

I actually started with H4350 and tried some RL-17 as well. The H4350 shot well in my Pre-fit barrel but H1000 actually shot better. The RL-17 gave me sporadic results.
My load in an 1 in 8 barrel, 28" was 46 gr. As usual, you would have to do a ladder test at 300yd or so to verify the load in your barrel. Bear in mind that, depending on the jump, 46 gr is a compressed load and I did not find loads above that to respond linearly. The MV didn't increase linearly with load above 46 gr. By the way, I started with MOLY and ended with hBN and got 2930 fps with 46 gr.
I have since gone on to a 6BRX barrel custom cut chamber by a local expert gunsmith and it shoots WAY better than the pre-fit 243. I did shoot in the Sacramento 600/1000 nationals with the 243 tho but finished in the bottom group of shooters!

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I've been trying to get some H1000 but each time I check my local places, they don't have any. :-[

I have found IMR 4350 with no problem. I have (2) - 1 lb. jugs of it still.

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

Try Retumbo too

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I finally got a couple 1 lb jugs of H1000 yesterday and plan on doing some testing with that next w/e. But in the meantime I did load up 20 rounds to test to see what effect the different bearing surface might have on the average FPS of the loads, I used 39.8 gr of IMR 4350 powder. I loaded 10 rounds of the shortest measurement range of .530-.535, and 10 rounds of the longest measurement range of .545-.550 and chronographed every one and got an average of 2883 FPS for the shorter ones and an average of 2863 for the longer ones which makes sense. The longer bearing surface should average a little slower FPS since there is more bearing surface engaging the rifling so I will definitely be separating my bullets by bearing surface length from now on to get a more consistent, smaller range of FPS.

Look at the results of 2 different 5 shot groups @ 200 yards I did in the following picture. It's amazing how the FPS of each shot effects the path of each shot. This test showed me just how important getting the loads as uniform as possible will definitely end up with better results. I marked each and every shot with it's speed and see for yourself what just a 20-25 FPS difference can make in the path of the bullet @ 200 yards. The 1/8" MOA 3 shot group on the right that hand target explains it all. Also note how I had separated the 5 shot groups into less than and more than .002 bullet run-out. The bullets with a greater run-out obviously entered the rifling off centered a little more than the bullets with less run-out and therefore engaged the rifling with a little more force I suppose and caused a slightly lower point of impact on the target vs the bullets with less run-out. At any rate I find these results very interesting to say the least.

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I decided to do a couple test groups using my new Lapua brass using the bullets seperated by bearing surface to see if I saw any improvement.

My first 10 shot group was the 41.5 gr loads and I used the first 2 shots as sighters with my scope set up 1.5 MOA from scope's zero setting as I knew that would be close. Then I adjusted up one more click to up 1.75 MOA and shot the next 8 shots. The wind was obviously a little bit of a factor but not too terrible as my horizontal spread was only 2.4" with 4 of the 8 shots being dead nuts on the bullseye practically. The vertical spread was EXCELLENT! Only .75" for the 8 shots after I adjusted up one more click from the first 2 sighters which comes out very close to 1/4" MOA. The 4 shot group in the center could be covered by a dime.......that's amazing @ 275 yards.

Next up was the next 10 shot group using 39.8 gr loads. In the time it took me to drive out and replace the first target and get the new one in place the wind decided to lessen a little bit and it wasn't as gusty so I hoped for an even better grouping and I wasn't disappointed. I shot the first shot with the scope still set @ up 1.75 MOA and I figured it might be a tad low since the loads weren't as hot and I was right. I adjusted up one more click to up 2" MOA and shot the next 9 shots. I had the one shot go a tad higher than the rest but when looking at the core group of 8 shots the results were the best I've seen so far. The 8 shot group had only a 1/2" vertical spread (WOW!) and a 1" horizontal spread. If I had upped my scope another 1/4" MOA that would have been a sweet looking group right in the center.

That 8 shot group is DEFINITELY what I'm looking for. Between separating my bullets by bearing surface and using the Lapua brass I know there's definitely an improvement. I know my horizontal spread will be greater as I'm not adjusting anything for windage yet. I plan on doing some serious learning/practicing some wind reading skills over the next few months to help with that but for now I'm really concentrating on the vertical spread. As I've stated before my goal is 1/4" MOA (or less) and slowly but surely I'm getting there. The overall results today definitely make me smile.

 

[Raythemanroe]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

There printing paper good at 275

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I did finally get to do some test loads using the H1000 and I started with the 46.0 gr like suggested and I must say, it did well for me. I shot a 10 shot group @ 300 yards and ended up with a 1.5" vertical spread with 6 of the 10 shots being almost in a straight horizontal line. ;D

I will definitely be doing a little more testing with the H1000 and various distances off the lands and see how it works out.

 

[stinnett1981]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I did finally get to do some test loads using the H1000 and I started with the 46.0 gr like suggested and I must say, it did well for me. I shot a 10 shot group @ 300 yards and ended up with a 1.5" vertical spread with 6 of the 10 shots being almost in a straight vertical line. ;D

I will definitely be doing a little more testing with the H1000 and various distances off the lands and see how it works out.

Looks like you need some wind flags. If you did have some you could have a awesome group. Its already a great group, but it could be a really good one!

 

[IA_shooter]

Re: 243 - IMR 4350 - 107 gr moly MK's - 28“ bbl

I did finally get to do some test loads using the H1000 and I started with the 46.0 gr like suggested and I must say, it did well for me. I shot a 10 shot group @ 300 yards and ended up with a 1.5" vertical spread with 6 of the 10 shots being almost in a straight vertical line. ;D

I will definitely be doing a little more testing with the H1000 and various distances off the lands and see how it works out.

Looks like you need some wind flags. If you did have some you could have a awesome group. Its already a great group, but it could be a really good one!

Funny you said that. I actually have the steel rods already but was going to try and find out what would be a good flag to put on them. I am setting up my own personal shooting range that has targets/backstops @ 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards and was going to set flags on either side of each distance so I can start figuring out some wind reading. I have been mainly concentrating on trying to find a 1/4" MOA vertical spread load for my .243 and the horizontal spread is something I'll work on once I have my range and flags all set up. The 2 shots on the right were my last 2 shots and I think the slight crosswind just died for those 2 shots. I had my scope set @ only 1 click, 1/4" MOA for the shot group as the wind was fairly light and coming in from about 2 o'clock

 

[dwt]

Thanks for sharing , some excellant test results , your a man on a mission , you gotta love it !

 

[Raythemanroe]

Looks promising