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6BRA 6 primer test at 500 yards

JamesnTN

After 4 days of testing powder charges seating depths and neck tension I came down to testing 6 primers at 500 yards for my final test in my 6 BRA at 500 yards this am.
All stats are written down by each group. All 4 shots and I’ll retest the best 2 for best accuracy and consistency for 10 shots each.

53C3FD48-B507-4AB0-A0A0-B51A7F514484.jpeg
 
Wow! Interesting for sure. What scope are you using on that rifle on these tests? WD
 
Evan flat line say yes no vertical BUT there not shooting through the wind! Your looking for clusters.

Joe Salt
 
Do you seat with an arbor press?

Is it fair to assume you sorted your primers?

Did you have wind flags?

What primer did you do your initial load development with?

Judging by the fact they are all in similar proximity to your aiming dots, I would dare to venture pretty calm conditions.

The reason I ask about hand seating and primer sorting is the S&Bs look really promising, and the two out of the group could be neck tension related. Assuming that you seat by hand, and sorted the primers, that one could be tuned in by adding or subtracting a tenth or so of powder, maybe a little less.

The above questions are also pointed towards the 450s test. Namely about the one that went high.

The 400s looks like a pretty "round" group. As much as you can tell with 4 shots anyways.

The 205s look like they are almost double grouping left and right. A little fine tuning could draw them together.

The 7.5s may need a little tweeking in powder/seating to draw them together a little. They may print flat, but they are also a little wide. Could have been a condition, but also may need tuned in a little.

Just my .02
 
Sellier bellot keeps coming out on top for me in similar tests. Lowest es as well as consistent grouping. However if you developed your load around a different primer you might want to test a couple tenths of a grain of powder in either direction with the sb
 
I always learn something from other people’s test results, especially when they are well organized and laid out clearly as this one.

Thank you.

I’d lean toward the CCI 400 or the BR4 with a tweak to bring them together but trying to understand what others see as promising with the other primers. Is there a consensus?
 
mikeeg02 said:
The 7.5s may need a little tweeking in powder/seating to draw them together a little. They may print flat, but they are also a little wide. Could have been a condition, but also may need tuned in a little.

Just my .02
Click to expand...

That was my thought. If a little tweaking on seating depth with that primer draws them all together, or the spread was a wind condition during shooting, then the Rem 7.5 could produce the smallest groups, particularly as you move out further to 1k for instance and that vertical in the others gets worse.

Also point out that the Rem 7.5 gave you just a hair more speed than the others. Depending on where your node is, could that have pushed you to the edge of it? Should you back down the charge a tenth or two?
 
Testing this morning was done over flags.
The flags never moved or even twitched. I had as perfect conditions as I could of asked for. It was over cast so no mirage no wind no other shooters just me.
Each shot was precisely shot at my pace and centered the best possible using the NF 15-55
There was no round robin shots. Each four shot group was shot at one time moving onto the next primer.
As for initial load testing I settled in on the S&B to finalize everything as it showed more promise over the 450m I also tried. I was actually surprised to had seen the higher ES and SD from that primer today along with the vertical shown.
Each load was weighed to 1 kernel of powder. So I know that’s as good as I can weigh them. Each seating force was within 1# on the 21st century arbor press. Everything felt right for each and every shot fired today. Of course I could repeat the test tomorrow and it could be exact opposite to today. We can chase this forever. But tomorrow morning I’m going to test the BR4 and 400 primer.
I was also about 5-6 FPS above what appeared to been my optimum velocity of 2943-2945 so I’ll test 5 shots of 31.0 and 5 of 31.1 and see what happens from there.
I can only assume my velocities where higher due to the higher humidity and of course temps were 5* warmer this morning as well. It wasn’t far off but I noticed it.
 
JamesnTN said:
Testing this morning was done over flags.
The flags never moved or even twitched. I had as perfect conditions as I could of asked for. It was over cast so no mirage no wind no other shooters just me.
Each shot was precisely shot at my pace and centered the best possible using the NF 15-55
There was no round robin shots. Each four shot group was shot at one time moving onto the next primer.
As for initial load testing I settled in on the S&B to finalize everything as it showed more promise over the 450m I also tried. I was actually surprised to had seen the higher ES and SD from that primer today along with the vertical shown.
Each load was weighed to 1 kernel of powder. So I know that’s as good as I can weigh them. Each seating force was within 1# on the 21st century arbor press. Everything felt right for each and every shot fired today. Of course I could repeat the test tomorrow and it could be exact opposite to today. We can chase this forever. But tomorrow morning I’m going to test the BR4 and 400 primer.
I was also about 5-6 FPS above what appeared to been my optimum velocity of 2943-2945 so I’ll test 5 shots of 31.0 and 5 of 31.1 and see what happens from there.
I can only assume my velocities where higher due to the higher humidity and of course temps were 5* warmer this morning as well. It wasn’t far off but I noticed it.
Click to expand...

If the later statement was geared towards me, I apologize, and I wasnt inferring anything by my questions. The answers to my questions direct me and help eliminate variables for me on how I would read your targets. All in all, I would say good shooting, and it looks like you're on the right track. But I would still also further test the S&B load if it was me. I agree with you and think its good to retest the bottom two like you are. But again, it was just my opinion on how I would read your target. I am always curious to see how others would read the same information, and my targets as well. Sometimes you see the thought process another person thinks, and sometimes it "clicks". Regardless, good shooting.
 
JamesnTN said:
All charges +/- 1 kernel
Click to expand...
First of all, all the groups are good anyway. To be clear, I meant add or subtract 1-2 kernel which should rotate(clock) your grouping 90 degrees, the group size will probably stay the same, but it's also possible that tomorrow ("weather") the same load could change to horizontal without doing anything. Sorry for the confusion.
 
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