I was waiting for a nice day to go shoot some test loads/load development loads for my 20 Practical and I needed to sight in a new Savage Axis I acquired that is going to be my coyote hunting field gun. This was all at the 100 yard range.
It was nice and sunny and the winds out of the NW were only 10-12 mph and the range I was shooting at is very protected from NW winds so the wind felt at the range was very minimal today, which is always a plus.
I had someone send me 40 of the Hornady 24 grain NTX bullets for free to shoot and test as long as gave him the results out of my 20 Practical so I thought I'd post them here in case someone can get some useful info out of it.
Gun: Savage 10 actioned 20 Practical. 20" BHW P3 barrel, same profile as a Savage Precision Carbine .223 barrel.
I tested 2 powders, H322 and H335. Loaded 5 rounds each of 4 different charges for both powders. The results:
LC brass trimmed to 1.755" - Hornady 24 grain NTX - COAL @ 2.230" to get this smaller bullet seated far enough down to get the bottom of the bullet right at the neck/shoulder junction. Pic of my test loads......
H322 - chronograph speeds:
24.0gr - 3663/3734/3642/3673/3680 - VERY nice group of .350"
24.4gr - 3798/3714/3766/3809/3903 - (all over the place for some reason) ?
24.8gr - 3887/3853/3787/3777/3787 - nice low spread - not so good group
25.2gr - 3864/3904/3910/3897/3900 - nice low spread other than the one lower one - VERY nice group of .370"
Pic of the test target, the middle group is from testing my Savage Axis which was better than I expected with factory Fiocchi ammo, a .600" group. Not bad for a cheap gun with cheap ammo and a cheap package deal scope!
H335 - chronograph speeds:
25.0gr - 3820/3853/3787/3777/3787
25.4gr - 3798/3875/3864/3864/3875
25.8gr - 3956/3842/3864/3820/3809 - wide spread
26.2gr - 4002(?)/3873/3898/3864/3921 best overall group @ .635", 4 in a group @ .335" with one flyer to make the group .635", maybe the one hot one was the flyer?
Anyway, it was a good day at the range and I hope someone can use some of this info. Thanks for looking.
It was nice and sunny and the winds out of the NW were only 10-12 mph and the range I was shooting at is very protected from NW winds so the wind felt at the range was very minimal today, which is always a plus.
I had someone send me 40 of the Hornady 24 grain NTX bullets for free to shoot and test as long as gave him the results out of my 20 Practical so I thought I'd post them here in case someone can get some useful info out of it.
Gun: Savage 10 actioned 20 Practical. 20" BHW P3 barrel, same profile as a Savage Precision Carbine .223 barrel.
I tested 2 powders, H322 and H335. Loaded 5 rounds each of 4 different charges for both powders. The results:
LC brass trimmed to 1.755" - Hornady 24 grain NTX - COAL @ 2.230" to get this smaller bullet seated far enough down to get the bottom of the bullet right at the neck/shoulder junction. Pic of my test loads......
H322 - chronograph speeds:
24.0gr - 3663/3734/3642/3673/3680 - VERY nice group of .350"
24.4gr - 3798/3714/3766/3809/3903 - (all over the place for some reason) ?
24.8gr - 3887/3853/3787/3777/3787 - nice low spread - not so good group
25.2gr - 3864/3904/3910/3897/3900 - nice low spread other than the one lower one - VERY nice group of .370"
Pic of the test target, the middle group is from testing my Savage Axis which was better than I expected with factory Fiocchi ammo, a .600" group. Not bad for a cheap gun with cheap ammo and a cheap package deal scope!
H335 - chronograph speeds:
25.0gr - 3820/3853/3787/3777/3787
25.4gr - 3798/3875/3864/3864/3875
25.8gr - 3956/3842/3864/3820/3809 - wide spread
26.2gr - 4002(?)/3873/3898/3864/3921 best overall group @ .635", 4 in a group @ .335" with one flyer to make the group .635", maybe the one hot one was the flyer?
Anyway, it was a good day at the range and I hope someone can use some of this info. Thanks for looking.
