As a new reloader, I have been reading and learning for a while on this site and am grateful for all the help. I have a Savage 10TR 308 that I decided to try the optimal charge weight method to begin my hunting load development. I decided on Hornady SST 165s, Varget, Hornady match cases and CCI primers. I let the barrel cool frequently and I had some wind to deal with, but the results are what they are.
The first target is a fouler group of FGMM 168s. The rifle is capable of regularly shooting this load sub .5" at 100.
I started at 42.8 grains and went up by .3 gr per charge. It looks like 43.1 (target labeled 2) is a good starting node. My question is where to go from here. I know the textbook ocw method is seating depth, but should I experiment any more with the charge weights to get my groups to tighten up? I would really like to get the load to shoot .5 moa. I know it isn't needed for hunting deer in the south, but that is what makes this fun, right? ;D
Having said that let's assume that seating depth is the way I should go from here. My goal was to seat these charges at 2.750 like the Hornady book advised. I have a Lee classic breech lock press and I used Redding dies and a set of the Lee lock ring inserts. This raised the die up, so I was not able to quite get to 2.750. All my rounds showed col of between 2.761 & 2.767 measuring off the tip (I am getting a Hornady bullet comparator set to be able to measure off the ogive going forward). Also on a side note, I called Redding and they are sending me a different seating stem to solve the depth problem (awesome customer service).
My max length is 2.820 to the lands and the magazine measures 3.01". So is the 2.750 a minimum? Where would you start to load rounds to test the seating depth? What change increments do you use to test? And lastly, how do you convert the recommended COL to an ogive measurement for a given bullet? Any other flaws you see in my methodology, with recommendations would also be appreciated.
I hope none of these questions are too dumb and thanks in advance.
TgtGfx by qweofkjmqwokmqwef;oqi4j02q349kpowkpqwo, on Flickr
The first target is a fouler group of FGMM 168s. The rifle is capable of regularly shooting this load sub .5" at 100.
I started at 42.8 grains and went up by .3 gr per charge. It looks like 43.1 (target labeled 2) is a good starting node. My question is where to go from here. I know the textbook ocw method is seating depth, but should I experiment any more with the charge weights to get my groups to tighten up? I would really like to get the load to shoot .5 moa. I know it isn't needed for hunting deer in the south, but that is what makes this fun, right? ;D
Having said that let's assume that seating depth is the way I should go from here. My goal was to seat these charges at 2.750 like the Hornady book advised. I have a Lee classic breech lock press and I used Redding dies and a set of the Lee lock ring inserts. This raised the die up, so I was not able to quite get to 2.750. All my rounds showed col of between 2.761 & 2.767 measuring off the tip (I am getting a Hornady bullet comparator set to be able to measure off the ogive going forward). Also on a side note, I called Redding and they are sending me a different seating stem to solve the depth problem (awesome customer service).
My max length is 2.820 to the lands and the magazine measures 3.01". So is the 2.750 a minimum? Where would you start to load rounds to test the seating depth? What change increments do you use to test? And lastly, how do you convert the recommended COL to an ogive measurement for a given bullet? Any other flaws you see in my methodology, with recommendations would also be appreciated.
I hope none of these questions are too dumb and thanks in advance.
TgtGfx by qweofkjmqwokmqwef;oqi4j02q349kpowkpqwo, on Flickr
