• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

interesting numbers today!!!

skeetlee

Lee Gardner Precision
Silver $$ Contributor
I just got my new 6br hunting rifle back this past week and today i got a chance to shoot it. Dont really know that it matters, but my rifle is a stiller predator shilen varmint 10twist 26". Ok, I had this barrel chambered for a 6 br .262 neck when i first had it made earlier last month. I had it on a rem 700 action but i didnt like the way it ejected the little BR cases so i sold the rem 700 and bought a stiller. While i had my smith re-installing the shilen barrel off the rem, and on to the new stiller action, i had him do away with the tight neck. This is my hunting rifle, and i didnt want to mess with the tight necks any longer. The hole reason i am mentioning this is that when the barrel was a tight neck 6br it shot 87gr v-max and varget powder very well. The barrel only had around 50 shots when it was swapped over.
Ok today i loaded up some 75gr v-max some 87gr v-max and some 65gr v-max with 30-33gr of varget powder accordingly. I proceeded to shoot some 5 shot groups, while shooting over the chronograph. The numbers the chrony was giving were really unimpressive. What i mean by that, is that there was sometimes 70-80fps and as much as 100fps difference from shot to shot. I personally havent ever seen this much spread in velocity before. I weigh all my charges very carefully. I must add my chrono is a cheaper model, but has proven reliable in the past. The sun was also pretty bright today, so maybe that has something to do with it. The groups were also nothing to write home about. .600 was probably a good average for the day. I did have one small 3 shot group that went .223 with the 65gr v-max. I am no expert but i have to assume that this barrel no longer likes varget powder. I do think i will try the 65gr v-max again with another powder, and maybe the 87gr v-max as they were .500 respectfully. The only other thing i can think to add is that the chamber in my barrel was cut for 105gr bullets. I was aware of this when i had my smith cut it. I dont think it matters since the br has such a long neck anyway. The bullets base sits level with the top of the shoulder neck junction with 87gr v-max touching the lands. the 65gr bullets sit a bit higher as expected.
I am not really asking anything here except maybe if anyone has experienced such a velo spread before and maybe what powder i should try next. I just thought this was pretty interesting to see the numbers so scattered. I havent ever experienced this before, and i am not real sure how to make heads and tails of it. One more thing just came to mind. The primers i used are some older federal 205 magnum. I have been told these primers do not exist, but they do. I have about 500 of them, and thought i would use them up for hunting purposes. I hope i havent bored you fellas with all this. I am sure some of you all have seen this before. I love learning, and this is just another learning experience. Now what to do next is i guess the question. Thanks for reading! Lee
 
before you unscrewed the barrel off the rem 700, did you use these same primers with that varget load as you did this time?
 
No i didnt use the same primers. I was told that the magnum federal were the exact same as the now 205m match primers. I thought they were going to be the same. Maybe they are not. And yes for the millionth time, they are magnum federal primers. LOL!!! They really are. I was thinking about that last night so i loaded up 10 more varget loads with my newer match federal primers. I will post my findings. I will post a pic of the magnum primers. Thanks guys lee

primersgp-100Armalite001.jpg
 
Lynn
Thats what i was kinda thinking myself, so i did. I went back to the range last night and the results were much better. I didnt use Varget again though. I used Benchmark instead. The numbers were much more consistent. The accuracy was much better as well. I did use the fed magnum primers though. I dont have enough of these to use for my comp guns, so i thought using them up in my hunting rifle made good sense. I loaded up some 80gr berger varmint bullets. I loaded five to set in the lands and 5 15thou off the lands. The loads that were off the lands 15 thou shot the best. I did notice that the velocity was higher with the loads off the lands as apposed to the loads that were in the lands. (same powder charge) I guess i thought this worked the other way around?? Anyway i now have a solid load for my coyote rifle that works!! I shot a coyote this morning with one, and i was pleased with the results. The bullet did pass through but it wasnt all that violent! small bullet sized hole going in and about a half dollar going out. I was hoping these would not pass through, but like i said, it wasnt all that bad. coyote went down hard, and thats the main thing. I hate run offs. I have had way to many with little 20 and 22 cal bullets. Bad shot placement perhaps! Thanks guys! Lee
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
166,237
Messages
2,215,134
Members
79,506
Latest member
Hunt99elk
Back
Top