Long range load development at 100 yards.

[savageshooter86]

did seating depth test and got something I hope I can even come close to repeating. Going to test it out at 600 next weekend.


Top left was +15 from touch and went down to -15 off touch

 

[lawrence97]

Tested powder charges with russian primers. It definitely does not like to be pushed past 2920 fps. with these primers.
Opinions?

 

[Erik Cortina]

54.2 looks good.

 

[txsendero]

Erik thanks for posting this. It works! I followed this thread and once I FINALLY found some Berger .277" 150 grain VLD bullets for my 270 short mag I proceeded with load development as instructed with H1000 powder. The rifle is a custom from RBros, and POI of the center of the groups were all very similar, and after shooting 1/2 grain powder increments, then choosing a powder charge, then doing a seating test, was rewarded with a .161" group at 100 yards. Of all the groups I shot with any powder charge and any seating depth, the WORST groups were less than .80", but that is probably just a testament to how good of a rifle that Travis builds.

 

[Erik Cortina]

You're welcome txSendero. Glad it worked for you and thanks for posting results.

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

Did a ladder test at 100yds on Tues w/Rick Curtis. Load settled on shot 185 Berger in a .308 @ 2745fps. Took that load to 1000 yesterday and it shot exceedingly well before the wind on the range stopped completely. Once that boil started, I should have gone home.

 

[jsimonh]

I will apoligize in advance for the crappy target but i made it to our shooting spot without targets and had to make due. Nothing jumped out at me with these results so Im looking for advice.

These were shot with H4350 and Berger 130vld's jammed .010. The ES wasnt great on any of the loads.
From the top down the loads are
40.5
41
41.5
42
The top and bottom bigger targets both have holes that werent from this testing. They are pretty obvious in the pic.

 

[trailrider121]

Worked around a possible node.

260 Rem / Marlin XL7
130 VLD Hunting
Lapua Case .002" neck tension.
Varget powder
CCI-BR2 primers
COL 2.950" / 2.282" with comparator

All Shot round robin.
Loads tested :
39.7grs. 2855,2855,2867
40.0grs. 2879,2879,2879
40.3grs. 2892,2936,2923
40.6grs. 2911,2917,2904

 

[Erik Cortina]

Jaimonh, the last two look good. Load between the two.

 

[Erik Cortina]

Trailrider121, I would test past 40.6 to see if the tune holds. 40.6 looks good.

 

[jsimonh]

Thanks Erik. I will focus on that area.

 

[MNFinn]

Erik,

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread. I had found a load that was pretty good using what I learned, but wanted a little more. I adjusted the seating depth to .020 off the lands (sierra palmas) and shot my first ever group under .2 MOA at 100, then tweaked the powder charge (well, almost a grain higher) and shot a smaller group, then went to 500, for fun, and vertical was under half MOA, horizontal was like .8 MOA, but that was my poor wind reading.

Thanks for all the info, it helped me a lot

 

[Erik Cortina]

Erik,

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread. I had found a load that was pretty good using what I learned, but wanted a little more. I adjusted the seating depth to .020 off the lands (sierra palmas) and shot my first ever group under .2 MOA at 100, then tweaked the powder charge (well, almost a grain higher) and shot a smaller group, then went to 500, for fun, and vertical was under half MOA, horizontal was like .8 MOA, but that was my poor wind reading.

Thanks for all the info, it helped me a lot

I'm glad it helped you out. No go out and have fun burning up your barrel! ;D

 

[Wildboar]

I think I have a grasp of the concepts here. The question I have is as the powder supply is still erratic, I like to develop loads with at least two different powders with each bullet. Question, will seating depth react differently with different powders? Or is seating depth relative to the barrel/ bullet combo? Hope that makes sense. I would like to minimize load development range time, if I could remove a step (or extra range trip) that would be great. Let's say my .260 likes the 140 amax at 2.265 with 44.2 gr of h4350, would the seating be good when finding the ocw with rl-17?

 

[Erik Cortina]

If you find a good seating depth with a certain powder, it would be a good place to start with other powders. However, it might not the the best but it should get you close.

 

[trailrider121]

Wildboar,

Good question on seating depth. I switched from H4350, to IMR 4064, and now to Varget; Moreover, they all seem to like the same bullet seating depth. Very interesting results to say the least.

 

[hogpatrol]

Erik, I crunched the numbers, adjusted the seating depths, stuck with the loads and this is what I came up with last outing. That fifth shot did me in. I think I rushed looking at the first four. Gun is a 6.5-284, Hybrid 1000V, Berger 130 VLD hunting bullet, lapua case. Target was at 500 meters. Am contemplating trying another primer (I was using CCI BR4s) but wonder if it's worth the trouble. This is a hunting gun. Hog

 

[Erik Cortina]

I think you're good. No animal will escape that kind of accuracy.

 

[Witchhunter]

Thank you sir, for all of this information. You have made a lot of us able to become better reloaders. This is great material, I have been reloading for a long time and this is eye opening to me. Thank you again for the education. Ed

 

[Erik Cortina]

Thank you sir, for all of this information. You have made a lot of us able to become better reloaders. This is great material, I have been reloading for a long time and this is eye opening to me. Thank you again for the education. Ed

You're welcome.