Maybe you guys can help me with my rifle.

[butchlambert]

You can get your seater stem modified.

 

[Jet]

This strays away from your initial concern. Next time you are working up loads with H4350 try shooting a few groups with 40.7 grains. They won't be moving out at what you are use to but I'll bet you will be very pleased with the results.

Jet

 

[dieselgeek]

Okay, so I went back to the range today and figured I'd try some different loads. All loaded at 2.225 from the ogive.


42.5 was .4 MOA (3 shot groups) the rest were all .6-.75 MOA.

Going to play with seating depth this week, and get this thing back to hammering!

 

[Judd]

DG....if you can't get a consistent seating depth across all shells with no movement in micrometer top die. Then listen to preacher and Butch and have someone (redding/rbcs/etc) adjust your seater.

 

[NateHaler]

Okay, so I went back to the range today and figured I'd try some different loads. All loaded at 2.225 from the ogive.


42.5 was .4 MOA (3 shot groups) the rest were all .6-.75 MOA.

Going to play with seating depth this week, and get this thing back to hammering!

3 shot groups aren't instructive enough IMO. And if you get one small group, then you need to shoot a few more to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

 

[dieselgeek]

Okay, so I went back to the range today and figured I'd try some different loads. All loaded at 2.225 from the ogive.


42.5 was .4 MOA (3 shot groups) the rest were all .6-.75 MOA.

Going to play with seating depth this week, and get this thing back to hammering!

3 shot groups aren't instructive enough IMO. And if you get one small group, then you need to shoot a few more to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

I loaded up some more w/ that same seating depth, but also tried a few more. This group really stuck out compared to the rest.

 

[dieselgeek]

DG....if you can't get a consistent seating depth across all shells with no movement in micrometer top die. Then listen to preacher and Butch and have someone (redding/rbcs/etc) adjust your seater.

I'm going to look into this as well. It's not a compressed load, and I don't feel like it's sticking, but I'll double check.

It's a Forester Micrometer seating die.

 

[dieselgeek]

 

[butchlambert]

You need a mentor.Nobody said it was sticking. You need somebody to work you through this as you still don't understand the possible seating stem problem. It has absolutely nothing to do with it being a certain seating die.

 

[dieselgeek]

I think what he is saying that the stem on your seater could be working on the tip of your bullet rather than closer to the ogive. I think this is the only reason you would have the seating depth problem other than the compressed load deal that you say is not a problem. Within reason I don't care about overall length of my rounds, only that they are the same from the base of the cartridge to the ogive.

Okay, I see what you're saying. You're saying that it's not touching the ogive and seating the bullet. You're saying that it's hitting the tip and bottoming it out.


Is there a way that I can test that? Maybe with a marker, or just by viewing the seating stem out of the die it's self?


Thanks again.

DG

 

[BoydAllen]

Yes

 

[Judd]

You're on the right track now. My guess is you could call Forester and talk to them, tell them the bullet and see their reaction. If that is what is going on I would be shocked if they haven't dealt with the issue and can probably send you a new seating stem.

 

[dieselgeek]

You're on the right track now. My guess is you could call Forester and talk to them, tell them the bullet and see their reaction. If that is what is going on I would be shocked if they haven't dealt with the issue and can probably send you a new seating stem.

Yeah, when I talked to them, they said they had set it up for VLD/hybrids. I'm going to check into this though. I'll take it down this afternoon.

 

[NateHaler]

You're on the right track now. My guess is you could call Forester and talk to them, tell them the bullet and see their reaction.

It's Forster, if you want to talk dies. If you want to talk trees, call a Forester.

 

[lrgoodger]

You never did say how much seating variation you were getting. I'm assuming your targets are shot at 100 yards. + or - .005" on seating depth should not make that much difference at 100 yards, but you do want them to be consistent within +/- .001". I don't know about the caliber you are using, but some of the hybrids have such a long, slender nose (notably the 105 grain 6mm) that the tip will hit the bottom of the seater cup before the bullet ogive contacts the cup. If that is what is happening, then the other guys are right, you will need a new seater cup for that bullet. If that is happening, you are seating off the tip of the bullet and not the ogive. You want to check your measuring tool and make sure the same problem does not exist there, as well.

Is that good Amax load you first posted repeatable? If it is, then you should be able to get the hybrids to do the same thing.

 

[dieselgeek]

I'm out of amaxes to try again.


I took the seater apart and put the stem over the bullet, it does not appear that the tip is bottoming out.

I will measure the differences I'm getting, but they are not large.

 

[dieselgeek]

Shot these today, it was really hot, out lots of mirage, but I managed to get them shooting. They still don't shoot great at 100, but if they shoot good at distance I guess that's all that matters.

 

[Tim Singleton]

At 1200 plus rounds you might need to find someone to bore scope your barrel and check the crown

 

[lrgoodger]

If they don't shoot at 100, they won't shoot at distance.

You seemed to be confident with other guns and loads, so I hesitated to comment that when I first started out, getting the gun stable in the rests made the biggest difference in groups. I especially remember the day when I figured out that ANY pressure on the stock or the gun from my cheek or hand or shoulder would affect the gun. That's when I started shooting free recoil and there was an immediate, drastic improvement in my groups. It got even better as I got better and better rests and learned how to set them up properly. Fine tuning loads is important and getting them there takes your groups from cloverleaf to one hole at 100 yards. You should be able to get down to cloverleaf at 100 yards with a custom barrel if the loads are respectably consistent.

How is your runout? If you have 8 - 10 thou runout, that can affect groups quite a bit. I figured if you are turning necks then you know to make sure runout is acceptable. It needs to be 3 thou or less.

 

[dieselgeek]

If they don't shoot at 100, they won't shoot at distance.

You seemed to be confident with other guns and loads, so I hesitated to comment that when I first started out, getting the gun stable in the rests made the biggest difference in groups. I especially remember the day when I figured out that ANY pressure on the stock or the gun from my cheek or hand or shoulder would affect the gun. That's when I started shooting free recoil and there was an immediate, drastic improvement in my groups. It got even better as I got better and better rests and learned how to set them up properly. Fine tuning loads is important and getting them there takes your groups from cloverleaf to one hole at 100 yards. You should be able to get down to cloverleaf at 100 yards with a custom barrel if the loads are respectably consistent.

How is your runout? If you have 8 - 10 thou runout, that can affect groups quite a bit. I figured if you are turning necks then you know to make sure runout is acceptable. It needs to be 3 thou or less.

I have tested groups before with free recoil, and you're right that lil bit of cheek pressure can make a difference. For me I need to build my loads to shoot with me loading the bipod, and not letting the rifle free recoil, as I don't shoot it like that at matches, and I've had it grouping well like this before.

I've not had an issue with runout, but I also no longer have a way to measure it.