I am shooting a Rem 700 trued action with a Shilen short chambered match ss barrel. I use Lapua brass and Sierra 168 hp bt match king bullets. I full size, trim to length, debur, uniform the primer hole and primer pocket and developed the best powder charge (43.1 gr XBR8208 with the bullets seated .005 off the lands) using the Creighton ladder process. I keep getting inconsistencies in my groupings. The Creighton ladder process for developing loads suggests 5 fouling shots before shooting for accuracy. I used 5 Fiocchi 308 win match ammunition for my fouling shots because early on I bought some because the box said "match " on them. They were the worst shooting bullets that gave bad groups I had used so far. I previously used Federal Gold ammunition with good results. I bought new Winchester brass for reloading with OK results.
Last week as I stated I used the Fiocchi new ammunition and got the typical large group. Well I saved those 5 brass and reloaded them. The next time I used them reloaded for my fouling shots I got my best grouping ever(around .3). Then I shot my reloaded Lapua brass and and the groups opened up. The next time I reloaded all the same brass and used the same 5 Fiocchi brass for foulers I got an even better grouping (1 ragged hole about .2).
The Fiocchi brass is stamped Winchester and I will try and use some more Fiocchi brass that I saved and reload to see if it follows through with consistant results
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The Lapua brass has been reloaded about 5 times. Maybe it is time to be annealed. I don't know why it won't shoot as good as the Fiocchi brass. Any thoughts?
Last week as I stated I used the Fiocchi new ammunition and got the typical large group. Well I saved those 5 brass and reloaded them. The next time I used them reloaded for my fouling shots I got my best grouping ever(around .3). Then I shot my reloaded Lapua brass and and the groups opened up. The next time I reloaded all the same brass and used the same 5 Fiocchi brass for foulers I got an even better grouping (1 ragged hole about .2).
The Fiocchi brass is stamped Winchester and I will try and use some more Fiocchi brass that I saved and reload to see if it follows through with consistant results
.
The Lapua brass has been reloaded about 5 times. Maybe it is time to be annealed. I don't know why it won't shoot as good as the Fiocchi brass. Any thoughts?