For several months I had a "problem" barrel that I could never get the vertical out of at 1000 yards. It was a .284 Shehane. It was my 2nd "Shehane" and I really like the cartridge. However, if I ran the velocity up past 2900, it became an "iffy" proposition as far as VERY CONSISTENT accuracy was concerned. Some days it would hammer and just as likely on others it would obfuscate that position. So, I started asking around to numerous people who had "straight" 284's, Shehanes and Walkers. I asked what bullets they were running, what powder, what velocity, what seating depth, etc..etc.. The shooters who CONSISTENTLY shot good from year to year all have a few things in common: 1.) Whether it was a "straight" .284, a Shehane or Walker, it appeared to me that they were running somewhere in the vicinity of 2820 F.P.S. to 2850 F.P.S. 2.) At that velocity, they did not destroy primer pockets and 3.) they could run either H4350 or H4831SC from 1 barrel to the next with very little variation from one load to the next. So I thought, if they are running "straight" .284 velocities, WHAT am I doing all this fireforming for? Besides now with the advent of "Shiraz / Norma" brass, I don't even have to "neck up", let alone fireform.
I also am one that likes "a bit more twist" than what is deemed to be necessary. So I bought a 7mm 1-8.5 twist, a Manson reamer with a .313 neck and what was SUPPOSED to be a .230freebore. Well it came in A LOT shorter than that and so from the get-go I was handicapped. I had to find a seating depth that the rifle liked that was either very close to the lands or actually IN the lands. The projectile was a 180 Hybrid. I bought 300 pieces of the new brass, turned the necks down to a .012 wall thickness, chamferred and annealed, then ran them back thru a 7mm mandrel. 200 pieces are to be used for matches and 50 of those pieces were used for load development.
Load development had become a nightmare mainly because of the reamer having too short of a freebore AND the brass developing a VERY PRONOUNCED doughnut after only 2 firings. Also, my barrel started to speed up from about 125 rounds to right at 200 rounds. The "speed-up" was nearly 100f.p.s., the fastest I had ever seen a barrel speed up! Then FINALLY it settled down and stayed put. I started out with H4350 at 49.4 and ran in 3tenths grains up to 52.2grs. I finally settled on 51.3grs of H4350 that shot great at 300 yards. So I took it out to 1000 yards. TERRIBLE vertical! So I decided to try H4831SC. Well after tinkering around, I settled on 53.6grs where it too shot great at 300 yards. So today I took it to 1000 this morning with 3 different primers. Here are the results:
1.) CCI BR-2's. First 5 shot group was about 2.5" wide but with 6" of vertical. The 2nd 5 shot group was about 3.5" wide and 7" of vertical.
2.) FED 210GM's (only 1 / 5 shot group) and it was about 3" wide and 10" of vertical..
3.) Wolf L/R Primers: First 5 shot group was 3 shots right at 1" with 1 high and 1 low>>but all within 4.5" and not over 3" width. The second 5 shot group was 4 shots in about 4.0" with 1 to the side that opened the group up to about 5.5".. In BOTH of these groups the "bulk" of the groups had 3" or less of vertical, except for the first one that had 1 low.
I believe that I could have done better with ALL the primers BUT I loaded them up at 10PM and did not have time to either sort the bullets or point them. I THINK (I don't know) that had I done that, I may have not had the one or two that went either a bit high or low in any of the groups. BUT it was READILY APPARENT that the Wolf primers did a noticeably better job at minimizing the vertical.
Now, I ran some "warm" loads in the Norma brass to see if I could get a hard bolt lift and possibly open up the primer pockets. Now I did not run crazy loads, however, they were pretty stout. I did get that "distinctive click" at the top of the bolt opening, YET I never loosened the primer pockets. About the only "complaint" I have with the brass is that I thought it developed a doughnut rather prematurely. Neither of my "straight" 6.5 x 284 brass, from projects gone by, nor my necked up 6.5 X 284 brass to 7mm developed doughnuts with only 2 firings. Normally it took about 5 firings to get that horrible thing we call a doughnut. So as far as I am concerned, this brass is excellent!
I also am one that likes "a bit more twist" than what is deemed to be necessary. So I bought a 7mm 1-8.5 twist, a Manson reamer with a .313 neck and what was SUPPOSED to be a .230freebore. Well it came in A LOT shorter than that and so from the get-go I was handicapped. I had to find a seating depth that the rifle liked that was either very close to the lands or actually IN the lands. The projectile was a 180 Hybrid. I bought 300 pieces of the new brass, turned the necks down to a .012 wall thickness, chamferred and annealed, then ran them back thru a 7mm mandrel. 200 pieces are to be used for matches and 50 of those pieces were used for load development.
Load development had become a nightmare mainly because of the reamer having too short of a freebore AND the brass developing a VERY PRONOUNCED doughnut after only 2 firings. Also, my barrel started to speed up from about 125 rounds to right at 200 rounds. The "speed-up" was nearly 100f.p.s., the fastest I had ever seen a barrel speed up! Then FINALLY it settled down and stayed put. I started out with H4350 at 49.4 and ran in 3tenths grains up to 52.2grs. I finally settled on 51.3grs of H4350 that shot great at 300 yards. So I took it out to 1000 yards. TERRIBLE vertical! So I decided to try H4831SC. Well after tinkering around, I settled on 53.6grs where it too shot great at 300 yards. So today I took it to 1000 this morning with 3 different primers. Here are the results:
1.) CCI BR-2's. First 5 shot group was about 2.5" wide but with 6" of vertical. The 2nd 5 shot group was about 3.5" wide and 7" of vertical.
2.) FED 210GM's (only 1 / 5 shot group) and it was about 3" wide and 10" of vertical..
3.) Wolf L/R Primers: First 5 shot group was 3 shots right at 1" with 1 high and 1 low>>but all within 4.5" and not over 3" width. The second 5 shot group was 4 shots in about 4.0" with 1 to the side that opened the group up to about 5.5".. In BOTH of these groups the "bulk" of the groups had 3" or less of vertical, except for the first one that had 1 low.
I believe that I could have done better with ALL the primers BUT I loaded them up at 10PM and did not have time to either sort the bullets or point them. I THINK (I don't know) that had I done that, I may have not had the one or two that went either a bit high or low in any of the groups. BUT it was READILY APPARENT that the Wolf primers did a noticeably better job at minimizing the vertical.
Now, I ran some "warm" loads in the Norma brass to see if I could get a hard bolt lift and possibly open up the primer pockets. Now I did not run crazy loads, however, they were pretty stout. I did get that "distinctive click" at the top of the bolt opening, YET I never loosened the primer pockets. About the only "complaint" I have with the brass is that I thought it developed a doughnut rather prematurely. Neither of my "straight" 6.5 x 284 brass, from projects gone by, nor my necked up 6.5 X 284 brass to 7mm developed doughnuts with only 2 firings. Normally it took about 5 firings to get that horrible thing we call a doughnut. So as far as I am concerned, this brass is excellent!
