• 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.

Surprised by velocities

I just recently had my R 700 re-barreled with a 24" 5c Benchmark barrel chambered with a .308 match reamer from JGS.

After a few rounds to break it in using an old favorite load I started working up a new load with CFE223.

The published max load for the bullet (175 gr SMK) is 47.5 gr @2752 fps.

When chronographing my loads I reached 2737 fps with only 45.9 gr (SD 6.7 fps) when I started seeing very flat primers. Brass was Lapua and primers CCI BR2. While the primers were flat, there was no excessive bolt lift effort required and no cratering (PTG Bolt w/o the std remington "countersink/chamfer" on the firing pin hole. The 45.5 gr load still had some "radius" on the edge of the primer, averaged 2730 fps, and had the best accuracy of the test group.


Just to make sure I didn't have a faulty chronograph I fired 5 rounds of 168 gr TAP which had 2700 fps shown on the box. My chrono showed an average of 2708 fps.

Any suggestions as to why I'm getting 168 gr speeds with a 175 gr bullet?

Powder?

Barrel?

Luck 8)

Any other similar experiences?
 
loads/Velocities as in published data are just a guide, the are often in universal actions, and who knows what bbl/case weight, chamber throat, etc.

you have good load, if it shoots why mess with it.

Bob
 
Your experience with CFE223 mirrors mine. I use the powder for bulk 308 ammo in my Dillon and it yields high velocity and good accuracy. The published max charges do seem high and I doubt I could ever safely approach them. My 24 inch 5r Savage loves CFE223 and I love the velocity.
 
SierraCJ5 said:
Your experience with CFE223 mirrors mine. I use the powder for bulk 308 ammo in my Dillon and it yields high velocity and good accuracy. The published max charges do seem high and I doubt I could ever safely approach them. My 24 inch 5r Savage loves CFE223 and I love the velocity.

That's pretty much why I've been trying to develop a good load using this powder. It meters darn good in my 650 powder measure and it would be nice to be able to load some large quantities with reasonable accuracy. When attempting to use Varget in the Dillon measure the "good" charges are +/- .2 gr but most will vary by .3 gr or more. Maybe OK if I was loading for an M-60 8) 8) 8) 8)
 
Well yesterday I played around with some lighter loads at the range. Found it strange that loads well below the starting load published by Hodgdon still flattened the crud out of the CCI BR-2 primers. If I didn't know better I would have thought I was using Winchester's >:(

As I experienced before with this rifle, and it's old barrel, the most accurate loads "clocked in" around the 2550 to 2600 fps range (using the 175 gr bullet but I got these speeds with only 45.5 gr of powder which is more in line with the published starting load/speed.

Something tells me that this powder builds speed a lot quicker as the charge increases than Hodgdon data would indicate. Either that or the CCI primers are a lot softer than one would expect. Only way I could have a little radius still showing on the edges was to drop the load a full grain BELOW the starting point published.

Other than that, sure do like the powder. Still no copper fouling and barrel cleaning is super easy.
 

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
166,271
Messages
2,215,609
Members
79,518
Latest member
DixieDog
Back
Top