Tac 20 new load...

[mikeinct]

I brought my seating die to the range yesterday...I may have prejudged the Sierra vs Nosler bullet choice...I'm going to use the 39 gr blitz king in the rebarreled Sako 20 tactical..so far the sierra BK is my choice..It has given rounder & finally a 5 shot one holer !! .250 center to center...This was an extensive trial loaded up about 90 rds of ammo using 3 kinds of brass three bullet choices & using my seating die I fine tuned the depth till the fussy bitch would shoot..I had all the leftovers from the previous trials to just burn off on the rocks in the 200 yd backstop...the gun was cleaned & then I sent 2 fouling shots thru her before each group...I made sure the foulers were the same brand of bullet the powder was the same each trail...Benchmark...This barrel has about 250 rds thru it right now..It is going to be a fine Varmint Rifle THANK-YOU Chris at Pac-Nor...the one in 11 twist is working fine with my bullet choice..I'm concerned I may be running this cartridge on the hot side..I have about 4 brands of brass to choose from & the Lapua / Dakota stuff seems best..The reformed 223 cases althou sorted by weight/brand vary in weight from 92 to 104 grains each empty.. then grouped into 50 peice lots...the very heavy Lapua 223 blew primers yesterday with the lighter 32 gr V-Max bullet..I had two primer failers with one other brand of brass & with the nosler 40 grain bullet...So testing on those batches had to stop...From what I can tell it seems to like a bit of bullet jump to the lands...Next trials I'm going to drop the powder charge a couple of tenths again..Thanks for all your interest in this project...pic attached...mike in ct

 

[tominboise]

Hey Mike, how far off the lands are you seating? I measured my throat today - using a 40gr vmax max OAL is 2.287",this is a M21 cooper). Just wondered what you arrived at for OAL on your cartridges, as a place to start.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[mikeinct]

I was running into some really flattened primers even pierced a few...That load that shot well ...Is & I have been loadin ...2.215 for finished lenght it will just barely clear the magazine....I'll double check that length..I ran into some lots of brass that were just under spec..I had trouble using one sized empty case to find the lands...I Gently seat a bullet as long as you can in an sized UNPRIMED UNLOADED CASE..then I just close the bolt on it..If I take the time to gently scuff up the bullets leading edge with really fine sandpaper 600 grit..You can plainly see the marks left by the lands & exactly where everything should be...Makes setting the seating die really easy....I start with less than a quarter turn of the seating stem down from that point of referance hard to the lands....5 to ten thous off the lands..Or whatever works best..but that is how I start...mike in ct...