Thanks. I'm a long time reader on the forums and thought I would jump in and register. The rifle is 100% factory so I don't think I am going to put too much money into trying to tweek these loads. What I got with H4831SC is so much better than what I got with H4350, I was really surprised. It was blazing hot and I was miserable shooting, so I have a hunch that the horizontal spread on the last 2 loads was due to me and sloppy shoulder work. I had already been shooting about an hour with other stuff. Next I will load 5 each of the loads above and take them out to 500 yards at my club. After that I may or may not play with seating depth. This evening I ordered some different sizes of expander mandrels from 21st Century Shooting, and I am excited to see if that improves overall consistency. Thanks to all who have posted on this thread. It took a pretty good factory rifle and has made it better.
>>>>>The SECRET.... 6.5 CAROLINA LOAD<<<<<<
- Thread starter daniel brothers
- Start date
Thanks. I'm a long time reader on the forums and thought I would jump in and register. The rifle is 100% factory so I don't think I am going to put too much money into trying to tweek these loads. What I got with H4831SC is so much better than what I got with H4350, I was really surprised. It was blazing hot and I was miserable shooting, so I have a hunch that the horizontal spread on the last 2 loads was due to me and sloppy shoulder work. I had already been shooting about an hour with other stuff. Next I will load 5 each of the loads above and take them out to 500 yards at my club. After that I may or may not play with seating depth. This evening I ordered some different sizes of expander mandrels from 21st Century Shooting, and I am excited to see if that improves overall consistency. Thanks to all who have posted on this thread. It took a pretty good factory rifle and has made it better.
What is your cartridge OAL @ .010” off the lands? I have an RPR, but if I loaded that close to the lands I can’t load them in a mag. I can’t remember the actual jump when loaded at mag length, but I think it’s somewhere between .060 to.080 jump! It still shoots VERY well, however.
Believe it or not, OAL is 2.762" which is below max OAL of 2.800" in my Hornady reloading manual. I thought I was doing something wrong when I was measuring with my comparator, but I kept measuring bullet after bullet and I was right. I don't know if this is normal or if I have a "special" chamber courtesy Ruger. Whatever, it shoots well and I can feed these loads out of a magazine. I know what you mean about big jumps. I have a load that shoots at 2450 ft/sec with a 0.043" jump (HDY 140gr ELDM or HDY BTHP with H4350) and it can shoot 3" groups with this gun at 500 yards. The BTHP OAL is 2.700". Yes, I know 2,450 ft/sec is sloooww. But it works.
I don't know if it has to do with the ogive of the Nosler Custom Competition bullets or not. I looked into this bullet because I can buy it locally at a reasonable price (less than Bergers and SMKs) and MidSouth's Monster Match bullets are Nosler Custom Competitions rebranded with the MidSouth name. Bought it in bulk from MidSouth, they are $0.25 each. I have a finite limit to what I can put into this hobby thus the looking for cheap bullets and Starline brass. SL brass is no Lapua but I have been pleased with it.
The secret formula worked like a charm with a few tweaks on my 260 Remington. Since I like to shoot medium weight bullets, I picked out some Monster 123 gr stock from Midsouth. Although I have been using CCI200 primers, I followed the formula and primed Hornady brass with Fed210 (large) primers. I researched several sources to come up with a range of recipes. Using load data from Sierra, Hodgdon, Lyman, and Hornady I decided that the “magic 44.3 gr H4831SC” would be the starting load for my 123s. I worked my way up by 0.3 grains and found an accuracy node at 45.8 gr yielding an average velocity of 2729 fps according to Labradar. A five shot group at 100 yards gave me one ragged hole measuring .447. Thanks for posting this daniel. I’m sold on the Secret Carolina load! Any other secret formulas you want to share?
Only if you have a "necklace"...
Then anything works...
Then anything works...
Pick up Accurate Mag for 308 without the binder, they work great in the RPR's.....you can load out to 2.950 / https://accurate-mag.com/shop/magazines/308-winchester-7-62x51mm-dssf-magazine/
I have a re-barrelled RPR 6.5, with the new Bartlein 26" barrel. I have been struggling to make H4350 shoot as well as it did in the original barrel.
I loaded up some rounds of 44.3 - H4831SC with Berger 140 VLD's and headed for the range.
I am impressed, I had loads with .010 jump, touch and jammed .010. The jump and the touch loads shot great, the jammed loads opened up a bit. I also had my standby load of H4350 to compare side by side, they were not grouping well at all compared to the 4831!
I could only shoot out to 200 yds, and both 4831 (touch), 5 shot groups, were well under 1/2 MOA.
I will be taking this load next week to a 1000yd shoot, I have high hopes....LOL
Lapua brass, trimmed to 1.905, neck turned to .013 and annealed
Neck sized only
BR4
44.3 H4831SC
Berger 140 VLD touching.
I loaded up some rounds of 44.3 - H4831SC with Berger 140 VLD's and headed for the range.
I am impressed, I had loads with .010 jump, touch and jammed .010. The jump and the touch loads shot great, the jammed loads opened up a bit. I also had my standby load of H4350 to compare side by side, they were not grouping well at all compared to the 4831!
I could only shoot out to 200 yds, and both 4831 (touch), 5 shot groups, were well under 1/2 MOA.
I will be taking this load next week to a 1000yd shoot, I have high hopes....LOL
Lapua brass, trimmed to 1.905, neck turned to .013 and annealed
Neck sized only
BR4
44.3 H4831SC
Berger 140 VLD touching.
Well, I bought some H4831sc and loaded up 20 rounds. At 100 yds they were no diffeance in accuracy over the H4350. I was still getting 3/4 MOA groups. I will say they shot about 2" higher than the H4350, but still 3/4 MOA groups. My loads are:
H4350, 40.5 gr, 140 Hornandy HPBT Match, 2716 FPS
H4831sc, 44.3 gr, 140 Hornandy HPBT Match, 2765 FPS
Same OAL on both loads.
Savage Model 12 F/V.
H4350, 40.5 gr, 140 Hornandy HPBT Match, 2716 FPS
H4831sc, 44.3 gr, 140 Hornandy HPBT Match, 2765 FPS
Same OAL on both loads.
Savage Model 12 F/V.
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Well, I think I will stick with my H4350.
Shot 600 yds tonight with my old loads and the new loads using H4831sc.
Same bullet, cases, primers and same OAL.
First picture is my 40.5grs H4350, 140 HPBT Match.
Second is the 44.3 grs, H4831sc, 140 HPBT Match.
Maybe I can use the H4831sc in my .224 Valkyrie...
Shot 600 yds tonight with my old loads and the new loads using H4831sc.
Same bullet, cases, primers and same OAL.
First picture is my 40.5grs H4350, 140 HPBT Match.
Second is the 44.3 grs, H4831sc, 140 HPBT Match.
Maybe I can use the H4831sc in my .224 Valkyrie...
Attachments
Spudgun.... that group with the 4831 looks like it needs the powder charge to be higher or lower... 44.3 may NOT be the perfect charge for your rifle.
But the 4350 load looks good for 600 yds as well.
But the 4350 load looks good for 600 yds as well.
I agree with Daniel brothers, try a touch more fuel.
My rifle never did like 44.3.
140vld 44.6
140 elite hunter 44.8
136 scenar L 45
Guess I forgot to update this post....
The load shot very well considering I still suck at reading mirage and wind, the load seemed to be very consistent.
My scores @1000 were a few points higher than my average, and good enough to win a 1/2 gal of Crown from my buddies....
I will certainly keep working with this powder and my CM.
I’ve tried the 44.3 4831 sc load and was getting roughly 3/4” groups with it. backed down around 42.5 grains and it bug holes 5 shits without trying to hard.. this was in a factory 700 varmit barrel. I’m gonna try the 44.3 in my custom gun which wears a hand lapped wilson 8 twist stainless barrel sometime soon.
I have found more accuracy with 4831 over 4350 in several calibers, not sure why. Also as a nice note I trimmed up some necks just taking about 3.5-4 thou off and it 1/2ed my group size.. I’m shooting about .020” off the lands just shy of published mag length.. using 140 class bullets, 142 smk, 140smk, Hornady 140 bthp match, 143 eldm all shot roughly same impact and grouped equally as nice with less than .015” differences between overall group size.
I have found more accuracy with 4831 over 4350 in several calibers, not sure why. Also as a nice note I trimmed up some necks just taking about 3.5-4 thou off and it 1/2ed my group size.. I’m shooting about .020” off the lands just shy of published mag length.. using 140 class bullets, 142 smk, 140smk, Hornady 140 bthp match, 143 eldm all shot roughly same impact and grouped equally as nice with less than .015” differences between overall group size.
Attachments
WOW... I'm really happy to see 4831 working well for another serious shooter...WOW
Post us some more results.
Post us some more results.
I ran 4831 up past 45 gr with little to no pressure issues in my 6.5 Creedmoor several years ago. The trouble was I had crazy ES throughout the whole suite of charge weights and the velocity was less than impressive until you got a full case of powder. My best group measured .5" but the extreme spread was nearly 200fps. I sold the barrel and moved on from the meme.
Well.... it's been over a year now.... anyone else out there using the Carolina Load with any Success?
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