More of a rant maybe!
A guy wanted me to take him shooting, his first time. Not having any cheap blasting ammo, but tons of brass, I got 100 of the cheapest bullets the store had, Hornady 60 grain traditional varmint. I had a pound of some powder I had tried in a different cartridge and didn't like, so I used it. I just looked up the minimum charge and went with that. According to the data and adjusting down for a 16” barrel I figured they should be about 2600-2700 fps.
It turns out they shot with amazing accuracy! At least as good as the best ammo I've ever shot in this carbine, and way better than most. ½ MOA at 100 and .8 MOA at 300. Easily inside the 10-ring with room to spare. No kidding. I was really very surprised.
I still had 50 bullets left so I figured I'd load up 10 with that same powder charge and see what the actual velocity is. Loaded all 10 in one session. Same powder, carefully zeroed my scale, set the measure to throw about .1-.2 light and trickled up.
So the first 4 were around 2,670-2,680 fps (IIRC when I later averaged them they were at 2,676). Then the next 3 read “ERROR” so I increased the sensitivity. The last three averaged 2,005 fps! Huh?
Next range trip I loaded some more, same-same...and a brand new battery in the chrono...they all chrono'd right around 2,000-2,007 fps. Low SD and ES but very low velocity.
Next I systematically zeroed at 100 and shot five, then without changing the zero shot 5 at 200 and 5 at 300. Measuring the drops at 200 and 300 and using a ballistic calculator, plugging in right around 2,680 fps matches the actual drops measured in the real world.
OK, no problem , my chrono is out to lunch. The load is still amazingly accurate and cheap. Let's make more! I order 400 of the bullets on line. Same manufacturer's number. They arrive...different bullet in the boxes. Still a 60 grain traditional but visibly very different. Ooookay...maybe they will work as well.
Load twenty, off to the range. This time with a bolt gun, 26” barrel. No chrono. Good-enough accuracy. Playing with the actual measured drops and a ballistic calc. 3131 fps seems to be the number. Great let's load of the remainder of the 400!
Next, let me say this; my 5-0-5 scale sits on a granite surface plate which is on a cast iron base. I had not moved the scale since my last session, in fact it was still on the charge weight for these rounds. So now I check the zero on the scale, which I always do at the beginning and partway through any session. This time it's not anywhere near zero. Maybe off .5 gr, or more. Huh? Check, double check, triple check the level of the surface plate, freedom of movement of the beam, foreign objects under the scale or anywhere, nothing. No reason. So I carefully set zero and try some check weights. Looks good. No explanation as to why it as so far off. There's no fan or wind blowing on it.
Put the powder into the measure, which hasn't been changed since the last time I loaded these but now this time the measure is throwing light by about .5-.6 grain. WTF. Go back and recheck that scale. Yep, still zeroed.
At this point I'm really wondering why I don't just by factory ammo...
Just ranting, not looking for answers.
A guy wanted me to take him shooting, his first time. Not having any cheap blasting ammo, but tons of brass, I got 100 of the cheapest bullets the store had, Hornady 60 grain traditional varmint. I had a pound of some powder I had tried in a different cartridge and didn't like, so I used it. I just looked up the minimum charge and went with that. According to the data and adjusting down for a 16” barrel I figured they should be about 2600-2700 fps.
It turns out they shot with amazing accuracy! At least as good as the best ammo I've ever shot in this carbine, and way better than most. ½ MOA at 100 and .8 MOA at 300. Easily inside the 10-ring with room to spare. No kidding. I was really very surprised.
I still had 50 bullets left so I figured I'd load up 10 with that same powder charge and see what the actual velocity is. Loaded all 10 in one session. Same powder, carefully zeroed my scale, set the measure to throw about .1-.2 light and trickled up.
So the first 4 were around 2,670-2,680 fps (IIRC when I later averaged them they were at 2,676). Then the next 3 read “ERROR” so I increased the sensitivity. The last three averaged 2,005 fps! Huh?
Next range trip I loaded some more, same-same...and a brand new battery in the chrono...they all chrono'd right around 2,000-2,007 fps. Low SD and ES but very low velocity.
Next I systematically zeroed at 100 and shot five, then without changing the zero shot 5 at 200 and 5 at 300. Measuring the drops at 200 and 300 and using a ballistic calculator, plugging in right around 2,680 fps matches the actual drops measured in the real world.
OK, no problem , my chrono is out to lunch. The load is still amazingly accurate and cheap. Let's make more! I order 400 of the bullets on line. Same manufacturer's number. They arrive...different bullet in the boxes. Still a 60 grain traditional but visibly very different. Ooookay...maybe they will work as well.
Load twenty, off to the range. This time with a bolt gun, 26” barrel. No chrono. Good-enough accuracy. Playing with the actual measured drops and a ballistic calc. 3131 fps seems to be the number. Great let's load of the remainder of the 400!
Next, let me say this; my 5-0-5 scale sits on a granite surface plate which is on a cast iron base. I had not moved the scale since my last session, in fact it was still on the charge weight for these rounds. So now I check the zero on the scale, which I always do at the beginning and partway through any session. This time it's not anywhere near zero. Maybe off .5 gr, or more. Huh? Check, double check, triple check the level of the surface plate, freedom of movement of the beam, foreign objects under the scale or anywhere, nothing. No reason. So I carefully set zero and try some check weights. Looks good. No explanation as to why it as so far off. There's no fan or wind blowing on it.
Put the powder into the measure, which hasn't been changed since the last time I loaded these but now this time the measure is throwing light by about .5-.6 grain. WTF. Go back and recheck that scale. Yep, still zeroed.
At this point I'm really wondering why I don't just by factory ammo...
Just ranting, not looking for answers.
Last edited:
