So today was absolutely gorgeous, sun shining, shirt sleeve weather, light to no wind, a perfect day for shooting and chronographing...........and so I did, for 5 hrs pretty much non stop this afternoon. I am now almost exhausted, 5 hours of shooting groups is a lot of work and concentration. Anyway I had a few revelations today, first was that the 22-284 did NOT work in the 1-12 twist barrel at all, could not even hit the back board.........but that one is on the other thread specific to that rifle and cartridge.
My 6mm-284 I found does not like 107 gn Berger VLDs and also would not hit the backboard.............So I tried it on a box at 50 mtrs and low and behold.........well it's pretty obvious what's going on. When I bought this rifle it was a 243 and I assumed, seeing as it was on a Remington action it was a 1-9, however it obviously is not and is likely a 1-10 barrel and even possibly a 1-12........Guess I'll have to try some lighter shorter bullets in it or change out the barrel for another I have in 243 and chamber it out to 6-284.
I also worked with a BSA Schtutzen 243 full stock and it went fair, I was trying 95 gn Nosler BTs and got a couple loose groups around an inch but nothing really exciting. I suspect it too may have a 1-10 barrel and shall try some 80-90 grn bullets to see if it shoots any better.
Next up was my 25-06 which has been f**king me around for well over a year and a half now, outstanding velocities with 4 or 5 different bullets and 4 or 5 different powders but nothing consistently under 2 inches..........today was no exception, one group about 1 1/4" but the next one was back out to around 2"..........Today was 110 Nosler ABs and RL 23 and IMR 7828...........it's never terrible but it's never great..........1 1/2" - 2" - 2 1/2" consistently but never MOA, and if I do accidentally shoot a MOA group it will never repeat it........
My Sako Safari 338 was also on the menu today. It turned in a fair performance but didn't really meet my expectations, velocities were very, very good but groups ran around 1 1/2" to 2" with 225 Nosler ABs and IMR 4350 powder. My last 3 increases in powder made virtually no increase in velocity so that tells me that I have "hit the wall" with IMR 4350..........However the last three charges all went right around or just shy of 3000 fps. Primers are all good and no ejector marks, just a slight resistance on bolt lift so I know I'm not over pressured..........just not burning the 4350 anymore.........Gonna try H 4350 to see if there is any difference and it's supposed to be less temp sensitive. I also have some RL 17 loads made up and we'll see where these go....in a few days. It is such a nice fitting rifle that it is pleasant to shoot even with 225s at 3000 fps.......it's a pussy cat.
I'm a little sore as I also fireformed 30 pretty much full house loads in my 458 Ruger wildcat, want to get the brass formed up for load testing and get that 40* shoulder nice and sharp for headspace duty, so there is no waffling around with test loads. Anyway it beat me up a bit, not used to it after the winter off from shooting.
My 6mm-284 I found does not like 107 gn Berger VLDs and also would not hit the backboard.............So I tried it on a box at 50 mtrs and low and behold.........well it's pretty obvious what's going on. When I bought this rifle it was a 243 and I assumed, seeing as it was on a Remington action it was a 1-9, however it obviously is not and is likely a 1-10 barrel and even possibly a 1-12........Guess I'll have to try some lighter shorter bullets in it or change out the barrel for another I have in 243 and chamber it out to 6-284.
I also worked with a BSA Schtutzen 243 full stock and it went fair, I was trying 95 gn Nosler BTs and got a couple loose groups around an inch but nothing really exciting. I suspect it too may have a 1-10 barrel and shall try some 80-90 grn bullets to see if it shoots any better.
Next up was my 25-06 which has been f**king me around for well over a year and a half now, outstanding velocities with 4 or 5 different bullets and 4 or 5 different powders but nothing consistently under 2 inches..........today was no exception, one group about 1 1/4" but the next one was back out to around 2"..........Today was 110 Nosler ABs and RL 23 and IMR 7828...........it's never terrible but it's never great..........1 1/2" - 2" - 2 1/2" consistently but never MOA, and if I do accidentally shoot a MOA group it will never repeat it........
My Sako Safari 338 was also on the menu today. It turned in a fair performance but didn't really meet my expectations, velocities were very, very good but groups ran around 1 1/2" to 2" with 225 Nosler ABs and IMR 4350 powder. My last 3 increases in powder made virtually no increase in velocity so that tells me that I have "hit the wall" with IMR 4350..........However the last three charges all went right around or just shy of 3000 fps. Primers are all good and no ejector marks, just a slight resistance on bolt lift so I know I'm not over pressured..........just not burning the 4350 anymore.........Gonna try H 4350 to see if there is any difference and it's supposed to be less temp sensitive. I also have some RL 17 loads made up and we'll see where these go....in a few days. It is such a nice fitting rifle that it is pleasant to shoot even with 225s at 3000 fps.......it's a pussy cat.
I'm a little sore as I also fireformed 30 pretty much full house loads in my 458 Ruger wildcat, want to get the brass formed up for load testing and get that 40* shoulder nice and sharp for headspace duty, so there is no waffling around with test loads. Anyway it beat me up a bit, not used to it after the winter off from shooting.
