today was my first opportunity to shoot my tikka varmint past 300 yards (my range is only 300 yards, but I found a nice gravel pit) and it went well....sort of.
Range was 510 and I was just trying to figure out how much elevation to dial in so I was using my "junk" ammo. When I first started loading for this rifle I was using 64 grains of H414 then I did a haphazard ladder test at 300 yards and settled on 65.5 grains of H414 (300WSM). So I started toay with the 64 grain stuff that I had left over just to get the elevation on, as I was getting close I started to try for some tight groups, I fired 4, 3 shot groups all were surprisingly good and one was unbelievable right around an inch, under 1 1/4 for sure.
At this point I was super happy, as i was getting better groups at 500 than i usually do at 300. Then i switched to my "good" ammo (65.5 grains) and things went south. First group measured about 7 inches, two were within 2 inches, but the third was high and left. Second group same thing, 2 nice and tight and one way off. Third, complete miss, the wind was picking up. Fourth, dialled in the windage and again shots were decent, with one flier. All three fliers were high and left (more high than left) and I am pretty sure that I didn't pull any shots. Wind was right to left as well, and picked up as the day went on.
Unfortunately I had to cut the day short due to thunder storms, but basically, I am thinking my ladder test wasn't accurate and I should reduce the powder charge from 65.5 back to 64.0. One other variable with the ammo was OAL, my "good" stuff is a tad longer 2.868-2.869 vs 2.862-2.863 - I have no idea if that is enough to make a difference or not.
The crappy part is I just finished loading up over 200 rounds yesterday (which took forever) - all with 65.5 grains.
Does anybody think the difference in OAL could be a factor, or should I just lower the powder charge?
Also, I crimp with the lee factory crimp, which I am guessing means that I can't just seat the bullet a bit deeper on the rounds that I already have loaded.
cheers.
Range was 510 and I was just trying to figure out how much elevation to dial in so I was using my "junk" ammo. When I first started loading for this rifle I was using 64 grains of H414 then I did a haphazard ladder test at 300 yards and settled on 65.5 grains of H414 (300WSM). So I started toay with the 64 grain stuff that I had left over just to get the elevation on, as I was getting close I started to try for some tight groups, I fired 4, 3 shot groups all were surprisingly good and one was unbelievable right around an inch, under 1 1/4 for sure.
At this point I was super happy, as i was getting better groups at 500 than i usually do at 300. Then i switched to my "good" ammo (65.5 grains) and things went south. First group measured about 7 inches, two were within 2 inches, but the third was high and left. Second group same thing, 2 nice and tight and one way off. Third, complete miss, the wind was picking up. Fourth, dialled in the windage and again shots were decent, with one flier. All three fliers were high and left (more high than left) and I am pretty sure that I didn't pull any shots. Wind was right to left as well, and picked up as the day went on.
Unfortunately I had to cut the day short due to thunder storms, but basically, I am thinking my ladder test wasn't accurate and I should reduce the powder charge from 65.5 back to 64.0. One other variable with the ammo was OAL, my "good" stuff is a tad longer 2.868-2.869 vs 2.862-2.863 - I have no idea if that is enough to make a difference or not.
The crappy part is I just finished loading up over 200 rounds yesterday (which took forever) - all with 65.5 grains.
Does anybody think the difference in OAL could be a factor, or should I just lower the powder charge?
Also, I crimp with the lee factory crimp, which I am guessing means that I can't just seat the bullet a bit deeper on the rounds that I already have loaded.
cheers.
