- Location
- smack dab in the middle of sask!
I've been slowly acquiring all of the tools, components, manuals, and thanks to the experienced loaders on this site, knowledge. I picked up a Rockchucker starter kit, a pile of the small extras, bullets, powder,(so hard to find) and spent a lot of time educating myself before starting this process. Well, packed up my Savage 99f in 308Win and my Ruger M77 Hawkeye in 35 Whelen and headed to the range. Beautiful sunny day, and hardly a breath of wind. Perfect conditions.
I'm not going to lie, i was very nervous after chambering a round in the Whelen, i almost had to force myself to squeeze the trigger. No worries, the gun went bang, the bullet hit the target. Extracted the case, studied it for a few minutes, just to collect my thoughts, then got down to some serious shooting. I'd loaded some 150gr ballistic tips in the 308, and some 225gr accubonds in the whelen, using H4895, starting at minimum, and going up 1/2 grain at a time to a grain or two below max.
I may have to try a little heavier bullet in the 99, the best group i could get was 1.370, which really isn't that bad, it's more than a minute of deer or moose. The whelen? wow, did it shine. The worse group, about a 1.390, the best, .689! That was 1 1/2 grain below max, according to the nosler manual, should be going a little over 2700fps. I may tweak that load .2 grains up and down from that charge to see if it can possibly get better, and adjust the COAL to my rifle's chamber, i just went with the COAL in the manual. I was shooting off of a lead sled, to try take away as much "me" error as possible. The sled may not have helped the 99 at all, as it rests on the tip of the forearm, i may try it off of a big sand bag, closer to the receiver next time.
Anyhow, it was a great day, i'm definately, positively, 110% hooked on this new hobby!
To all of the knowledgeable, experienced reloaders on this site, thank you, please keep sharing your wisdom with us rookies, we have a lot to learn, and i for one, am a thankful student. Dogger
I'm not going to lie, i was very nervous after chambering a round in the Whelen, i almost had to force myself to squeeze the trigger. No worries, the gun went bang, the bullet hit the target. Extracted the case, studied it for a few minutes, just to collect my thoughts, then got down to some serious shooting. I'd loaded some 150gr ballistic tips in the 308, and some 225gr accubonds in the whelen, using H4895, starting at minimum, and going up 1/2 grain at a time to a grain or two below max.
I may have to try a little heavier bullet in the 99, the best group i could get was 1.370, which really isn't that bad, it's more than a minute of deer or moose. The whelen? wow, did it shine. The worse group, about a 1.390, the best, .689! That was 1 1/2 grain below max, according to the nosler manual, should be going a little over 2700fps. I may tweak that load .2 grains up and down from that charge to see if it can possibly get better, and adjust the COAL to my rifle's chamber, i just went with the COAL in the manual. I was shooting off of a lead sled, to try take away as much "me" error as possible. The sled may not have helped the 99 at all, as it rests on the tip of the forearm, i may try it off of a big sand bag, closer to the receiver next time.
Anyhow, it was a great day, i'm definately, positively, 110% hooked on this new hobby!
To all of the knowledgeable, experienced reloaders on this site, thank you, please keep sharing your wisdom with us rookies, we have a lot to learn, and i for one, am a thankful student. Dogger
