FINALLY! I found my load

LawrenceN

LawrenceN

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I recently acquired a Ruger Predator in .308 so naturally I had to see if I could find a load it liked. I had some older reloads from different rifles I'd moved along and I worked up some loads with Speer bullets I'd recently acquired. I guess I burned through about 70 rounds and I was getting pretty discouraged. Some groups were just awful, some were so-so, some were "minute-of-deer" but inconsistent. I was starting to think age and deteriorating skills were at play and then the magic happened. One load was excellent and another very good, so I have my hunting load. In the first pic you'll see what the rifle and I were doing and why I was doubting my skills. I had 2 targets that showed pretty much the same kind of poor groups. FYI, the orange circles are just shy 1" in diameter. In the second pic you'll see what I managed to achieve in the top and bottom left quadrants. The groups were 5 rounds and I know I messed up and caused the flyers. Like most of us who've done a lot of shooting, you know when you make an error. The group in the upper quadrant was Speer 165 gr. #2034 on top of 44.5 gr. IMR 4064. Federal brass and CCI200 primers. Comments and observations are more than welcome.
PS: should have mentioned it's at the 100 yd. range.
 
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Looks good to me, I don't believe better accuracy than that is required for a Deer rifle, if your shots are at reasonable distances.

Good on you for being tenacious.
 
Great final load. I find Speer bullets really difficult to get good loads with. When I look through my notes my best loads have been with Berger,Sierra,Hornady, the Winchester and Remington hunting soft points. No great groups with Speer or PRVI,adequate but not groups you'd brag about. I just figured they were cheaper for a reason.

I'm not OCD enough to do things like separate bullets by weight so I can't comment from that perspective on Speer quality.

Bottom line: I use Speer cause they are cheap. If I'm loading for long range accuracy I don't use Speer bullets. My reloading skill level: I can produce 1 MOA loads shooting out to 600yds with Lapua brass, Berger bullets,so I figure I'm a good B grade reloader.My buddy, a bench rest competitor gets 1 hole groups all the time and fusses over the size of the 1 hole. He weighs/measures EVERYTHING. His rifle weighs nearly 20lbs and his bench rest cost $2,000+ .I am thrilled when I can get 1 to 1.5MOA groups with my hunting rifles and FinnM39's.

Good shooting to you, enjoy your success!
cheers.
 
mbogo3 said:
A buddy found his load thanks to Ancestry.com A daughter he didn't know he had.
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Two things: 1) I`m with big bear in that Speer bullets are not known for their accuracy. I have experimented extensively with many calibers and cartridges always looking for the best groups possible and have never shot any groups that were worth talking about with Speer bullets. 2) For a ruger predator that is about as good as can be expected.
 
Just for sh1tz'n giggles, you should load up 20 rounds of that reciple, and 20 rounds of the worst 4064 result you tested and shoot five 4 shot groups of each at the same aiming point
 
Maybe its inherent to the caliber, but both speer 140 and ppu 139 just about stack at 50 yards out of my classic 2000 in 6.5x55. So ya never know i guess.

Totally throws my coyote rifles 100grn loads all over the place though
 
"big bear . I find Speer bullets really difficult to get good loads with."

I find just the opposite.

Speer bullets are usually some of the best performers in my "hunting" rifles.

They are my go to bullets in most loadings, but I don't shoot or fool around with "magnum" cartridges unless I have to.

Speer Grand Slam Mag Tip especially.

Speer uses a technique they call "hot swaging" when they construct their bullets.

I get very consistent and dependable results with these bullets in 6.5/.277/7/30/8/338
 
bearhunter said:
"big bear . I find Speer bullets really difficult to get good loads with."

I find just the opposite.

Speer bullets are usually some of the best performers in my "hunting" rifles.

They are my go to bullets in most loadings, but I don't shoot or fool around with "magnum" cartridges unless I have to.

Speer Grand Slam Mag Tip especially.

Speer uses a technique they call "hot swaging" when they construct their bullets.

I get very consistent and dependable results with these bullets in 6.5/.277/7/30/8/338
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I will keep your experience in mind and keep trying with Speer bullets. I'm afraid my approach is to find a good load for my purpose and then in our world of supply chain issues/inflation, I get a good supply of that bullet.So at this point of the game I'm pretty set in my ways (I have ++boxes of my favourite proven hunting bullets in my hunting calibres). Speer also does not offer (or never available for me to buy) bullet in many of my pet calibres (348 Winchester,218 Bee,375 Winchester). I'll give it another try. I'd love to hear about good loads with Speer bullets for 308Win (150-180gr), 30'06 and 300WinMag same bullets weight range, 338 WinMag. Cheers!
 
big bear said:
I will keep your experience in mind and keep trying with Speer bullets. I'm afraid my approach is to find a good load for my purpose and then in our world of supply chain issues/inflation, I get a good supply of that bullet.So at this point of the game I'm pretty set in my ways (I have ++boxes of my favourite proven hunting bullets in my hunting calibres). Speer also does not offer (or never available for me to buy) bullet in many of my pet calibres (348 Winchester,218 Bee,375 Winchester). I'll give it another try. I'd love to hear about good loads with Speer bullets for 308Win (150-180gr), 30'06 and 300WinMag same bullets weight range, 338 WinMag. Cheers!
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I mostly use the Grand Slam Mag Tip, which is pretty much their best bullet.

Canadian Tire, Budget Shooter Supply and others carry a very decent selection of Speer projectiles.

Rifle barrels are entities unto themselves. Just because I've been lucky with Speer projectiles, doesn't mean they will work for you.

No one can jump up and shout this company's projectiles shoot well in every rifle. It just doesn't happen.
 
We opted for Hot Core 150 gr flat base for the 308, good on paper so eager to try on a live target
Found some old stock at an old price so testing has been thrifty, but thankfully it hasn't taken us 70 shots
 
Eagleye said:
The Speer 6.5mm/140 grain Hot-Cor flat base bullet has shot well in every 6.5mm rifle I have owned.
Ditto the 30 cal 200 grain Hot-Cor FB. Dave.
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Hot-Cor 130 and 150 shoot sub moa in my 270, Same for Hot-cor 165 and 180 in my 30-06 Browning BAR, in addition to the 140 in the 6.5x55. Every Hot-Cor shoots sub-moa for me.
 
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