Hornady 178 gr Match and 3 powders....

Use with CAUTION!!!!

44.5 grs Varget......Norma Match case......flash hole deburred.......FL sized......Federal 210M primer......seated to 2.800"......this is with Moly Coated 178 gr AMAX bullets.....

I use the same for my 5r swap between 178s amax and smks 175s, and have had some wee first signs of pressure !! so yep like skullboy says work your way there I started with 42.0 and went up to 44 by .5s than to 44.5 with .25s

also VERY CASE DEPENDANT !!!!
 
I use the same for my 5r swap between 178s amax and smks 175s, and have had some wee first signs of pressure !! so yep like skullboy says work your way there I started with 42.0 and went up to 44 by .5s than to 44.5 with .25s

also VERY CASE DEPENDANT !!!!

I worked up to 45.0 grs of Varget, but started to get signs of overpressure so I dropped back down to 44.5 grs.......I can swap 175 gr SMKs as well with almost the same accuracy.......the 178 gr AMAX shoot just a hair tighter for me......
 
Today went to the range with 2 of my grandchilds so they could shoot some 22 mag on the 100 metres lane... I had prepared 90 reloads of Hornady 178 gr Match 30 of each with those powder R-15, Varget and BL-C2, every load was one gr below max all with BR-2 and all the same OAL to fit the mag, they all print groups from .4 to .7 @ 100 metres, over the P-35 the fastest is the R-15 with an average of 2725 fps, Varget got 2685 fps and BL-C2 2680 fps... The only thing i can say is that Nemesis rifle is far from being finicky, every loads i put tru seem to be around the .5 mark... JP. :)

keep up the rewiews I'm quite intrested in this rifle
 
Today i concentrate on reloading those 178 Match with R-15, since i have to deal with 20 inchs of barrel, velocity is critical, already got a proven load for 208 Match and R-17 ( 2600+fps ), now since R-15 was giving me the best velocity, it also gave me all of the tighters groups .4 to .5 for 6 X 5 shots groups... Just reloading by .2 increments from one gr under max to one grain over max, if it is anything like the R-17 ,i should find the sweet spot somewere, i am aiming to get .2 to .3 while pushing that 178 Match to close to 2800 fps... Tuesday after trying a co-shooter Wilson Combat Supergrade 45 ACP ( still shopping to buy myself a couples of handguns), me and Nemesis will have a nice peacefull shooting session hopefully with great results to show, isn't life beautiful... JP.
 
I will full lenght resize, cut to lenght, will make a quick check for concentrity with the micrometer, clean primer pocket, discard the loose one, and after that, i will weight every single one of them, to keep them all within .01 gr, i will weight bullets as well, but usually you get more to discard i you use new brass or brass given to you from a co-shooter, my own Hornady brass are pretty equal, primed, loaded, OAL to fit mag ( max 2,875) or less... When all this is over, they go for 30 minutes in the tumbler (corn cob and a teaspoon of alcool)... JP. PS the picture is showing a batch of 208 Match, just put it so you can see how clean they are when the process is over, you would think they are brand new... Those have to be loaded single by hand
208001.jpg
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When was the last time you saw a 700 SPS sporter on this forum being passed off as a "precision rifle"? Please, provide links to support your argument. ;)

OK, OK, it never really happens. :D

Now back to the topic of the thread. Caramels Nemesis. :)
 
Caramel, how much Varget were you using when you tested your velocities? I was going to try these bullets as well. Also, how long is your barrel, did I read that it is 20 inches?
 
Yes my barrel is 20.5 inch and it took 44 gr of Varget to reach 2685 fps, one grain below max, guess it could have reach 2700 fps with the whole 45 gr, that 1 in 10 barrel is very fast, but if i may say so the R-15 and R-17 powder give so much more velocity( i should be able to easily reach 2800 fps tomorrow around 47 gr of R-15) and accuracy wise i think from batch to batch are more regular and i did shot my famous 208 Match- R-17 load at minus 10 degrees and at plus 28 without noticing no variations on pressures signs, maybe -40 to+40 would make a difference... JP.
 
I think I might try starting at about 43.5gr of Varget and work up from there. I have an extra 11 inches of barrel to work with (31" total), so that should help. I thought about RL-17, but I've heard it's not as temp stable as Varget, so that might not be the best choice for me. And really, if I can't get the 178's going faster than 2800, they aren't really affording me any advantages over the 155 Lapuas that I shoot at almost 3000 fps anyway. Thanks for the info. Cheers, Ryan
 
I think I might try starting at about 43.5gr of Varget and work up from there. I have an extra 11 inches of barrel to work with (31" total), so that should help. I thought about RL-17, but I've heard it's not as temp stable as Varget, so that might not be the best choice for me. And really, if I can't get the 178's going faster than 2800, they aren't really affording me any advantages over the 155 Lapuas that I shoot at almost 3000 fps anyway. Thanks for the info. Cheers, Ryan


178 @ 2800fps is the same energy as 155 @ 3000fps (and therefore it would be expected that both of these would be achievable with approximately comparable pressures).

I ran this on JBM and was surprised to see that the 178 Hornady underperformed the 155 Lapua by quite a bit. I had thought that the 178 Hornady was a relatively sleek bullet, but I guess it's not so.

  • 155 Lapua (Litz) 3000fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 87.6" for 10mph x-wind
  • 178 Hdy (Litz) 2800fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 96.2" for 10mph x-wind

Some other 155s:
  • 155 Berger Hybrid (G7=.247) 3000fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 81.9" for 10mph x-wind
  • 155.5 Berger FULLBORE (G7=.237) 3000fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 87.1" for 10mph x-wind
  • 155 Berger VLD (G7=.247) 3000fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 94.2" for 10mph x-wind
  • New 155 Sierra #2156 (Litz) 3000fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 91.7" for 10mph x-wind
  • Old 155 Sierra #2155 (Litz) 3000fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 101.9" for 10mph x-wind

Perhaps you might want to try some other medium-weight .308 bullets:
  • 185 Berger LRBT (Litz) 2746fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 76.7" for 10mph x-wind
  • 185 Berger Hybrid (G7=0.291) 2746fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 75.2" for 10mph x-wind
  • 185 Berger VLD (Litz) 2746fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 79.0" for 10mph x-wind

Or some heavier .308 bullets:
  • 208 Hdy Amax (Litz) 2590fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 71.4" for 10mph x-wind
  • 200 Berger Hybrid (G7=.320) 2641fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 70.4" for 10mph x-wind
  • 215 Berger Hybrid (G7=.356) 2547fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 64.7" for 10mph x-wind
  • 230 Berger Hybrid (G7=.380) 2463fps, ICAO, 900m wind drift 62.7" for 10mph x-wind
 
Yep another complete mission... At Hornady 178 gr Match, 46.8 gr of R-15, OAL of 2.850, BR-2, over the Oehler 2805 and 2799 fps, 2 groups of 5 shots.... .175 and .230 @ 100 metres, yes the pictures are coming, gonna write this one in my book tonight... JP.
 
I will full lenght resize, cut to lenght, will make a quick check for concentrity with the micrometer, clean primer pocket, discard the loose one, and after that, i will weight every single one of them, to keep them all within .01 gr, i will weight bullets as well, but usually you get more to discard i you use new brass or brass given to you from a co-shooter, my own Hornady brass are pretty equal, primed, loaded, OAL to fit mag ( max 2,875) or less... When all this is over, they go for 30 minutes in the tumbler (corn cob and a teaspoon of alcool)... JP. PS the picture is showing a batch of 208 Match, just put it so you can see how clean they are when the process is over, you would think they are brand new... Those have to be loaded single by hand

Is the teaspoon of alcool for you or does it help in the cleaning process??

:confused:
JJ
 
ok I Hope no one trys to dupe Caramels loads they are WAY over max loads DO NOT USE
 
Yep another complete mission... At Hornady 178 gr Match, 46.8 gr of R-15, OAL of 2.850, BR-2, over the Oehler 2805 and 2799 fps, 2 groups of 5 shots.... .175 and .230 @ 100 metres, yes the pictures are coming, gonna write this one in my book tonight... JP.

There is something wrong here. You typically get the velocities listed with a 175 at around 44 gr. of RL-15. 46.8 is WAY over, and this powder is known not to be temperature stable. Thinking this should be 43.8...
 
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