IMR 8133 and my 257 Weatherby.

Eagleye

Eagleye

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So, I acquired a bit of IMR 8133 to play with, and decided to try this newer slow burner in my Vanguard II, chambered in 257 Weatherby.
There is a singular lack of information for this Enduron powder. However, the burn rate charts place it right near Retumbo and Vihtavuori
N570.

With that in mind, I loaded some rounds with the 120 Partition. Fed 215M primers in Weatherby brass. I started at 69 grains, and loaded
69, 70, 71 and 72 grains behind that big Partition. Headed to the range with my chronograph.

The 69 grain charge was milder, with lots of primer radius remaining Graph said just over 3130. 70 grains was a bit faster [c.3195] and
primers still indicated moderate pressures. At 71 grains, the graph said 3250, and the primers were a bit flatter....3-shot group at 100M
measured .78" 72 grains proved to be the winner. Primers till looked good, chrony said [5 shots] 3310, 3305, 3299, 3297, 3308, avg - 3303
at 15 feet, so an honest 3315 fps, and the best part. 3 shot groups just shades ½ "
I do believe I have a hunting load for this Weatherby. Next tests will be the 100 and 120 A-Frames. I'm liking the results with this new
slow-burner. Dave.

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With My Mark 5 26” barrel I used to get 3330 with the 120 Hornady and IMR 7828 and .5 MOA, I kinda miss that gun.
 
Eagleye said:
So, I acquired a bit of IMR 8133 to play with, and decided to try this newer slow burner in my Vanguard II, chambered in 257 Weatherby.
There is a singular lack of information for this Enduron powder. However, the burn rate charts place it right near Retumbo and Vihtavuori
N570.

With that in mind, I loaded some rounds with the 120 Partition. Fed 215M primers in Weatherby brass. I started at 69 grains, and loaded
69, 70, 71 and 72 grains behind that big Partition. Headed to the range with my chronograph.

The 69 grain charge was milder, with lots of primer radius remaining Graph said just over 3130. 70 grains was a bit faster [c.3195] and
primers still indicated moderate pressures. At 71 grains, the graph said 3250, and the primers were a bit flatter....3-shot group at 100M
measured .78" 72 grains proved to be the winner. Primers till looked good, chrony said [5 shots] 3310, 3305, 3299, 3297, 3308, avg - 3303
at 15 feet, so an honest 3315 fps, and the best part. 3 shot groups just shades ½ "
I do believe I have a hunting load for this Weatherby. Next tests will be the 100 and 120 A-Frames. I'm liking the results with this new
slow-burner. Dave.

View attachment 502024
Click to expand...

Dave, those are great results, especially out of a Vanguard II which many don't believe is capable of such fine accuracy. I've never had any good results with one.

I tried that powder but found it to be quite a bit slower than Retumbo. I can't say about V570.

One issue I had several years ago with a 257 Weatherby, chambered in a Win Mod 70, was that the bullets didn't really settle down to a nice tight group until they were approximately 175 yards down range.

The powder I was using was H1000 over CCI 250 Magnum primers in Norma cases

The groups up to that point were plenty good enough to hunt with but it took quite a bit of testing that barrel with a 1-9 twist rate for me to find out that the groups got tighter around 200 yards and only opened up proportionately beyond that.

Maybe that rifle was a one off?? It certainly never was a half minute of angle performer, more like about one and a quarter inch, when it settled down.

Still, the group in the pics is very impressive. How does it shoot further out??
 
BH; I have loaded up a bunch more at that charge weight. I will be trying them at 200-500 yards, hopefully next week.

This Vanguard is actually quite accurate. It is a Stainless [not fluted] 26" VG-II hung in a Boyd's Laminate in the
classic design, since I am not crazy about Weatherby Monte Carlo stocks. My other pet load is the 110 Accubond
chased by 7x grains of N570. It also tends to shoot around .6 moa or so if I do my part.

I have shot that load out to 300, and it maintains it's accuracy grouping right around 2" at 300.

I want to try the 100 & 120 A-Frames, since they are also tough enough to stay together at 257 WB velocities. Dave.
 
That sounds like a heck of a Vanguard II. Good on you for that score.

Likely the Boyd's stock stiffens things up considerably.

I usually pass on those when they are for sale locally, simply because I've never been able to get one to shoot acceptably.
 
I have had about 10 of the vanguard and vanguard 2 rifles. I have not had one that won’t shoot acceptable. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a benchrest shooter by any means, but some examples are:
257 backcountry 3/8” groups 115 partition
223 Vanguard 2. Bought it on the EE and it had been shipped not wrapped properly to the gentleman I got it from, had some wear on it, didn’t expect much, but it would shoot 1/2” or less if you settled in and were up to the challenge. Many times 3 round groups were all touching, a number of times 10 rounds under an inch at 100.
257 vanguard 1 under an inch 115 partition
300 WBY backcountry 180 partition, would hold around an inch, recoil was quite stout.
270 win backcountry, don’t recall load, but it also shot around an inch.

Just wanted to share some experiences with the vanguard, as a couple years ago I would have put them as the best bang for buck rifles. I have moved on to other ones now, and don’t have any left, but that is only due to the purpose I am now using them for, and have found a good niche in the higher end category.
 
I have a second Vanguard, a Lazerguard, chambered in 30-06 It
is also a stellar shooter, often delivering groups in the 5/8 to
3/4 moa right out to 300 Meters.

I have a supply of the original Winchester 180 grain Silvertips.
They are not usually considered an "accuracy" bullet, as they
were designed for hunting.

This Vanguard loves them seated over 61 grains of Norma MRP.

I actually have had pretty decent success with the Howa built
rifles. Dave.
 
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