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Glenfilthie

Glenfilthie

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I am posting this here and not in the reloading forum because I think this is a function of the gun and not the ammo:

I am working up loads for my Rem 700 SPS Tactical. When I do load development I start mid-way between min. and max. and work my way up in 1 grain increments. All my brass is coming out with cratered primers - but no other pressure signs. Extraction is smooth with mid-range loads, accuracy is good. Powders are RL15, IMR 4320 and I had some old ammo made years ago with a midrange dose of 4198 if I remember correctly. Bullet is the Nosler 150 gr. Ballistic Tip.

This is the first time I have seen this. In all my other rifles, I regularly exceed the charges in the manuals to get the posted velocities and see no pressure signs at all. Usually I quit upping the charge when the velocities and accuracy falls off as the loads get too hot.

As always, your two cents is sincerely appreciated.
 
Primer cratering is a poor indication of over pressure, soft primers, oversized fireing pin hole are also causes..

Also 1gn increments is to big for load development in a 308, I'd drop down to 1/2 at the least
 
I had a similar experience, turns out it was an oversized firing pin hole. Problem solved when the pin and hole were mated to each others size. My rifle was also a 700 SPS.
 
I am shooting .308, fellas.

I don't mind going up in full grain increments to start provided all is well on the chronograph. (All I want are 'book' velocities, I figure if I need .300 magnum ballistics I will go buy one rather than trying to turn a .308 into something it's not).

Can you guys recommend any loads for this rifle? I need the fastest, hardest-hitting most accurate hunting load I can get. Then I need a good mild target load for practice - would prefer to keep velocities low if possible. These lighter loads would be the main diet of the rifle for the most part.

Right now I am really liking Reloader 15 for this rifle for the 150gr. pills...
 
46.0grs of Varget and the 150's is de rigueur load of the target rifles. 2,900 fps out of 30" barrels.

I never use mild loads in bolt actions. Full steam ahead!
For any given rifle cartridge they seem to work best around 100% loading density for accuracy.

All the SPS bolts I've looked at have a chamfer in the firing pin hole. Primers will crater no matter what load you use.
Rebushing the firing pin hole will solve that.
 
If your loads are not hot then your craters are do to some or all of the following:
not enough pin protrusion
sloppy pin hole
weak spring (buy extra power springs) even a new gun can have a weak spring AND any spring does not last forever, just because it goes bang does not mean it's okay
 
I would suggest you to use 180 gr bullets
180 nosler ballistic tip has a heavier jacket than the 150 and 165 and will give you a better penetration on big game like moose
use temperature stable powders like varget or H4895
and sitck with magnum primers like fed GM215M they will give better and more consistent results in cold weather

gooing up in 1gr increament, you can miss a sweet spot and think that powder is not accurate
 
When I had my SPS action tuned up for precision rifle work I overlooked getting the firing pin bushed. Guess what; cratered primers, no matter what the load. Don't sweat it unless you are going for very hot loads.
 
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