Some range results

NavyShooter

NavyShooter

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Goodday gents,

Well, after some cold winters days, looking out, wishing I could hit the range to break in my new rifle, I've been out twice in the past week, and have got up to 86 rounds through it, with the worst of the break-in over and done.

Friday, I tested 15 rounds with my old recepie, from my "old" rifle...well, same rifle, just the old barrel, stock, etc. Um, wow. Serious pressure signs with it. I mean, I knew it was a hot load, but damn I'm glad I wasn't firing it on a hot summer day! I got a lot of swell into the ejector plunger area. Not good. Discontinued firing, and pulled the remainder of that lot.

This got me up to a round count of 50 on the rifle, the point where I switch from 5 shots-clean to 10 shots-clean. YOUPEE!!!!

So, today was load development and I ran 36 rounds through the rifle, using my favorite powder (Varget) and got some interesting results.

Best 3 shot group was just over 0.3 MOA. Best 5 shot group just over 0.5 MOA. Best 5 shot group was with 43.0 grain of Varget, so I'm doing up a bunch of rounds to test it some more, and see how it does. Hopefully, that'll get tested tomorrow afternoon. :) Then the break-in will also be complete! WOOHOO!!! :rockOn: :rockOn: :rockOn:

So.

Anyhow, that's how my rifle is performing. Here's the gratuitous pic for you to see (again).

Dec%2006%20075%20(Small).jpg
 
I'm also doing a little test.

40 rounds loaded on a Dillon 550 semi-progressive (sizing first, then tumble to clean up, then loading)

vs

40 rounds, loaded on an RCBS single-stage, standard method.

I've already determined that the 550B's powder shuttle isn't accurate enough for my preferences for thrown loads (+- 0.2 grains error...ie 43.0 grain target, with results from 42.8 to 43.2 grains.)

So, my semi-progressive got even slower now, as I'm having to meter each load and pour into a funnel. However, that said, 40 rounds took me 6 minutes to size, 45 minutes to tumble, and 25 minutes to load. Total time in front of the press to load 40 rounds, including setup, was about 40 minutes. (Includes time for change-over from 9mm small primers to large rifle primers.)

We'll see how it works out. Estimated time savings (even with metered/funneled powder instead of thrown) will be about 50%.

If the Dillon powder bar was better with extruded grain powders (like Varget) and was accurate enough, I'd be able to load pretty damn fast. I was able to load 60 rounds in about 15 minutes of "press" time.

NS
 
It's an experiment. Partially funded by a friend who shoots a LOT of PR ammo.

I mean, if there's not much difference visible out to...say...300 yards...that's a significant portion of a year's ammo that can be loaded on a progressive press, saving a LOT of time. Loading the long-range ammo single stage still makes sense, but if you can save that much time....I think it bears testing out.

NS
 
hmmm
I should try that......

I am running IMR 4895 powder it meters about the same as Varget
 
I'll let you know how it works out.

What I might do is load another 40 up that have been thrown with the built in dillon powder measure, and see how they stack up against the others.

I mean, ya never know until ya try.

Stand-by for results over the next couple of days. I'm on leave this week, so I have "play" time to hit the range this week.

NS
 
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