So I have been wanting to try some 175gr SMK's in my rifle. I bought a box, but was too lazy to do a full workup. Instead I tried something different. I wanted a load that was close to M118LR for my MST-100 (even though it's not in my hands yet).
So I run quickload for RE15 in the 43.0gr range and find that 43.0gr coincides with a OBT node for my 26" barrel. I check the pressures and they are nowhere near what I have run in my rifle without pressure sign. I loaded up 50 of them and went out to the range today.
A couple things went extremely well. First, I have been tracking my cold/clean bore every time I clean (about 600 rounds). It was about that time so I gave the rifle a real good clean. A couple passes with the brush, five wet patches (Hoppes #9), five dry patches and done. My clean/cold bore shot usually lands about 3/4 MOA high and left. Today it was dead on. So was the follow up and the remaining three Gold Metal Match rounds. I hope that continues. To this point I have been extremely careful to only clean the rifle when I could foul it out.
After that I checked the velocity of another load, then the M118LR type load. It was running in the 2650 range, but what amazed me was how accurately it was shooting. It is probably the most accurate load I have worked up to date.
After I got my velocities down, I ran them in Ballistic FTE came up with a dope dialed it on and was killing the steel prairie dog gong at 375 yards.
I moved on to a dot drill and got 17/20 most were center punched.
Lastly I wanted to check for any deviation after using a bore snake. I picked up the rifle almost burned my hand on the barrel and then snaked it out. The post-snake shot was dead on.
So all-in-all it was a beautiful day at the range.
Now I don't have any M118LR to compare it to so I can't say how exact of a ballistic clone it is. However if you have a SPS-V or 700P with a 26" barrel you may want to give this load a try.
175gr SMK, 43.0gr RE-15, Winchester brass (once fired, neck sized), CCI200 primer, 2.80" OAL, .002" neck tension.
Next I am going to try it in Federal FL sized and see if I can get the same accuracy. The Federal is my "disposible" brass. I don't get as bent when I loose one.
The only downer is I am still not able to find an acceptable 168gr FGMM clone. It's either off at 100 or off at another yardage. I can't find a charge yet that comes close at all yardages.
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