Went out today to test a few loads, and try some newly annealed brass. Savage 12 in 223, 26" heavy varmint barrel, laminate stock, bedded.
80.9 degrees F, 13.9% humidity, dew point 19.1, Baro 26.32, 3499ft elev, 5738ft DA
My Savage's max overall lenth is 2.295" to fit the magazine, and all rounds were loaded to that length. I used Varget and 75gr Hornady BTHPs and AMAXs.
I fired ten rounds of Speer 64gr SP LEO ammo to warm up the barrel and foul it, as I had just run one patch of Hoppes and two dry patches down the bore.
My chrony was set up wrong but I got the last four shots of Speer measured at 2969fps, 2969, 2936, and 2982.
All rounds were shot from 100y. Ammo was kept in the shade and given about 20 minutes to adjust to ambient temperature before I started shooting.
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I held the crosshairs on the middle blue horizontal tape line and vertically centered on the two dots to shoot my sight-in rounds. They were 24.1gr Varget under 75gr BTHPs, These were full length resized, not annealed. Five rounds in the red circle. The top most round was my first shot, and I adjusted the scope down, and held on the same POA for the four subsequent shots. MVs were 2818, 2818, 2812, 2801, and 2818.
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All subsequent shots were fired round robin, OCW style.
#1 24.1gr, BTHP, full length sized, not annealed, 2818, 2807, 2783, 2715, 2743:
#2 24.5gr, AMAX, full length sized, not annealed, 2892, 2867, 2777, 2824, 2772:
#3 24.1gr, BTHP, fireformed for this rifle, annealed, 2849, 2783, 2672, 2830, 2772:
#4 24.5gr, AMAX, fireformed for this rifle, annealed, 2849, 2760, 2672, 2721, 2772:
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The sight-in group, while identical to test load #1, was the tightest group of the day. This was after 10 rounds of Speer, and about two minutes with the action open to cool, 30 seconds between each round.
I have shot Varget before, several times lately, and have never had this much spread in my MV. I was shooting under the shade of a tree, with my Chrony on a tripod 10 feet downrange from the muzzle. I suspect that I was getting intermittent sun/shade on the chrony, through the tree, as the sun moved and the wind blew the branches around. I didn't pay enough attention while I was shooting, but its the only thing I can think of that might account for such large spreads. I loaded this ammo using my Dillon beam scale, thinking it would be more accurate than my digital. Not sure what else might account for the spreads. I allowed 30 seconds between each round fired, and after each four-round round-robin cycle, two minutes to let the rifle cool.
I wonder if the more substantial barrel heat progressing as I shot more accounted for some of the MV change and largish groups. This rifle will shoot 55gr rounds in a clover all day as fast as I can shoot them, heat or no heat. So I'm confused here.
All of the brass I was using was Speer, all prepared the same (full length sized/not annealed and FF/annealed). This is LEO brass so the primers are crimped. The only "wildcard" is my crimp removal method -- I use my drill press. Each case is cut "until the crimp is removed." Which means its not a process that I suppose is accurate as far as consistency goes. I suppose I removed more material from the edges of the primer pocket (where it meets the bottom of the case) on some vs others. I only mention this because I had a lot of very flat primers on my 24.1gr loads, which is nowhere near max. Still, the primers showed pressure signs -- can inconsistencies in the primer pockets account for this?
FF/annealed brass (#3) appeared to be slightly more accurate than full length/non-annealed (#1), however I only shot five of each, so more testing is needed. Still, my sight-in group makes me scratch my head on this, as it is contrary to the results I got shooting groups.
These loads stem from an OCW test I did months ago, and these are the two nodes I chose to work with given the two bullet types. All four groups today are much larger than the initial groups fired for the OCW test, despite being loaded exactly the same. So more confusion for me.
Any comments of advice on anything I've posted above would be great. I like the 24.1gr/BTHP load and would like to work with it, however all I can do is load it to a shorter OAL, not longer, unless I want a single shot rifle. And I have to figure out where the pressure is coming from that is flattening the primers (Winchester small rifle).
80.9 degrees F, 13.9% humidity, dew point 19.1, Baro 26.32, 3499ft elev, 5738ft DA
My Savage's max overall lenth is 2.295" to fit the magazine, and all rounds were loaded to that length. I used Varget and 75gr Hornady BTHPs and AMAXs.
I fired ten rounds of Speer 64gr SP LEO ammo to warm up the barrel and foul it, as I had just run one patch of Hoppes and two dry patches down the bore.
My chrony was set up wrong but I got the last four shots of Speer measured at 2969fps, 2969, 2936, and 2982.
All rounds were shot from 100y. Ammo was kept in the shade and given about 20 minutes to adjust to ambient temperature before I started shooting.
--
I held the crosshairs on the middle blue horizontal tape line and vertically centered on the two dots to shoot my sight-in rounds. They were 24.1gr Varget under 75gr BTHPs, These were full length resized, not annealed. Five rounds in the red circle. The top most round was my first shot, and I adjusted the scope down, and held on the same POA for the four subsequent shots. MVs were 2818, 2818, 2812, 2801, and 2818.
--
All subsequent shots were fired round robin, OCW style.
#1 24.1gr, BTHP, full length sized, not annealed, 2818, 2807, 2783, 2715, 2743:
#2 24.5gr, AMAX, full length sized, not annealed, 2892, 2867, 2777, 2824, 2772:
#3 24.1gr, BTHP, fireformed for this rifle, annealed, 2849, 2783, 2672, 2830, 2772:
#4 24.5gr, AMAX, fireformed for this rifle, annealed, 2849, 2760, 2672, 2721, 2772:
--
The sight-in group, while identical to test load #1, was the tightest group of the day. This was after 10 rounds of Speer, and about two minutes with the action open to cool, 30 seconds between each round.
I have shot Varget before, several times lately, and have never had this much spread in my MV. I was shooting under the shade of a tree, with my Chrony on a tripod 10 feet downrange from the muzzle. I suspect that I was getting intermittent sun/shade on the chrony, through the tree, as the sun moved and the wind blew the branches around. I didn't pay enough attention while I was shooting, but its the only thing I can think of that might account for such large spreads. I loaded this ammo using my Dillon beam scale, thinking it would be more accurate than my digital. Not sure what else might account for the spreads. I allowed 30 seconds between each round fired, and after each four-round round-robin cycle, two minutes to let the rifle cool.
I wonder if the more substantial barrel heat progressing as I shot more accounted for some of the MV change and largish groups. This rifle will shoot 55gr rounds in a clover all day as fast as I can shoot them, heat or no heat. So I'm confused here.
All of the brass I was using was Speer, all prepared the same (full length sized/not annealed and FF/annealed). This is LEO brass so the primers are crimped. The only "wildcard" is my crimp removal method -- I use my drill press. Each case is cut "until the crimp is removed." Which means its not a process that I suppose is accurate as far as consistency goes. I suppose I removed more material from the edges of the primer pocket (where it meets the bottom of the case) on some vs others. I only mention this because I had a lot of very flat primers on my 24.1gr loads, which is nowhere near max. Still, the primers showed pressure signs -- can inconsistencies in the primer pockets account for this?
FF/annealed brass (#3) appeared to be slightly more accurate than full length/non-annealed (#1), however I only shot five of each, so more testing is needed. Still, my sight-in group makes me scratch my head on this, as it is contrary to the results I got shooting groups.
These loads stem from an OCW test I did months ago, and these are the two nodes I chose to work with given the two bullet types. All four groups today are much larger than the initial groups fired for the OCW test, despite being loaded exactly the same. So more confusion for me.
Any comments of advice on anything I've posted above would be great. I like the 24.1gr/BTHP load and would like to work with it, however all I can do is load it to a shorter OAL, not longer, unless I want a single shot rifle. And I have to figure out where the pressure is coming from that is flattening the primers (Winchester small rifle).
