ran them over my magnetospeed. and got this as a chart. 100yards best group was 41.4grains at 400 yards today shooting bench rest, which i'am not that good at shoot the last pic. any advice or tips using 147 eld match h4350 powder 20thou off the lands had some pressure signs at 41.6grains of powder. should i go down to 40.8grains which was a flat spot??
eld match 147gr
- Thread starter sifer0425
- Start date
A few comments which I hope are helpful.
You are in the range where most seem to find an accuracy node.
Do not trust "flat spots," they are not repeatable.
Your target with the vertical spread tells me your front rest might not be sufficiently stable.
Those bullets will fly apart if you spin them too fast. (Well documented.) You seem to be well below that velocity.
Vary seating depth then primers.
Good luck.
You are in the range where most seem to find an accuracy node.
Do not trust "flat spots," they are not repeatable.
Your target with the vertical spread tells me your front rest might not be sufficiently stable.
Those bullets will fly apart if you spin them too fast. (Well documented.) You seem to be well below that velocity.
Vary seating depth then primers.
Good luck.
It's hard to tell a lot with groups like that honestly.. Find a way to stabilize your rifle better while developing a load, however you can do that.
This is what I do.
Do a similar test but with seating depth. I wouldn't think 20 thou off would be your best spot but each barrel is different. I never had much luck with really tight groups with the 147, the 140 did a lot better for me. There really aren't such a thing as flat spots with any powder charge ranges. Imo. Most just don't shoot enough to see that the flat spot will dissappear with more rounds, so I feel it's best to pick a speed and charge that shoots well, and then get the seating depth where it shoots best basically. Get your powder charges as precise as you can. I like doing 2 sets of 3 for each depth at first. (In case I pull one I have another set so I won't have to wonder about the two that went in the same hole but then a flyer). Then go to 5 shot groups after the first test.
Sorting the bullets into groups by weight will help a lot. It's a pain to do but with a shell trey, you can just make 3 or 4 or even 5 groups and sort them out like that.
Under 147/ 147-147.1 / 147.2-147.3 / over 147.3 would be an example of 4 groups by weight and that will help you see your groups while developing a load a lot easier. The biggest factor will be getting your rifle as secure as possible while testing
This is what I do.
Do a similar test but with seating depth. I wouldn't think 20 thou off would be your best spot but each barrel is different. I never had much luck with really tight groups with the 147, the 140 did a lot better for me. There really aren't such a thing as flat spots with any powder charge ranges. Imo. Most just don't shoot enough to see that the flat spot will dissappear with more rounds, so I feel it's best to pick a speed and charge that shoots well, and then get the seating depth where it shoots best basically. Get your powder charges as precise as you can. I like doing 2 sets of 3 for each depth at first. (In case I pull one I have another set so I won't have to wonder about the two that went in the same hole but then a flyer). Then go to 5 shot groups after the first test.
Sorting the bullets into groups by weight will help a lot. It's a pain to do but with a shell trey, you can just make 3 or 4 or even 5 groups and sort them out like that.
Under 147/ 147-147.1 / 147.2-147.3 / over 147.3 would be an example of 4 groups by weight and that will help you see your groups while developing a load a lot easier. The biggest factor will be getting your rifle as secure as possible while testing
i used the 140gr bthp last year had the same problem shooting from the trailer we use to shoot from. but when i went and did pron shooting, they shot great. i wondering if i should go 10thou off the lands like i did with the 140bthp rounds tried 30thou off the land and they were all over the place so not sure.
i use cci rifle primers, i tried to go higher on the load but got pressure issues at 41.6grains. does the 41.4gr look right or not.??
"trailer we use to shoot from" - as in a thing that moves, and has springs between your rifle and the ground? yeah thats highly likely to cause issues. try shooting off something big, flat, solid and heavy, as in it doesnt move when you kick it heavy..... but also realise that your shooting position does influence how the rifle/ammo works - @lowlight did some videos on this, eg prooving that there was a measurable difference in muzzle velocity between bench and prone.
as for distance off the lands..... a specific measurement given by someone else is like playing the lotto with someone elses lucky numbers, might work, might not. also, the lands move a tiny bit with every shot, watch erik cortinas video about "chasing the lands is stupid"
try a process like this
load a bunch of rounds, for instance 50
5 at maximum mag length
5 10 thou shorter
5 more ten thou shorter than that
5 ten thou shorter than that and so on until you have enough for 10 five round groups.
set up a target with 10 aiming marks. 1 for each length.
fire 1 round from each length at its intended aiming mark. - you dont shoot 1 group then the next (idea here is to average things like barrel dirtyness/wear, shooter fatigue etc over all the groups) try and fire each shot with as close to the same wind condition as you can.
then 1 more..... etc until you have fired your 10 five round groups
one group will be better than all the others, you can either pick that length and run with it, or you can repeat the process with that lenght as the center length, and use 1 or 2 thou intervals in length.
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