Well, it's been a while in the making on this one and things are finally falling in place.
I recently set out to work a load up with 208 Amax's over Varget, moreover, to see how the combo would actually work out. Greg Young aka <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">bugholes</span></span> here plumbed a new Rock M24 1-10" twist tube in a trued FN CRF action for me back earlier and the adventure began.
Mind you, I've always been an advocate of high BC heavies and thought, what the hell, let's see what a 208'll do. After the 208's started showing back up, I ordered a box and set to it. as we all know, Hogdon doesn't have 208 data in their reloading data and I jammed the 200gr data for Varget. Hogdon listed a starting load of 39.0 with a max of 42.0C, velocities stated by Hogdon were from 2288-2241fps. With that data, I laddered up from 39.0 in .04gr increments to a Max+ of 42.6. All loads were loaded on once fired R-P brass, FL sized with Federal 210 primers. All loads were loaded .01" jammed in the lands at 2.220" @ ogive. No chrono results as of the write up but they are forthcoming and I'll update them as I get the numbers.
My initial ladder was shot from 313 yards, prone from the bipod with a sand sock. I set out with Hide member deh223 and we got busy. After my initial ladder, I hit my high node on rounds 8, 9 and 10. Those loads were loaded at 41.8, 42.2 42.6gr respectively. After looking at that node, I set out to further refine that node and push her back farther to see where we were at.
My next ladder test was at 425 yards and based off the first ladder, I loaded for the next round. Those loads were loaded from 41.6-42.8gr (Max +) in .02gr increments. I hit my node there from 41.6-42.2gr, 41.6-42.0gr showed significant promise. Here was the results from my ladder at 425 yards.......
After I completed the ladder testing, I set out with those results and rolled a few rounds out to see where we were at. The only changes made were in the seating depth of the loads. I based my loads from my node on my last ladder test and loaded five rounds on each load in that node. I backed my seating depth to .01" off the lands (2.200" @ ogive) and headed back to the range.
Anxious to see where I was at now, I headed out early last Saturday morning to get started. I tested all those loads from the bench shooting off the bipod with a rear bag. The rifle favored 41.8 & 42.0gr .01" off the lands. 41.9gr showed a little promise and 42.2gr opened up over 1 MOA.
Here's the results of the latest testing.....
208 Amax, 41.8gr Varget, R-P 1x fired brass & Fed 210 primer
208 Amax, 42.0gr Varget, R-P 1x fired brass & Fed 210 primer. Excellent accuracy despite the called flyer @ 12 o'clock.
Looking forward to tinkering with her a bit more and getting a real world dope nailed down. Awaiting soem Type II Alpha mags to arrive as single loading the 208's is getting old! LOL!
I recently set out to work a load up with 208 Amax's over Varget, moreover, to see how the combo would actually work out. Greg Young aka <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">bugholes</span></span> here plumbed a new Rock M24 1-10" twist tube in a trued FN CRF action for me back earlier and the adventure began.
Mind you, I've always been an advocate of high BC heavies and thought, what the hell, let's see what a 208'll do. After the 208's started showing back up, I ordered a box and set to it. as we all know, Hogdon doesn't have 208 data in their reloading data and I jammed the 200gr data for Varget. Hogdon listed a starting load of 39.0 with a max of 42.0C, velocities stated by Hogdon were from 2288-2241fps. With that data, I laddered up from 39.0 in .04gr increments to a Max+ of 42.6. All loads were loaded on once fired R-P brass, FL sized with Federal 210 primers. All loads were loaded .01" jammed in the lands at 2.220" @ ogive. No chrono results as of the write up but they are forthcoming and I'll update them as I get the numbers.
My initial ladder was shot from 313 yards, prone from the bipod with a sand sock. I set out with Hide member deh223 and we got busy. After my initial ladder, I hit my high node on rounds 8, 9 and 10. Those loads were loaded at 41.8, 42.2 42.6gr respectively. After looking at that node, I set out to further refine that node and push her back farther to see where we were at.
My next ladder test was at 425 yards and based off the first ladder, I loaded for the next round. Those loads were loaded from 41.6-42.8gr (Max +) in .02gr increments. I hit my node there from 41.6-42.2gr, 41.6-42.0gr showed significant promise. Here was the results from my ladder at 425 yards.......
After I completed the ladder testing, I set out with those results and rolled a few rounds out to see where we were at. The only changes made were in the seating depth of the loads. I based my loads from my node on my last ladder test and loaded five rounds on each load in that node. I backed my seating depth to .01" off the lands (2.200" @ ogive) and headed back to the range.
Anxious to see where I was at now, I headed out early last Saturday morning to get started. I tested all those loads from the bench shooting off the bipod with a rear bag. The rifle favored 41.8 & 42.0gr .01" off the lands. 41.9gr showed a little promise and 42.2gr opened up over 1 MOA.
Here's the results of the latest testing.....
208 Amax, 41.8gr Varget, R-P 1x fired brass & Fed 210 primer
208 Amax, 42.0gr Varget, R-P 1x fired brass & Fed 210 primer. Excellent accuracy despite the called flyer @ 12 o'clock.
Looking forward to tinkering with her a bit more and getting a real world dope nailed down. Awaiting soem Type II Alpha mags to arrive as single loading the 208's is getting old! LOL!
