280 Remington load dev issues/ need advice

[Krob95]

I’m having hell and was hoping to get some advice before I pawn this rifle. Model 70 that’s been glass bedded in a McMillan A4 with a 27” 1-9tw kreiger MTU barrel in 280rem and was built by RWS.

I’m using Peterson brass, Fed 215M, H4831sc, Hornady 162gr Amax’s approx 10k off the lands. Using Redding type s bushing dies with the competition seater on a coax press, and throwing powder on an autotrickler v3. I tried different charge weights and settled on 54.9gr of powder as that was the lowest sd I had gotten with a good speed of 2860. Loaded more up with that weight and now my sd ranges from 14.5-30fps with ES’s typically in the 50’s. Barrel has 380 rounds on it.

Is there a known node for these things or is it back to the drawing board and trying more charge weights until I hit either an acceptable SD or pressure. My 6BR is low single digit SD and ES numbers but it’s kinda hard to fuck those up. Any thoughts or tips?

 

[Steel head]

Usually low SD is easy mode for H4831.
You really should research powder nodes method.
It’s consistently a slam dunk way of load development with far more consistent results.

Using a charge with super low ES isn’t nearly as good as finding a good area with a solid average even with a slight up or down variance.
It also accommodates slight differences in brass, bullets and primers.

A stable 6 sd is better than a touchy 3 sd

Short powder column cartridges like 6BR are notoriously easy to find loads for compared to older long n skinny’s like 280.

 

[Bolo]

Been reloading 280 Rem for almost 30 years. Always used CCI primers, best powder I've ever found is IMR-4350 with H4350 a close second. Found a fat node between 52.4 and 52.8 grains with 168 SMKs a long time ago, and stuck with it.
Can't really comment on seating depth... my remmy has a pretty long freebore, so I'm limited by mag length.
Last point... it does like a pretty stiff taper crimp.

 

[Krob95]

@Steel head Is the powder nodes method synonymous with the OCW method by chance? My goal is to be in the single digit SD numbers consistently.

 

[Steel head]

@Steel head Is the powder nodes method synonymous with the OCW method by chance? My goal is to be in the single digit SD numbers consistently.

No.
Basically you do 1-3 loads each of narrow increments( I do .2 grain increments an And look for a velocity flat spot or ES flat spot.
You’ll usually see a speed of two to three charges with similar velocities or similar ES, often both.
Usually I can find decent data and only do 1.5-2 grain spread.
Area of flat spot varies but it’s about .6 wide on my 260 and 7 saum.
You can literally shoot them into the dirt but I shoot them at distance because it’s more fun.
You do need a reliable chronygraph as your just looking for speed and ES.

Then you tune accuracy with a jump test or a tuner or both.


This method was a game changer for me and I thank @Dthomas3523 for his elaboration on this.

Super simple and makes forgiving loads that hammer.

 

[Krob95]

No.

My Google fu must be off. I got OCW when looking up the powder nodes method you mentioned.

 

[Steel head]

My Google fu must be off. I got OCW when looking up the powder nodes method you mentioned.

Search velocity node here.
it’s been talked about a lot lately.

 

[Krob95]

Search velocity node here.
it’s been talked about a lot lately.

Thanks man! I’ll do some digging. I appreciate it!