It's always fun to get out and shoot a project rifle and see if it meets your expectations. For this one I focused on keeping it short while trying not to sacrifice energy on target. Primary role is to hunt deer and hogs from a blind. It will also be for shooting steel out to ~1000 yards on private land but nothing competitive.
I had an extra Origin short action on hand and my largest suppressor is for .30 caliber so those became the limiting factors.
After crunching the numbers in Quickload, the 7 SAUM and 300 SAUM were top contenders, but the 300 made the cut. The larger bore diameter allowed slightly faster powders and a more efficient burn in the 16" barrel. If I was running a 20" barrel, the 7 SAUM provides significant gains (maybe next time).
With new cartridges I like to run several pressure ladders with different bullet and powder combinations to see what the rifle likes. For hunting I started with 130gr Barnes TTSX, 165 Speer BTSP, 165 Barnes TTSX and the 180 Speer BTSP. I had them all on hand so why not. For targets I'll run 155 BTHP, 185 Berger Hybrids and 190 SMKs. Plenty of others on the shelf if I'm not satisfied.
Results from the first round:
(c) compressed
(ss) slightly sticky bolt lift
There was no pressure signs on the case heads or on the primers. Only the noted rounds had a slightly sticky bolt lift. Nothing crazy, but my intent is not to push this hard. If I wanted to chase velocity, I'd get a longer barrel.
I'll finish up the tables next Friday while fireforming the rest of my brass. After that, I'll start some OCW testing for groups.
Notable mentions from round one: 130 TTSX over Varget (8 rounds < 1.0" @ 3100+ FPS) and 190 SMK over RE26 (9 rounds < 1.25" @ 2800+ FPS)
According to the manuals these loads match or exceed 30-06 performance from a 24" barrel. While the 30-06 may not be setting the world on fire, it certainly does a lot of things well enough.
The 130gr load should be awesome for hogs.
Looking forward to see how the Berger 185s perform over RE26.
...TO BE CONTINUED...
I had an extra Origin short action on hand and my largest suppressor is for .30 caliber so those became the limiting factors.
After crunching the numbers in Quickload, the 7 SAUM and 300 SAUM were top contenders, but the 300 made the cut. The larger bore diameter allowed slightly faster powders and a more efficient burn in the 16" barrel. If I was running a 20" barrel, the 7 SAUM provides significant gains (maybe next time).
With new cartridges I like to run several pressure ladders with different bullet and powder combinations to see what the rifle likes. For hunting I started with 130gr Barnes TTSX, 165 Speer BTSP, 165 Barnes TTSX and the 180 Speer BTSP. I had them all on hand so why not. For targets I'll run 155 BTHP, 185 Berger Hybrids and 190 SMKs. Plenty of others on the shelf if I'm not satisfied.
Results from the first round:
(c) compressed
(ss) slightly sticky bolt lift
There was no pressure signs on the case heads or on the primers. Only the noted rounds had a slightly sticky bolt lift. Nothing crazy, but my intent is not to push this hard. If I wanted to chase velocity, I'd get a longer barrel.
I'll finish up the tables next Friday while fireforming the rest of my brass. After that, I'll start some OCW testing for groups.
Notable mentions from round one: 130 TTSX over Varget (8 rounds < 1.0" @ 3100+ FPS) and 190 SMK over RE26 (9 rounds < 1.25" @ 2800+ FPS)
According to the manuals these loads match or exceed 30-06 performance from a 24" barrel. While the 30-06 may not be setting the world on fire, it certainly does a lot of things well enough.
The 130gr load should be awesome for hogs.
Looking forward to see how the Berger 185s perform over RE26.
...TO BE CONTINUED...
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