i ran through the last few pages but does anyone have a pet load for 168ELDm and varget/h4895
if it matters 22" proof barrel federal brass till my I buy lapua
if it matters 22" proof barrel federal brass till my I buy lapua
i ran through the last few pages but does anyone have a pet load for 168ELDm and varget/h4895
if it matters 22" proof barrel federal brass till my I buy lapua
I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you need to learn how to understand brass weight and internal case volume and how it relates to data found in reloading manuals.
FYI, 43.5 is max in these cases and you’ve just destroyed them.
918V was being a little harsh, but what he said is true. Federal brass is really soft, and it has big primer pockets. Only use CCI or Federal primers in Federal brass. I load mine at 43.5 for the hot loads and still only get 3 firings out of them from a match chamber.I started at 10% below listed max of 45. And increased 2% for 3 rounds, after that I increased 1% every 3 rounds. At 44.9 I got these signs and stopped. Obviously incorrect? Without measuring the actual case capacity, how do you determine 43.5 is the max charge fort brass?
Not being argumentative just here to learn
You are in a good spot with that load. Velocity is right where you should be with that barrel length.I know some of you may have programs that can make short work of these questions, including velocity, pressure, etc.
So I just wanna get you guy's feelings on this load of mine. It's a 175 SMK over 41.8gr. RE15 in new Lapua brass w/CCI 34's loaded to ~2.2" off the ogive for 2.8" or right about at mag length for an SR25 mag. Rifle is a 20" SR25, one of the new ones. When I worked the loads up the most accurate loads were at 41.8 and 42gr at about 2500-2550fps; the book says for the bullet 41.3 is max but other data went even higher, as high as 44gr. and velocities of 2700fps and up.
The M118LR load chasers tend to use 42.8-43. Should I consider trying hotter loads, since those are pretty much the exact components for the match ammo, would I get better results doing that? Or just wear out good brass faster?
I used to use Varget and knew it well, but when it got impossible to get a while back I got ten pounds of RE15 instead. So that's why the choice on it.
I decided on the 41.8 because it was the lower of the two most accurate I tested with this combination. I tested it in December and I have a couple hundred and planned on loading all of them with this load and a 168 load for the once fired cases, since they'll only ever be used in this SR25. Then I'll get more serious. Don't wanna prematurely wear out the brass, but should these be worked up closer to 43 and not 41.8?
ALSO, is there a good load for these components using 168 SMK's? I have some data on it but not much, the chrono wanted to stop working. Again, army load chasers call for 43 and 44gr.... 43 sounds manageable and I may have worked up to that one but I never found an accuracy node with the handful loaded and got little data other than visual inspection of the primers, brass, which looked fine.
My brass is extraordinarily filthy but I attribute that to use of the suppressor. The primers looked okay to me and the brass wasn't damaged by the loads tested.
Thanks.
I started at 10% below listed max of 45. And increased 2% for 3 rounds, after that I increased 1% every 3 rounds. At 44.9 I got these signs and stopped. Obviously incorrect? Without measuring the actual case capacity, how do you determine 43.5 is the max charge fort brass?
Not being argumentative just here to learn
Thanks. I haven’t tried below 42. I found a node between 43.8-44.1. .03 off
Hav you ever noticed an explainable flier? Using them at .01 off.
Your information mirrors my testing. I keep records of all rounds tested or fired in notebooks that go back many years. An almost a universal finding is that loads under max give the best accuracy. With my 308 gas gun and 308 bolt gun they seem to favor a velocity of right around 2550-2625 fps with a 175-178 grain bullet. I'm currently using the Nosler 175 RDF and having really good success with it as it seems far less sensitive to jump to the lands for best accuracy. I like that because I don't have to load one lot of ammo for the gas gun, and another lot of ammo for the bolt gun. I can get to 2700 fps with the bolt gun, and 2650 with the gas gun (20" gas gun and 26" bolt gun barrel lengths) without pressure issues or signs.I know some of you may have programs that can make short work of these questions, including velocity, pressure, etc.
So I just wanna get you guy's feelings on this load of mine. It's a 175 SMK over 41.8gr. RE15 in new Lapua brass w/CCI 34's loaded to ~2.2" off the ogive for 2.8" or right about at mag length for an SR25 mag. Rifle is a 20" SR25, one of the new ones. When I worked the loads up the most accurate loads were at 41.8 and 42gr at about 2500-2550fps; the book says for the bullet 41.3 is max but other data went even higher, as high as 44gr. and velocities of 2700fps and up.
The M118LR load chasers tend to use 42.8-43. Should I consider trying hotter loads, since those are pretty much the exact components for the match ammo, would I get better results doing that? Or just wear out good brass faster?
I used to use Varget and knew it well, but when it got impossible to get a while back I got ten pounds of RE15 instead. So that's why the choice on it.
I decided on the 41.8 because it was the lower of the two most accurate I tested with this combination. I tested it in December and I have a couple hundred and planned on loading all of them with this load and a 168 load for the once fired cases, since they'll only ever be used in this SR25. Then I'll get more serious. Don't wanna prematurely wear out the brass, but should these be worked up closer to 43 and not 41.8?
ALSO, is there a good load for these components using 168 SMK's? I have some data on it but not much, the chrono wanted to stop working. Again, army load chasers call for 43 and 44gr.... 43 sounds manageable and I may have worked up to that one but I never found an accuracy node with the handful loaded and got little data other than visual inspection of the primers, brass, which looked fine.
My brass is extraordinarily filthy but I attribute that to use of the suppressor. The primers looked okay to me and the brass wasn't damaged by the loads tested.
Thanks.
Hey y’all. Currently running Hornady 168 bthp, Hornady brass, 42.5 grn varget, and cci primers out of a 20 inch Rpr. Velocity wise I am getting right at 2500 FPS. Groups seems to be reasonable. Most of my shooting is done sub 700 but on occasion we will stretch it out to 1000.
There seems to be so much load data around using what I am using but with 44 grn varget. My question is, is it worth it to bump up the 1.5 grn. Does anyone have similar success running these loads? Does anyone have velocities??? I appreciate all the advice.
i ran through the last few pages but does anyone have a pet load for 168ELDm and varget/h4895
if it matters 22" proof barrel federal brass till my I buy lapua
@Dschapp44 what's your elevation @ 1000 (in general)?
I think that is 10.22 mils but I am sure someone that is better at this can give the right answer. The reason I asked was that I have a short 16.5 inch .308 using factory Fed GMM 175 SMKs that need 14 mils of elevation at sea-level to hit at 1000 yards.
Cheers
You are spot on @ 2400.
Hornady book is so conservative it's unreal. My brothers 308 is almost done and i was curious to see what people were running with a 178gr ELD-X. To see their manual list 43.2gr of varget as max or something to that degree i was wondering wtf is going on. I ran to 45.5 with my 700 5R with 178gr BTHP, settled on 45gr.
Anyway i'm looking to hit 2650 or so. My go to is going to be varget and i have some 2000mr but am unsure on how temp stable it is. Should i try some RL17? This will be a 20" 308 off a bighorn Origin.
Hornady book is so conservative it's unreal. My brothers 308 is almost done and i was curious to see what people were running with a 178gr ELD-X. To see their manual list 43.2gr of varget as max or something to that degree i was wondering wtf is going on. I ran to 45.5 with my 700 5R with 178gr BTHP, settled on 45gr.
Anyway i'm looking to hit 2650 or so. My go to is going to be varget and i have some 2000mr but am unsure on how temp stable it is. Should i try some RL17? This will be a 20" 308 off a bighorn Origin.
A 5 grain increase from low to high in 1/2 grain increments is a pretty wide test.
Has anyone used Alliant 2000-MR for a 155 grain class bullet? Looking to buy some Varget and would like to compare it to 2000-MR. Any suggestion for min/max loads?
Will be shot out of a 20" AIAT factory barrel at sea level between 25* - 100* F (Alabama).
Also, any issues y'all see in starting at 43.0 grains of Varget and working up to 48.0 in .5 grain increments? Again, will start off buy using some leftover 155TMKs, CCI LR primers, once fired Federal brass (through my AIAT barrel).
Thank you.
Oh I wrote point 5 (.5) grain haha, 5 grain change is my whole test!
I’ve read folks using 175+ grainers, but I’d like to push 155s fast to get a flatter load for unknown distance while still having a 4 MPH rifle (Trying to get 2800fps+). Right now I’m going to go with Varget, but have heard 2000-MR is a bit faster, though less temperature stable.
I started at 44 gr Varget with 155 gr ELD-M's. Saw pressure at 48, 48.2 gr. Little bit of ejector swipe and sticky bolt. Went down to a node at 46 gr, got right around 2800 fps from a 24" barrel. I also saw a higher node around 47-47.5 gr that would do just over 2900 fps.
I usually use .5 gr charges to test for max load and then I go back to spots that look interesting and do .3 gr increments to look for the node.
EDIT: after reading the following post about high pressure, I should caveat this load with the fact that it is a LONG Remington throat, so I am jumping them a mile
Yeah, seating that round out much further would help with that pressure. For example if the cartridge length is moved to 2.900", the software calculates an MV for a 155 TMK of about 2930 fps using 48.0 grs of Varget with pressure down to 65,880 psi. And for 46.0 grs, it's showing MV at 2815 fps and a somewhat mild pressure of 57,350 psi. (those MVs are for the 24" barrel; for a 20" barrel that MV for the latter would be at 2710 fps)
Can someone help ballpark my fps?
20" howa
155 eld
Cci large rifle 450s I think
Fed brass
45.2gr varget
COAL 2.790
I'm thinking around 2750-2800?
Well the Hornady 178 A-Max crunches with that load in USGI brass. Has IMR 4064 had burn rate variations lately? Worked up that load a few years ago, and this year I’m getting signs of max pressure using it with 168 ELDs.Anybody else crunching powder real good with 42.5 Varget and 180 sst’s
Sps Tactical 20” 1:12 with a Bell and Carlson bedded.
175 smk at 2.235 to ogive. 2.825” coal
1x Lapua brass neck sized with a .334 bushing and shoulder bumped 2/1000”.
42.5 imr 4064
2500 fps.