Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

[Snakum]

Have been running 168gr Amaxes at 2.820 OAL in my FCP-K for the past year and a half, cuz that OAL worked best during my first load tests. After widening the barrel channel and floating the tang and cleaning 700 rounds worth of copper out of it today I ran five of my 155gr Saiga loads (2.750 OAL) thru it just for fun. And it made one three-lobed clover leaf for five. Thought it was a fluke, so tried it again. Same thing. Roughly .400" group from a very solid table rest (wish I could do that under field conditions). Conventional wisdom and previous experience says to jam it in the lands. A jump this long shouldn't shoot this good.

I already have a bunch of the 155gr and 168gr Amax loads made up. But would you start experimenting with the OAL to see if it might get even better? Or should I spend the time behind the trigger instead of chasing benchrest accuracy? My hobby time is hugely limited and I don't want to spend the time unless there's a good chance it might get even tighter if I played with OAL. Assuming I did get it to shoot even tighter, that would also leave me a few hundred rounds made up that I no longer use.

What do you think ... is it possible to wring a bit more accuracy out of the Savage chamber by playing with OAL? Or does it make more sense to leave well enough alone and get in the trigger time instead? Would the accuracy gains likely be worth the trouble?

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

Sounds good to go with the 155 load. If the 175's shoot about the same, you're ready for prime time.

Not knowing the particulars of the load leaves me with some uncertainty. I sincerely hope these loads are not pushing pressure limits. Experience tells me that hot loading will usually, eventually lead to problems.

 

[Snakum]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

Hi Greg.

It's a relatively tame load. Win brass, Win LR primers, 155 Amaxes over 41.5gr IMR 4198. I just didn't want to load up 200 of them at 2.750 OAL for both rifles and then have someone tell me "Oh, with the Savage LE chambers they always shoot tighter jammed into the lands. You could've probably knocked off another .100 inch from the group size."

I have the kit out right now and am going ahead with a bunch of them. They shoot better than anything else in the Saiga and shoot crazy accurate in the Savage. I guess I'm going to load a couple hundred and trust nothing would have shot any better, then run thru the dope tomorrow on both weapons. I figure I need trigger time worse than I need another .100" off the groups.

 

[exhogflyer]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

Well, I suppose if you wanted....you could load up say, 5 each in various lengths and go see where your grouping ends up.If that was me I'd call it a day and go spend the time pulling the trigger as they shoot good enough for me.Some bullets are not very fussy about seating depth, some are ( Berger VLD's come to mind in the latter group).

 

[Snakum]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Exhogflyer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Well, I suppose if you wanted....you could load up say, 5 each in various lengths and go see where your grouping ends up.If that was me I'd call it a day and go spend the time pulling the trigger as they shoot good enough for me.Some bullets are not very fussy about seating depth, some are ( Berger VLD's come to mind in the latter group).</div></div>

Thanks for the info. I was hoping that was the case. Got 200 made up so far after class today, with 500 more brass cases to punch out and clean so I can take them for trimming.

 

[psmith]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

I would definetly get some trigger time that's not on a bench. If you can shoot prone as good as from the bench then work on you loads some more.

 

[Snakum]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: psmith</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If you can shoot prone as good as from the bench then work on you loads some more.</div></div>

Excellent advice.

 

[Fuzzball]

Re: Chase even more accuracy or get in the field?

"is it possible to wring a bit more accuracy out of the Savage chamber by playing with OAL?"

Who knows, so don't stop now!