I think I found it

[Surgikill]

Went to the range yesterday and I had two loads that I had narrowed down to test. It's in sorted and prepped lake city brass. I'm using varget, cci 200 primers, a 175 smk and it's being shot out of a cz 550 varmint. The load on the bottom is 40.3 grains and is coming out around 2530 fps. The one in the bullseye is 43.5 grains and is coming out around 2770 fps. Hopefully next time I go to the range the groups are just as good. 4 shots per group.

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[rduckwor]

Good shooting! That 43.5 load seems awful fast for that bullet/powder combo. You sure about that velocity? What's you barrel length?

I get 2625 fps for that load out of a 24" 5R barrel.

Nevertheless, good loading and shooting.

 

[Surgikill]

Good shooting! That 43.5 load seems awful fast for that bullet/powder combo. You sure about that velocity? What's you barrel length?

I get 2625 fps for that load out of a 24" 5R barrel.

Nevertheless, good loading and shooting.

Thanks. Barrel is 25.6". It's lake city brass though so it has decreased capacity which means higher pressures with less powder. I may buy some Lapua to mess with just to see how it works. My chrono is also thirty years old so it's time for an upgrade on that as well.

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[leadbullet]

that is some good shooting, I use winchester brass and can stuff 45 gr of varget with a 175 SMK with no pressure signs, use that load in F class and served me well.

 

[JGorski]

that is some good shooting, I use winchester brass and can stuff 45 gr of varget with a 175 SMK with no pressure signs, use that load in F class and served me well.

44grs of Varget using Win brass and 168AMAXs creates too high of pressure for me, and scatters the bullets all over hell.

 

[Surgikill]

44grs of Varget using Win brass and 168AMAXs creates too high of pressure for me, and scatters the bullets all over hell.

I'm not getting pressure signs from my 43.5 grains and I'm pretty sure it's a compressed load.

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[Sinus211]

I'm not getting pressure signs from my 43.5 grains and I'm pretty sure it's a compressed load.

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What's your COAL? I run 44gr Varget pushing 175 VLD's out of a 20" 5R get just shy of 2600fps. My COAL is 2.850 and 0 pressure signs even on the 4th or 5th loading on Federal match brass.

Thinking about working up to a SMK load with ladder test from 43.8-45gr Varget. Shouldn't be overpressuring at that load level even if you're at the standard 2.800

 

[qkieler]

43.5 is right where I found mine too nice shooting

 

[Surgikill]

What's your COAL? I run 44gr Varget pushing 175 VLD's out of a 20" 5R get just shy of 2600fps. My COAL is 2.850 and 0 pressure signs even on the 4th or 5th loading on Federal match brass.

Thinking about working up to a SMK load with ladder test from 43.8-45gr Varget. Shouldn't be overpressuring at that load level even if you're at the standard 2.800

2.820". I load them a little long. I don't know how much it jumps to the lands but it seems to be working fine so I'm not going to touch a thing. It may change, the gun doesn't even have 300 rounds through it.

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[Dacam]

Thanks. Barrel is 25.6". It's lake city brass though so it has decreased capacity which means higher pressures with less powder. I may buy some Lapua to mess with just to see how it works. My chrono is also thirty years old so it's time for an upgrade on that as well.

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Im running 43.0 Varget in my AI AE MKIII. I switched to Lapua brass, and 210m primers and my groups shrank considerably.

 

[Sinus211]

2.820". I load them a little long. I don't know how much it jumps to the lands but it seems to be working fine so I'm not going to touch a thing. It may change, the gun doesn't even have 300 rounds through it.

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Have you tried leaving them way long and chambering to see at what length the shoulder contacts the lands? My favored load seats at 2.925 but I can't get them to clear the feed ramp when mag fed. Luckily my rifle has been very tolerant of jump.

In any case it looks like you've got some good groups coming together with those loads. Next time try some 10rd strings to really get a feel for the overall average. I wasted a lot of time and powder on loads that I thought were winners when it turned out they were just 5 lucky shots.

 

[Surgikill]

Have you tried leaving them way long and chambering to see at what length the shoulder contacts the lands? My favored load seats at 2.925 but I can't get them to clear the feed ramp when mag fed. Luckily my rifle has been very tolerant of jump.

In any case it looks like you've got some good groups coming together with those loads. Next time try some 10rd strings to really get a feel for the overall average. I wasted a lot of time and powder on loads that I thought were winners when it turned out they were just 5 lucky shots.

I have loaded them long but I can't get a definite idea of where it contacts the lands. I'm thinking it could be 4 lucky shots but it's happened twice in a row. Just have to do some more testing.

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[JGorski]

I'm not getting pressure signs from my 43.5 grains and I'm pretty sure it's a compressed load.

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I see Sierra has a max of 43.5 with their 168MK @2700 and 41.7 with their 175MK@ 2500, suppose if you're pushing the same as what they push with the 168 you'd get 2770. I dont even use RE15 any longer, which is always more accurate than Varget, 47.3grs 2000MR gives me 2726 out of a 24" tube(178 Hornady). Id like to see you shoot that load out to 600 to see if it matches the Ballistic calculators.

 

[Surgikill]

I see Sierra has a max of 43.5 with their 168MK @2700 and 41.7 with their 175MK@ 2500, suppose if you're pushing the same as what they push with the 168 you'd get 2770. I dont even use RE15 any longer, which is always more accurate than Varget, 47.3grs 2000MR gives me 2726 out of a 24" tube(178 Hornady). Id like to see you shoot that load out to 600 to see if it matches the Ballistic calculators.

I can only get to 200 but I'll see what it shows.

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