Just blows me away what difference handloading can make!

[Aimsmall55]

I’d like to start off saying that I own several “high end” rifles. GAP, AIAW, and some custom builds. BUT one of my favorite rifles that I own is a Remington 700 SPS TACTICAL 1:12 with a 20” bbl bedded in a Bell and Carlson stock. I have probably shot 5,500 rounds through it. Well, yesterday I picked up a box of Hornady 178 ELD-X ammunition just because I felt like something easy. SHOT LIKE SHIT. 3 moa at 110 yards.
So I take all 20 pieces of brass upstairs to my reloading room, use a Forester bump die with a .334 bushing and load 42.5 Imr 4064 with a 175 smk. Guessed it would be running about 2490’fps plugged it in and this is a 10 shot group that followed at 605 yards. It’s still, after so many years, so satisfying to see a 600$ rifle shoot like a 2,500$ one. Now I know some people are going to say well that’s not that great. Well the wind was blowing 15-20 mph and I was standing in the bed of a Kawasaki MULE just to see the plate. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

 

[Aimsmall55]

 

[clcustom1911]

IMR 4064 is THE powder for the 175 SMK in my opinion. When I was loading 308, my Savage 26" 10FP loved that bullet, powder (40.5g) in Lapua brass. About .5moa with SD of 9 or so.

37.5 MOA @ 1050 yards all day long in my area (high desert).

 

[Aimsmall55]

IMR 4064 is THE powder for the 175 SMK in my opinion. When I was loading 308, my Savage 26" 10FP loved that bullet, powder (40.5g) in Lapua brass. About .5moa with SD of 9 or so.

37.5 MOA @ 1050 yards all day long in my area (high desert).

Nice , I’m down here in Mississippi and it’s the humidity that’ll make a 29 degree morning here feel like a 0 F day in Colorado. It was 5.4 mils to get to 605 and what’s crazy is I literally guessed 2490 fps. All those hits were literally back to back with no previous data. I was pumped!!

 

[Deleted member 113831]

Great job! You gotta love it when a load comes together. Regardless of make or cost, when you get a rifle that really wants to shoot, it is a beautiful thing.

 

[Aimsmall55]

Great job! You gotta love it when a load comes together. Regardless of make or cost, when you get a rifle that really wants to shoot, it is a beautiful thing.

Amen to that.

 

[MarinePMI]

Just a thought, but...will a 1-12 twist stabilize a 178 ELDX? ELDX tend to be long for their weight, so I'm just wondering if some of the crappy accuracy is that your on the edge of stability (especially at range).

In the past I've done testing (consulting work) for an ammunition manufacturer, and I remember an instance where accuracy was so so (not bad, not great) at 100yds, but just fell off at longer ranges. It left me (and my business partner) scratching our heads a bit). W switched to a faster twist barrel, and the accuracy fall off went away (accuracy still wasn't great mind you, but it didn't degrade so horrendously at greater distances). As near as we could tell, the stability was marginal, and at range it just gradually became less stable, and the accuracy fall off was exponential.

Just a thought...

 

[Aimsmall55]

Just a thought, but...will a 1-12 twist stabilize a 178 ELDX? ELDX tend to be long for their weight, so I'm just wondering if some of the crappy accuracy is that your on the edge of stability (especially at range).

In the past I've done testing (consulting work) for an ammunition manufacturer, and I remember an instance where accuracy was so so (not bad, not great) at 100yds, but just fell off at longer ranges. It left me (and my business partner) scratching our heads a bit). W switched to a faster twist barrel, and the accuracy fall off went away (accuracy still wasn't great mind you, but it didn't degrade so horrendously at greater distances). As near as we could tell, the stability was marginal, and at range it just gradually became less stable, and the accuracy fall off was exponential.

Just a thought...

Marine... that’s a thought and the 178 ELDX is something like 1.420” long. While that’s a lot longer than I expected it to be. Now I’ve shot the 185 juggernaut out of the same rifle with GREAT success, it’s only 1.344” long. So that’s a matter of almost 80/1000” difference. When I plugged it in (the 178 eldx ) it only has a sg of 1.13 which is WAYYYY below the recommended 1.4 minimum. So your mostly likely correct that it just wouldn’t stabilize. I knew there had to be a reason for a G1 of .535 for that grain of bullet when the 178 amax is .470 G1 according to Litz.

 

[sabrecross]

Good shooting!

 

[Aimsmall55]

Good shooting!

Thank ya sir

 

[ShtrRdy]

I'm impressed. My 24" .308 likes 41.5 gr of IMR-4064 behind a 175 hr SMK.

 

[bax]

I'm impressed. My 24" .308 likes 41.5 gr of IMR-4064 behind a 175 hr SMK.

Mine too - 41.52 gr, LC LR or Lapua cases, Fed210M, OAL 2.825.

OP, nice group - what is that, maybe 7 inches high and 5 inches wide? Hop in your mule and drive a little further, I bet it will still hit well at 7, maybe even at 8.

 

[lightman]

Good Job! The only factory ammo that I have never been able to beat with my handholds has been Weatherby. Kinda hurt my feelings at the time. I have consistently beaten all of the factory ammo considered to be the gold standard. Federal Gold Metal Match, Blackhills Match, LC Match, Even LC match where I pulled the bullets and seated SMK's. They (the factory) do an outstanding job but I have always been able to beat them. All except for Weatherby.

 

[Deleted member 113831]

Good Job! The only factory ammo that I have never been able to beat with my handholds has been Weatherby. Kinda hurt my feelings at the time. I have consistently beaten all of the factory ammo considered to be the gold standard. Federal Gold Metal Match, Blackhills Match, LC Match, Even LC match where I pulled the bullets and seated SMK's. They (the factory) do an outstanding job but I have always been able to beat them. All except for Weatherby.

Weatherby ammo was loaded by Norma IIRC. Norma loads good stuff.

 

[lightman]

I believe you are right about Norma loading Weatherby ammo. I have shot very little Norma ammo and most of that was in something like 7.7 Jap that I didn't expect to get a lot of accuracy from.