Re: Newest .243 Win Build
After an unforseen chain of events, I was finally able to get out and shoot her yesterday. I didn't have a chance to run my loads over a chrono since it was raining outside, but was able to get some groups fired.
I had originally planned on using moly coated bullets exclusively through this rifle (in the hopes of extending barrel life some), but at William's request I fired 20 naked bullets before fully cleaning the copper out and shooting my moly bullets. Thanks to Roscoe for providing me with 20 naked SMK's free of charge!
I was shooting various charge weights and didn't have a whole lot of time and only fired one group per charge weight, so my results are a little jaded. My charge of 40.0gr of H4350 behind a naked 107 SMK yielded a 0.262" group center to center. This was the 4th 5 shot group fired from this rifle and the highest charge weight I had loaded in naked bullets. No pressure signs noted.
The moly bullets didn't fare as well as that, but I was fighting the sun going down and it was hard to see the target (last shot fired just before 9 pm). I plan on shooting all my moly charge weights again on Saturday to get some more reliable data from them. I was more concerned yesterday with getting the barrel coated with moly and finding max charge before pressure signs. Max charge fired with moly bullets was 40.5gr H4350 and I managed to see very slight ejector swipe on the case head of one cartridge, but no pressure signs on the primer....I haven't seen ejector swipe prior to primer cratering/flattening before. Strange.
Anyways, the goal is to find a good load that will shoot the 107gr SMK at around 3000-3050 fps. I'm not concerned with going much higher than that in the velocity department. I may try the 115gr DTAC's down the road, but I'm sticking to the 107 SMK (moly) for now.
For the record, Mr. Roscoe was extremely kind and had a very open line of communication during the build process. Was full of helpful knowledge in helping with my decision on the barrel contour and getting a load tuned for the rifle (or at least gave me some good starting points). What I liked most about using Mr. Roscoe to build my rifle was that I was always able to get a hold of him when I chose. I could call and he'd answer the phone. I could send an email and he'd reply (within a couple hours at most). That meant a lot to me. I'll also say that Mr. Roscoe bent over backwards to make sure that I was happy and got what I needed/expected out of this rifle.
Thanks again William for a straight shooting rifle.
