Range Report Range Report - First Timer Load Workup

[Turk10mm]

Well, today was my first time with my hand loads. I think, all in all it did pretty well. I'm not sure about the velocity going up and the POI coming down, though.

What do you think?

Two groups I think I'm going to play with.. Shots 3-6 and 12-15. I hope 14 and 16 were me pulling the shots.

Actual target first, then marked up target identifying velocity and powder load.

Oh sorry, rifle and ammo info.

Factory Savage 10FCP McMillan, 24" barrel 1:10 twist, cut to 20" and threaded for suppressor. No suppressor used for these shots NF NXS 3.5-15
Federal Brass, CCI BR2 Primers, Varget Powder, Sierra 168 gr BTHP
Bullets loaded .010 off the lands

Thanks Doc for your thread on how to reload and the messages back and forth that got me going.

 

[doc76251]

Re: Range Report - First Timer Load Workup

Me thinks the more powder the faster the boolet the lower the POI.

An additional thought: One should endevor to shoot a "group" of the same powder charge on a single target. 30 rounds of many charge weights yields little in retrospect.

All in all the group is concentric over the centerline. There is much to the idea of letting the gun get good and dirty before evaluating it's relative merits.

.02 for the pot

Cheers,

Doc

 

[Turk10mm]

Re: Range Report - First Timer Load Workup

Doc, thanks! I was performing a ladder test akin to the one found here, http://www.lima-wiederladetechnik.de/Englisch/Laddertest.htm

According to the theory of that article, shots 3-6 and 12-15 (even though 14 and 16 look pulled, it was starting to rain so i think i was rushing) are grouped together.

I'm going to work on a load in those two powder ranges and do more shooting with each load in groups. Slowly, I'll whittle down to two preferred powder charges, one for each grouping. and then finally figure out which one I like best.

I shot 5 foulers prior to shooting the 16 rounds. I stopped at 44.4 grains of powder because I was reaching 2700fps. Even though my cases showed only slight flattening of the primer, I figured this was a good place to stop. And it started raining so it was either wait around and keep going or be happy with what I got.