Thoughts, large ES?

[18Echo]

I'm shooting a crescent custom .300WM and have been load developing for the Berger 185gr hunting VLDS. I'm shooting winchester brass with 1 firing on them. Fully prepped to include annealing and neck-turning to an even .013 with .002 tension.
During OCW I found my charge of 75.3gr of RL22 with Mr. Newbury's help (brass was virgin for this my ES was 33 but the group was basically one hole). Today I did a seating depth test and both .030 & .070 off the lands gave me one hole, but again the ES was 21 and 48 respectively and the numbers were different between the two round robins (used bergers seating depth test). The first group at .030 averaged 3000fps and the second group averaged 3034fps. The .070 first group averaged 2965fps and the second group averaged 3025fps.

Any thoughts? I was wondering if it could be my chrono or environmental effects on the chrono, I don't want to believe my handloads suck that much and Rl22 works great in my 7mmRM.

 

[Nate O.]

If those groups were shot at 100, take them out to a greater distance and see what they do. If you don't have a bunch of vertical run 'em. As to your ? on ES, who cares if they shoot good at length. Don't get fixated on numbers, give it a real world go.

 

[KNIGHT11B4]

Depending in the chrono you have... dont trust it too much. Trust the bullet. The only chrono I put any real faith into is a properly setup Magneto Speed.

A group can be tiny at 100 with a significant ES, its only 100 yards after all. Take that same load too 500 or further and you will see that ES start to be an issue for competitive sized targets.

Test those loads at distance. Go with accuracy, not speed.. 50 fps doesn't mean near as much as true accuracy. If the load shoots tight at distance then you are golden and the chrono is probably giving you some funny numbers.

 

[Dan Newberry]

Depending in the chrono you have... dont trust it too much. Trust the bullet. The only chrono I put any real faith into is a properly setup Magneto Speed.

A group can be tiny at 100 with a significant ES, its only 100 yards after all. Take that same load too 500 or further and you will see that ES start to be an issue for competitive sized targets.

Test those loads at distance. Go with accuracy, not speed.. 50 fps doesn't mean near as much as true accuracy. If the load shoots tight at distance then you are golden and the chrono is probably giving you some funny numbers.

Yes... that. As I've often said, the target is the final arbiter. Chronographs lie. Targets never do.

 

[18Echo]

picked up some CCI 250's today, going to see if that settles down my spread.

 

[Nate O.]

Well, how did it shoot beyond 100?