I went to the range every day for the last 4 days and will go again today, in all likelihood. On Monday, I was looking to square away my Winny M70 EW in .30-06 for a possible upcoming hunt.
Just to warm up, I had brought a few of my standard M1 Garand match loads (47.0 gr of IMR4895 under a 168gr Sierra MatckKing with CCI BR2 primer) to see how the rifle would handle them and also get some sense of its 100-yard zero with a 168gr bullet. I was more than a little disappointed with my first 6 shots:
I happened to have a few remaining cartridges from a test session I had with my Savage 116 last year, so next I tried 5 shots with a slightly different load. The only difference in this load was 1.0 gr more of powder (total of 48.0gr), specifically IMR4895, which is my standard powder for my M1s:
This second group measured 0.6" ctc. Now I'll be working with several 168gr hunting bullets to find the best loads but I think, for a hunting rifle with no modifications but a scope, this Winny isn't too bad. I find the improvement from one grain of powder interesting and will be truing loads 1/2 gr heavier and lighter than this one to see if there's any difference.
BTW, these two groups were shot about 15 minutes apart after the barrel had cooled so I can't attribute the differences to just cold v. hot barrel.
FH
Just to warm up, I had brought a few of my standard M1 Garand match loads (47.0 gr of IMR4895 under a 168gr Sierra MatckKing with CCI BR2 primer) to see how the rifle would handle them and also get some sense of its 100-yard zero with a 168gr bullet. I was more than a little disappointed with my first 6 shots:
I happened to have a few remaining cartridges from a test session I had with my Savage 116 last year, so next I tried 5 shots with a slightly different load. The only difference in this load was 1.0 gr more of powder (total of 48.0gr), specifically IMR4895, which is my standard powder for my M1s:
This second group measured 0.6" ctc. Now I'll be working with several 168gr hunting bullets to find the best loads but I think, for a hunting rifle with no modifications but a scope, this Winny isn't too bad. I find the improvement from one grain of powder interesting and will be truing loads 1/2 gr heavier and lighter than this one to see if there's any difference.
BTW, these two groups were shot about 15 minutes apart after the barrel had cooled so I can't attribute the differences to just cold v. hot barrel.
FH
