Post by Richard on Jan 11, 2017 20:58:19 GMT -5
Kind of a cloudy/drizzly 36* day in western NC……….Actually a great day for shooting…No wind. Since I did not not yet get my Sightron back from repair I still have the little 4x14 Burris Short Mag on the HIS rifle and shied away from any 300 yard testing so everything shot today was 100 yards. Not much going on special just some different bullets and powders to see what kind of results I could get. I started out with a couple of 230 gr. foulers not shown.
To start off with I wanted a baseline with 8/66 Clays/H-4198 and the 300 gr. XTP’s….which needed to get adjusted to center…more or less so the first two shot had some “scope adjustments” and were not included in group size. With that being said, shots 3, 4 and 5 with that load produced a decent .347” group almost centered. I then put a click down and one over and proceeded with group #2
Last week I had shot the Swift 300 gr. A-Frame with the 8/66 load (no wad) and they did not do what the XTP’s do so this week I added a wad hoping that would improve the group…………but it did not! Velocity and ES were great but did not shoot like I hoped it would. For anyone wanting a shorter range bullet that can be shot at SML velocities and stay together---yet still mushroom, I believe this is a good one……..just not a 1-holer!
Next up was a bullet I had not shot in a while…the 290 Barnes TEZ. Aside from the first shot (this more times than not happens when changing loads and bullets), the sub sequent four shot group was not all that bad. It had shot better with the 6/65.8 duplex… but who knows?
Switching powders I went back to Clays and N-120. (I shot one fouler not included) Last week I shot it at 8/64 and it did ok sot this week I upped it to 8/66. Surprisingly, it shot slower than the same amounts of H-4198. It averaged 2770 with a 18 fps ES as compared to the 8/66 Clays/H-4198’s 2797 velocity. Group wise it wanted to shoot small but threw one of five out to make a 12/” into a 1.1” group. So, powder too expensive and not easy to get plus no advantage in accuracy or velocity…….at least for me----today? That can always change.
Some time way back, don’t recall if it was with saboted or sabot less loads, I shot some duplex loads using H-335----Yes, fine ball powder! (here again I shot one fouler not included) But, with 8 gr. of Clays to block it from getting into the vent hole, its not a problem. I knew it was a slower powder than 4198 so I upped the ratio to 8/70.------------------way too little! From dead on at 2800 fps it dropped to 2512 and POI dropped 8 ½”. It could work with more pressure but then that means upping the charge a whole bunch just like 3031. And, with 4198 doing so well, I don’t think its worth messing with.
For the 6th. group I went wit the 250 gr. BE ( I have had a few of these kicking around in my bullet box for well over a year and wanted to get rid of them) Back to the 8/66 Clays/4198 and a three shot .685” at 2912 fps with an 11 fps ES. POI shifted from the 300 XTP’s.
Again, I still had some 275 BE’s in the box and used the same load to produce a three shot .690” group. I am convinced that I should have shot a fouler (in hind sight) but did not think it was necessary since the bullet make was the same and the powder was the same but……………Shot #1 went high and then the next three grouped lower? Also, the first shot was almost 50 fps higher. I kind of figured the average velocity should have been somewhat lower than the 250’s.
Anyway, that was my playing for today. Whenever possible I believe it is best to fire at least one fouler in between changing powder or bullets. 75% of the time it will make a difference.
