Post by Richard on Jul 1, 2020 16:09:59 GMT -5
Just some shooting results….
Tuesday 6-30-20 was a picture perfect day for shooting other than the fact it was humid! Zero wind all morning, cloudy and starting out at 74*. Herman and I had the range pretty much to ourselves except for one member that showed up later on. My course of business was to continue testing with H-4895 and mainly the 350 grain AeroMax bullets.
Last week I had shot them with 99.5 gr. of powder and results were encouraging. This week I was shooting then with 99 gr. to see if there was any improvement or what the velocity was. After shooting a couple of foulers, I shot a three shot group using the 350 gr. Fury II (all shooting today at 300 yards). I was encouraged by the first two shots almost touching and then the third shot dropping low to form a 2.8” group. vel. was 2989 with a low 9 fps ES. Did some head scratching on that last shot?
Let barrel cool…..
Next, I switched to the 350 AeroMax with this same 99 grain load. Velocity here averaged 2996 fps with a 22 fps ES. Again, encouraged by putting the first two shots in the same hole and then having #3 drop low and right? #4 came back up and #5 over. That 3 shot group was 1.4” and all five at 2”
Barrel cooled and adjusted scope left a tad
Same load. Again shots one and two almost touching and #3 jumping straight up for a 2.5” group?
Note: shot #2 some 50 fps faster? Think it might have been LabRadar related?
Thinking the mount has slightly loosened (tried giving upward pressure on the scope but could not visually see movement?) Anyway, took scope off and checked screws---they were all tight?
Same load: First shot high, second to the left and then the remaining three somewhat vertical giving me 3 in 1.4” with all five in 2.9 (did no adjusting to the scope after putting it back on). Velocity was 3003 fps with a 13 fps ES. Hmmmm?
I had put five loads of 99.5 in my box (same as last week) and decided to see what they would do? Here is where it gets interesting……..Shot #1 was low but its velocity was 2980 fps……….skipping ahead, shot #4 was high at 3038 fps while shots 2, 3 and 5 averaged 3007 fps with a 3 fps ES and formed a .606” group in between One and Four?
I cannot explain the velocity difference in the slow and fast shots? All my loads are measured on a digital scale that weights to .01 (hundredths of a grain) and my charges are measured to .03. The AeroMax bullets were all run thru my specific sizing die the night before and all loaded and seated with the same light pressure.
Sometimes I think I have all the eyes dotted and the T’s crossed and still I get stuff I find hard to explain? One thing I have observed over the years playing with these SML’s is that more times than not, shots that register very close in velocity tend to group well……….Not carved in stone, but more times than not. This is also a good reason to be using a chronograph when shooting………..it sometimes help explain erratic shots.
I will be upping the charge next week to 100 gr. for this bullet. I might also be trying some IMR 4895 that I’m getting from a friend. Tried to find H-4895 locally and on the internet?...........It has dried up! One vendor did have a #8 that he was selling for $258.00 while all the other vendor’s were around $196 to $218 (but yes, they did not have any). Fortunately, my one friend has two cans of the IMR and another has 4 cans of Hodgedon that he will let me have two…….but need to drive 35 mi. to get it!
Oh, and BTW, NO semblance of barrel fouling!
Tuesday 6-30-20 was a picture perfect day for shooting other than the fact it was humid! Zero wind all morning, cloudy and starting out at 74*. Herman and I had the range pretty much to ourselves except for one member that showed up later on. My course of business was to continue testing with H-4895 and mainly the 350 grain AeroMax bullets.
Last week I had shot them with 99.5 gr. of powder and results were encouraging. This week I was shooting then with 99 gr. to see if there was any improvement or what the velocity was. After shooting a couple of foulers, I shot a three shot group using the 350 gr. Fury II (all shooting today at 300 yards). I was encouraged by the first two shots almost touching and then the third shot dropping low to form a 2.8” group. vel. was 2989 with a low 9 fps ES. Did some head scratching on that last shot?
Let barrel cool…..
Next, I switched to the 350 AeroMax with this same 99 grain load. Velocity here averaged 2996 fps with a 22 fps ES. Again, encouraged by putting the first two shots in the same hole and then having #3 drop low and right? #4 came back up and #5 over. That 3 shot group was 1.4” and all five at 2”
Barrel cooled and adjusted scope left a tad
Same load. Again shots one and two almost touching and #3 jumping straight up for a 2.5” group?
Note: shot #2 some 50 fps faster? Think it might have been LabRadar related?Thinking the mount has slightly loosened (tried giving upward pressure on the scope but could not visually see movement?) Anyway, took scope off and checked screws---they were all tight?
Same load: First shot high, second to the left and then the remaining three somewhat vertical giving me 3 in 1.4” with all five in 2.9 (did no adjusting to the scope after putting it back on). Velocity was 3003 fps with a 13 fps ES. Hmmmm?
I had put five loads of 99.5 in my box (same as last week) and decided to see what they would do? Here is where it gets interesting……..Shot #1 was low but its velocity was 2980 fps……….skipping ahead, shot #4 was high at 3038 fps while shots 2, 3 and 5 averaged 3007 fps with a 3 fps ES and formed a .606” group in between One and Four?
I cannot explain the velocity difference in the slow and fast shots? All my loads are measured on a digital scale that weights to .01 (hundredths of a grain) and my charges are measured to .03. The AeroMax bullets were all run thru my specific sizing die the night before and all loaded and seated with the same light pressure.
Sometimes I think I have all the eyes dotted and the T’s crossed and still I get stuff I find hard to explain? One thing I have observed over the years playing with these SML’s is that more times than not, shots that register very close in velocity tend to group well……….Not carved in stone, but more times than not. This is also a good reason to be using a chronograph when shooting………..it sometimes help explain erratic shots.
I will be upping the charge next week to 100 gr. for this bullet. I might also be trying some IMR 4895 that I’m getting from a friend. Tried to find H-4895 locally and on the internet?...........It has dried up! One vendor did have a #8 that he was selling for $258.00 while all the other vendor’s were around $196 to $218 (but yes, they did not have any). Fortunately, my one friend has two cans of the IMR and another has 4 cans of Hodgedon that he will let me have two…….but need to drive 35 mi. to get it!
Oh, and BTW, NO semblance of barrel fouling!
