After breaking in the barrel using 280 Rem brass, I ordered Nosler Ackley brass and began working up loads fired by Federal 210 Match primers..
I had my smith cut the tube to 23", and upon his recommendation did not bed the rifle. He's as anal as they come, and he said the rifle sat "dead nuts" in the barrel channel. Scope is a Zeiss 2.5-8 Conquest in Talley LW rings.
Based on previous 280 Rem loads and 7mm Rem Mag loads using IMR 7828SSC, that was the powder I chose.
I loaded the 150 Nosler Ballistic Tip, as the primary quarry will be Whitetail here in the Adirondacks, and long tracking jobs will inevitably take one away from the truck, not towards it.
I used the Nosler #5 Manual as a reference, due in large part to Steve Timm's recommendation.
61.0 7828SSC, shots 1-3 out of a clean barrel, averaged 2986 fps, and were sub MOA at .771"
61.5 = 3033, 1.25 MOA
62.0 = 3065, Sub MOA at .886
62.5 = 3145, 2 MOA...
I loaded 63.0, but based upon the velocity with the 62.5 load, did not fire them.
No loads showed any obvious signs of pressure.
I'm planning on reloading the 62.0 load to see if it's repeatable, as well as with different COAL to see if accuracy improves. For today's session COAL was 3.330.
Bench technique was simply to pull the rifle into my shoulder as snug as possible, left hand did not touch the rifle, was on the rear sandbag.
Hoping this helps you Ackley fans!!
