Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles I think I found ONE load today!

Great day at the range! Ok, ANY day at the range is a great day.

I've been wanting to try and find a load or loads for my Blaser 300 Win Mag.
Today's snack-foods consisted of three powders:
IMR 4831
IMR 4350
H4831

3 different 'pills' were tested as well:
Scirocco I's 180gr
Nosler 180 gr Ballistic tip
Hornady 180 gr Interlock.

Weather was warm, 77 degrees, 17% humidity. Winds almost dead behind me at 18 gusting to 24.

I shot 3 rounds of each powder, powder weight and bullet(total rounds fired today = 216 PLUS I shot a box of factory stuff to get them out of my larder = 236 rounds of 300 WM ). All loads were loaded to .02 off the lands.

Some targets where pathetic (the 3 shot/ 5" group for example)

I did have one decent group with the Scirocco's and will probably play with that one some more. But the one that pretty much smoked them all was this one. .863 outside to outside and .555" center to center. Yes, it's only a 3 shot group, but you shoot 236 rounds of 300 WM in a T-shirt and see how YOU feel!

In this wind, I'll take that.

That will work!

236 rounds in a T shirt your tougher than I....

Me too.

If I had to shoot 236 rounds to get a good group I'd take up bowling.


Travis

i'd have quit after 3-6 rounds of 300WM, especially with the 180's.

Nice group.

Wow you the man

Deflave, I enjoyed the first 200 or so. It was those last 36 that put the hurt on me!
I also have a pretty good group from the Scirocco's, but that will have to wait for another trip to the range (and my shoulder bruise to go away)

Ouch...



Travis

How did you manage to shoot that many rounds of 300 WinMag in one day without getting the barrel really hot?

Did you run cold ice water through it in between groups? If you fired them in fairly normal succession with no cooling mechanism in between, enjoy that one group because they are likely to start opening up pretty soon from barrel wear and throat erosion/cracking.

If the barrel is still good, give the Barnes TTSX's a go. Not uncommon at all for them to turn in great groups, and thier on game performance is unbeatable.

Hate to break it to you but out of that many rounds fired the mathematical odds that at least three rounds will land close together is extremely high.

Now if you can replicate the same group repeatedly for years to come then you have something. Just a hunch but as Safari man mentioned that many rounds through a 300 win in one day you likely will be seeing a lot more of those 5" groups in the near future due to a destroyed barrel.

Shod

Perhaps the variable that needs tweaking is OAL? It's been my experience that OAL can have the largest gains. Typically when I do load development I load 5 rounds of a given load kissing the lands then 5 rounds 0.05" off and another 5 another 0.05" off so on and so on. I do that with 3-4 different charges a half a grain different. Eventually you see the pattern where you say "it likes to be pushed fast and X off the lands".

236 rounds is a lot of shooting not to come away with some real solid data.

I'm ok with hot barrels and shooting hundreds of rounds in a day. It's more fun when there's a breeze.

Bottom Feeder
Buffet Feeder
Belt Feeder

Try Hornady 190 gr Interlock bullets. Hornady used to factory load them. For some reason everyone's 180 gr. bullet's shot 1.24 MOA from my Hill Country rifle but the 190's shoot sub .33 MOA. Plus the MV I was getting averaged 2833fps out of a 24 inch barrel., pretty good when the factory states 2900.

Bbear -

236 rounds? Were all of those for load development? Even if not, I'd like to hear how you are doing your development for each bullet.

I used to shoot about 40 for each bullet type and weight. Now I do 8-10 using 0.5g powder increments and look for a string that gives a small group. If I find one I pick a load from the middle and build a few more for test/confirmation. I'm rarely disappointed and this way is far easier and less expensive. Easier on the barrel, too.

As someone else pointed out, printing a group like you showed becomes a statistical certainty as the number of attempts increases - meaning the size of that group might mean nothing. In fact, it could be your worst load.

Easy path........ladder at 200yd.

coyotehunter -
Most were for load development. Looking back, I could have cut the number of loads for each powder/bullet combination in half and still had good results. None of the 'lighter' loads I tried were worth the effort. The one I showed is in the middle of the powder range I tried. Basically, 3 rounds loaded w/ x powder and x bullet x the number of loads I was testing.

Digital Dan, they're re-building the range. Currently, the longest range available is the 100. They have a range that is at 250 to the berm, but had a class going on there. I would have preferred to have done a ladder even if the longest range I had was 250. Sure would have cut down on the soreness!

+1.......the 150 grain TTSX will work just dandy on all manner of deer - I personally don't entertain the 180's anymore in my Sako A7...

For some [bleep] and giggles - try some 110 grain V-max's

Gus

My limit is about 15 rounds w Ye Oulde Tang/Red Pad 77RS. Gettin too old to enjoy recoil.

Sold my similar .338 WM back in '94. Used to miss it; don't think I'd like it much these days.

I'm thinking a lead sled, or equivalent, was involved.

or after 230 rounds realized which eye to use.



just funnin