Hi All,

I'm stumped here.

This is today's shooting. It's just surplus light ball bullets, pulled, over 45 grains of Varget and a Federal primer. This is from a clean bore, and this rifle shoots low with a clean bore.

10 shots. Square is 1"; circle is 2". 60 yards, prone, front support, fire five, stripper clip, five more, as fast as I can BRASS, about every two seconds:



Prior to that, a 174 grain Hornady o.312" Match over 51.2 grains H4350, same distance:



But 174 grain jacketed round nose o.312" bullet, under increasing amounts of Varget, this is the best I could get, and the vertical stringing is really bad though it's an improvement over the lighter loads. If I recall correctly, these are 44 and 44.5 grains, pretty much overlapping each other. 10 shots:



Do I just keep increasing until I max out or find a load that doesn't string? Where do I go from here?

Thanks,

Josh

I've got a mosin and the stringing issue seems to directly relate to the barrel heating up. its got that crap plywood stock all along the length the barrel that puts increasing pressure on the barrel as it heats up. I would figure that you'd need some gunsmithing/bedding of the stock to correct the issue.

+1 on the barrel heating up. I have seen it too in my MN. The hot barrel may be more sensitive to stringing with hotter loads.

Hello,

The best group (second pic) was fired with 174grn BTHP, but with a slower powder.

The barrel is floated with a pressure point at the end, and the action is shimmed.

I would agree with the barrel heating up otherwise... but the 150 grain bullets are really screaming where the 174 grain bullets might be reaching 2300fps with Varget.

That's what's confusing the heck out of me. I'm thinking I'm not driving 'em fast enough with Varget.

Thanks,

Josh