Time for a new powder or new bullet? No luck on getting any of previous loads to repeat themselves. Took the 44.2 loads that came in under an inch last week and it came up 1.7in. Also tweaked the seating depth on the 44.2 loads with a couple for 3 shot strings and it didnt help, got worse actually. Due to the random flyers, I figured Id clean the barrel before this range session. Shot 2 foulers. Shot a 3 shot string of 45.4gr to see if boosting the speed would tighten things up(this group shot .7). 5 shot string of 44.2, then 3 shots each of 44.2 with different seating depths. If the 44.2 lao would have held 1moa I could have least used it as a fall back. Now Im pretty much back to square one.

Ive got about 5 boxes or LRX left, 20ish in the open box. Here are my conclusions:

1. The Sako simply doesnt like the LRX bullet
2. The powder bullet combo are off or this is as good as it gets.
3. The shooter is off, always possible, but, I usually have another rifle with to shoot between shot strings and I can stack holes with those.
4. Something is not quite 100% consistent witth the rifle.

Possible solutions:

1. Try a new powder(pretty much where im at...thinking H4831SC or Varget) I have 20 LRX left in the open box, could shoot 6-3 shot strings and see if anything pops.
2. Try a new bullet(have 140gr Bergers, Amax, Nosler CC, SMK) basically, see if the rifle is capable of even shooting the consistent .75 or better groups Im chasing. If it cant do it with match bullets, maybe its just not a shooter.
3. Stop shooting 5 shot groups. My though is, if it can shoot small 5 shot groups consistently, it will shoot even better 3 shot groups. Ive also seen that small 3 shot groups are sometimes not repeatable with this rifle.
4. Perhaps the Sako could benefit from bedding or new stock. Nothing to confirm this, just guessing at this point.

On the bright side, the loads themselves have been very predictable and repeatable from a velocity, ES and SD standpoint. Duplicate loads are with a FPS of each other on all accounts.


Now what?


I wrote 42.2 on the board, it was 44.2
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The 45.4 load avg 2810fps
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Last edited by warpig602; 02/17/19.