I've been playing a bit with Hornady 105 HPBTs the last few weekends.
I tried four powders in initial workup: AR-Comp, H4895, Varget, and Re15. I did find some suggested charges on-line for H4895 and Re15 but was left to my own devices with the other two. I used QuickLOAD to find my way and try to stay out of trouble, and so far so good. The first day out with those loads showed me around 2550 fps with all powders except Re15, which was about 50 fps slower out of my 20-inch barrel. There was accuracy potential everywhere as far as I could tell, but my chronograph was causing problems...there is a rise in the ground about 15 feet in front of the bench where I was set up and that is exactly how far out front I always set up my 35P. As a consequence of that and the limited extension of my bipod I had to use a wooden box I keep in the bed of the pickup to set under the bipod to gain a little elevation so I wouldn't shoot my chronograph. It was a bit unsteady and far from ideal, but I really wanted the velocity data and I got it. I also made a mental note that I needed to enlarge the targets I was using, which I make and print myself using PowerPoint. I found the diamond shapes just a bit too small for 10x magnification.
The following weekend I tried the same four powders using the charges that seemed to be the best the weekend before, but left the chronograph at home. Nothing was really outstanding, but I was able to decide that AR-Comp and Re15 were out of the running. I also had forgotten to modify my targets, and that just really wasn't working well for me and for that reason didn't feel like I had a feel for the potential of either H4895 or Varget.
In the meantime I laid hands on some Leverevolution, which I am told is The Magic for 6mm AR.
This weekend I remembered to modify my target for better visibility when using a 10x. I loaded up some exploratory loads with Leverevolution and the same loads I had shot with Varget and H4895. Again, I left the chronograph at home. With Lever I tried 28.0 to 29.5 grains, and everything shot right at one inch for five shots. Huntable, for sure. H4895 shot the worst, with one group exceeding 1-1/2 inch (coulda been my fault, of course, but I didn't think I'd pulled the offending shot). The surprise was Varget, which turned in five-shot groups measuring 0.83 inch and 0.57 inch.
I'm not too proud OR confident to be willing to shoot some of these loads again. I've been having vision issues that I think hamper my bench shooting, and besides that I'd love to have a nickel for every time I've thought I'd found THE magic load but didn't. In the next few days I'll figure out what I want to shoot again and give it a go, hopefully soon. At this point, I can confidently say that the 105 shoots pretty well in my rifle, and I am pleased with it. I hope hogs hate it when I get a chance to introduce them to it...I've never used the 105 before and don't have any real idea whether it will actually open up on a hog at these velocities, but I am more than willing to find out.
