Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Why load for the last FPS?

I load for best accuracy, most of the newer powders shoot best at pressure, so if its speed is in reloading guidelines that,s where I stop.

This is much the same as my method. I usually pick a suitable powder than work up to listed velocity. As long as things are looking OK I'll usually work up using the chronograph to those velocities.

Some rounds track closer with listed load data than others. One round that's particularly frustrating is the 7mm rem mag. The book data is all over the place and hasn't agreed with the velocities I've gotten in any of the several 7mm rem mag rifles I've loaded for. Most of the book data for this cartridge is quite frankly garbage and almost useless as a reference, I've seen listed maxes for the same bullet/powder combination differ by 7 grs. between manuals. I loaded for two of them this year and worked up loads over a chronograph using H1000. I found a very accurate load for one rifle using 160 Accubonds at 3000 fps and for the second rifle using 145 Barnes LRX's at 3200 fps, good full house loads that worked great on a couple of elk.

Quite franky I don't really see the point of downloading velocities in most modern centerfire rifles. Bullet weight has a lot more effect on recoil than powder charge so downloading a heavy bullet is only going to give marginal recoil reduction. Better in my opinion to go to a lighter, well constructed bullet and keep the velocity. When I was loading for a relative's young son I used 100 gr. nosler partitions in his 260 remington at 2800 fps. Not a full house load by any means but the recoil was almost non-existent and he killed truckloads of deer with it. My own 6.5x47L that I use for deer gets loaded with 100 gr. TTSX's at 3000 fps, you can watch the impact through the scope it kicks so little and it kills like lightning. I don't see what's to be gained by going to a lumbering heavy bullet at slow speeds, it's going to kick more and certainly isn't going to work any better

I don't see the attraction of downloading cup and core bullets. Even premium bullets are still incredibly cheap when compared to the money most of us spend on hunting. I've had such great service out of Partitions, Accubonds, and TTSX's that I can't see not using them to save a couple of bucks over the course of a hunting season. When I load for a prairie dog shoot bullet cost becomes a factor, but for big game the cost of premium bullets is just a rounding error.

2650 FPS With out excessive meat damage. Amen!

Micro action Bolt action6.5 Grendle for me in recent years. 129 grain core lock over LVR propellant, yeilding 2600 to 2700 works just fine for my deer hunting needs.

I hunt several states every year, usually Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and Colorado depending on where I draw a tag. I do a lot of hog hunting at night which is under 100 yard shooting. I hunt timber generally for deer where 100 yards is still a pretty long shot. In fact a shotgun with buckshot would work for half of my deer hunting in Texas. Oklahoma is a bit different, more open but still a long shot would be 250 yards. I have fast rifles also but tend to use them where they are appropriate like antelope or open country elk. I like the Whelen for a lot of elk hunting but have a 300 Win mag for the really long shots which to me is out to 450 yards.

I'll dump an .5 for an extra 100 fps.

If you've actually hunted antelope in Wyoming and Colorado, then you know the answer to your OP.

Chronograph should be the first thing a reloader buys.

Max loads out of a given book don't mean schit.



Clark

Tripod or pedestal mounted in the back of the truck?

At the time I started reloading in 2001, I had not shot a deer farther than 30 yards out. To me, reloading was an opportunity to produced reduced loads that fit that environment. What I found was that beyond lower recoil, I was also loading rounds that were more accurate than factory.

My goal has always been loading for the next notch down: make a 35 Whelen that shoots like a 358 WIN, a 30-06 that shoots like a .308 WIN, a 308 Win that shoots like a 300 Savage and so on.

Back when I started, I was doing most all of deer hunting from treestands with a bow. Rifles were just an extension of that. I had to give up the bow in 2007, and now I shoot rifle exclusively. Over the past 10 seasons, I've gradually stretched out. My longest is now 170 yards. My son, shooting the same loads took one at 253 yards last year.

Because it is fun? Be happy -- you said it.

Some people hunt in the hills and wooded areas, 200 yards might be on the far side in these situations. Here in the stubble field desert shooting often starts much further than that. I guess the flatter you shoot around here the better.












Happy trails

I worked up a few loads for my 6.5 swede with the 147 eld, reloader 26, Ramshot Magnum, last night that I'll be testing this afternoon. Go figure my target velocity is a suck 2700 fps. I hear they bounce off mule deer at 400, 500 yds but anything more than just trying to scare the animals away from the 3300 fps crowd would just be mean.☺


Trystan

I have hunted Antelope in Wyoming and used 270 and 30-06 rifles. Those rifles not being the endall as to velocity sure seemed good enough for the job. Typically I hunted around Sarasota, south of Superior and near Farson. I have found that 3000 fps works very well for long shots with a properly shaped bullet.

I live on the prairies and long range hunting is just a fact of life. Long range shooting and formal target shooting is a hobby all in itself, and inevitably my most consistent long range loads have the pressure right up there.

Bullets have different results at different velocities with many going from spectacular to ordinary to dismal as the ranges get longer. If you can push spectacular out another 100 yards in the same rifle why wouldn't you want to do it? Then there's cold weather. Its bad enough that velocity drops in the cold and the air gets heavy, but many loads go to crap when the pressure drops as well. Some of my favorite rifles have summer and winter loads both of which are hot.


Even my moderate velocity cartridges used in appropriate areas are loaded hot or right up there.

Get a good scope with ballistic reticle and target turrets, and learn how to use them...
sorta eliminates the need for the last possible fps...

but then recall that 90% of game is taken under 100 yds and 99 % is taken under 200...
or at least so I've read multiple times from multiple sources...

a good bullet BC helps also if you are shooting way out there...
and knowing how well your bullet will open at those distances...
as they all have a performance window....

just a thought

Some people like all the muzzle blast they can get.

This probably saved my butt years ago. Was loading the 8mm 180g NBT over R-22 in my 8mm Mag. I was 2 full grains (86.0g) below Nosler book max (88.0g). but was getting over 200fps over book max. velocity (3283fps). First case showed zero pressure signs, so I thought chrono error. No way that was 3500fps. So I sent another round down range. It also clocked 3500fps. That case showed a very flattened primer. I quit, went home and knocked down all the remaining loads. Turns out I had some of that HOT R-22 batch.

Well this year I think I will run my 257 Roberts at 2700 fps with a 120 gr. Sierra BTHP and my 308 will get by with Monarch 150 gr. factory loads. If I find any velocity induced issues I will report them. My crossbow is screaming along with a hot 355 fps, won't try to slow it down!

Umm...'cause it puts money in yer wallet and adds inches to yer dingus?

There's not a thing wrong with looking for the best velocity performance you can get, but giving up accuracy to get it IS a bad trade-off. That said, I don't get a rifle in .264 Mag and run it at .260 Remington velocities looking for accuracy. I want .264 velocities. If it shoots my 140-grain Accubond at 3050 with great accuracy, that's fine...I'm not going to fret over 50 or 100 fps. If I get 3150 and accuracy, great. If it only wants to shoot at 2800 fps, that's a NO-GO and I'll look for another route. A demand for velocity can be reasonable, or it can be unreasonable.