Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles What was the hardest load development you ever did?

Exact gun I have! Last of the blued/syn ADL's. It is now in a bedded Medalist, and a Rifle Basix trigger. The only load it will shoot is 35gr Bergers + 26.6grs of Benchmark + WSR primer + Win case. I love the gun now...but what a pain in the ass it was prior.

Glad you had success. After my failure I quit the .204 for a couple years and went back to .17 Rem in an LVSF, then had it rebarreled to something like a VSSF, but only 24", in .204. That was a rodent slayin' SOB. I shot the throat out so I got yet another new barrel, this time sporter config. Both from PacNor, both chambered with the same reamer, but very different profile and different stocks, yet after reworking loads for the new barrel, I'm back to exactly the same recipes. Seems statistically unlikely, but y' can't argue much with the shootin' results.

Probably the coolest gun I never could succeed with was a Ruger #1 Varminter in .300 Win Mag that I bought used. It strung very repeatably as the barrel heated and cooled. First shots made a nice group in the .3s. 15th shots made a nice group in the .3s. But 8 MOA higher. Once it got hot, it shot great while it stayed hot, let it cool, POI would drop back down. Sure put a new meaning to making the first shot count, but that sort of interferes with the idea of a heavy barrel for lots of shooting.

Tom

Several years back, I bought a new Winchester Mod 70 stainless in 338 Win mag. I loaded up 50 rounds of 250 gr Sierras with MRP and headed off to a spot where I could shoot, about a 75 mile drive. I get out there and set up, shoot all 50 rnds and get no good results, everything pretty much 2.5" - 4" groups at 100 yds.
Grrr..., head home scratching my head and rubbing my shoulder.
Next weekend, try a couple of different powders with 100 rnds, still no joy and the friggin rifle slipped off the sissy bag and stuck my collar bone hard enough to crack it. Still no groups worth anything. Head home.
Get home, look at gun for a while. Hmmm, pull stock and begin looking suspiciously at it. This is one of those cheap POS injection molded stocks with a recoil pad that's no better. I like my Senderos including the HS stock on those so I called HS and ordered one up for my model 70. A few days later, the stock arrives and I mount the rifle in it. Weekend arrives and I take another 50 rnds of 250 Sierras on MRP out to the boondocks and right away I'm getting .75" - 1.25" groups. A little tuning brought that in to more consistant .75" groups and I'm happy.

Today my usual big game rifle is my Rem 700 Sendero in 338 RUM. This rifle is a joy compared to what that Model 70 with that injection molded stock felt like. The shape and fit of that stock in combination with a hard rubber recoil pad made that 338 Winny a bear to shoot and I think that the stock offered such poor support for the receiver that it wouldn't shoot.

My worst was my Rem 700 in 7mm UltraMag.

I even went so low as to buy a box of factory ammo to make sure the gun even had some potential.

Now that I found the magic load, it'll drive 4 shots into a dime at 200 yards.

In the early '90's I bought a new Custom Super Grade M70 in 7mm RM. Shot it and shot it but never got acceptable groups sufficient that I would take it hunting. At just under 1300 rounds one day I discovered a fine longitudinal crack running up the right side of the receiver. After having several people look at it the Winchester warranty gunsmith sent it back to the factory as he said he had never seen anything like it. At the time of sending it in I included a note mentioning the lack of accuracy.

About 8 or 9 months later I got back a new rifle with the same serial number. I assume this was done to avoid having to pay duty a second time. The new rifle shot very well. The company not only replaced the receiver (which was all that I was expecting due to the amount of shooting done) but also the barrel and stock. The second stock was even nicer than the first one.

Took it hunting and killed a moose with it and then it became a safe queen for the last 16 or 17 years. Every once in awhile I take it out and fire a few rounds through it then put it away again.

Very disappointing for that quality of rifle from the custom shop but in the end the company did me right.

Jim

A .270 WSM Howa. I never did get it to shoot well enough to suit me. There was always one flyer.... I gave up, sold it and got a Vanguard Sub-MOA in .257 Wthby.

The toughest rifle I had to work with was a Browning BAR in 270. My uncle had won this brand new rifle as some kind of sales award for the company he worked for. It was 2 weeks before the 1991 deer season I told his to go and by a Leupold 3X9 scope and bases and rings. He didn't want to be tied to handloaded ammo I told him to buy a box of 130's and 150's he showed up with the ammo, bases and rings, and a Redfield 3X9. Well I mounted the scope up grabbed a spare 3X9 Leupold that I had just in case and headed to the range.

He had bought Remington core-locks in the 130 and 150's. I fired 5 shots with the 130's first. I had seen better groups fired from a shotgun using buckshot. It was right at 5". I rechecked bases and rings all was tight so I grabbed the 150's and fired 5 of those and the same thing about 5". So I thought it's the Crappy Redfield scope so I grabbed the Leupold mounted it up went back the bench grabbed the 130's fired 5 shots, no change. tried the 150's same thing. I put the Redfield back on ran down to the sporting goods bought some Winchester 130's in powerpoints and 150's in the round nose configuration and swung back by my house to grab some 270 130's that I used in my 270 the were 130 Speer hot-cores and 58 grains of H4831 and CCI 200 primers and Winchester brass.

Back to the range fired all three and the smallest group was 3.5" with Winchester 150 round nose going over my chrono at 2450 + or - 15 feet a second. I called my uncle and told him to sell this piece of crap as fast as he could or trade it for a real rifle.

He had me call Browning which I did and in 1991 their guarantee was 6" at a 100 yards. He took it to a local gunshop and traded it and $20 for a 700 BDL in 270.

Shipster

Sako L61R 338WM,a bad new Leupold.
FN 264WM,bad barrel.
Savage 243W,vertical stringing,plastic stock.

When those rifle problems were solved,load development was easy.But a rifle with out problems was the biggest challenge,when I did it,I wanted a 338-06 to do 2650 with a 225 in a inch,little data,some wrong, some wimpy and few case filling powders.

Mine was my 6.5WSSM - when it was in the 6.5WSM chambering it was an awesome rifle.
Washed out 4" of barrel, rechambered to 6.5WSSM ,and it all went to hell in a hand cart!!
The biggest problem was the brass i was trying to work with - went through a PILE of brass trying to get some uniform cases.
Finally gave up after months of frustration.
Good accuracy for a big game rifle, but NOT for a long range varmint gun, for sure!
Cat

With out a doubt

My load for my BAR 338WM

Exactly the same thing for me, eventually gave up and sold the gun.

Encore in 300 Wby. took 420 rounds to discover it WOULD NOT shoot 165's. Switched to 180's & Imr 7828 and it was RC Cola & a Moon Pie.

.338/378 before it was a factory round.
Lots of issues.

I've had two .300 Wbys, and neither of them would shoot 165s...or 150s for that matter. Switch to 180s, and everything suddenly gets awesome.