I posted this on 6mmBR, but wanted to share it here as well. Preston and the guys at Surgeon sure can build a rifle. This is one of their rifles.
Well, I finally made it out to the range to test out some loads. My prior load was:
H4350 38.7 grains
.010" off the lands
115 DTAC
Wolf Primer
It yielded 2875 fps (26" Rock barrel). Much past that and I had ejector swipes and somewhat heavy bolt lift.
With my RE-17 testing, from 39.0 to 41.0 grains, I had about 30 fps for every .4 grain increase.
The POI for that 2 grain spread was very close together.
The two best loads were:
RE-17 39.4 grains
.010" off the lands
115 DTAC
Wolf Primer
2940 fps
5 Shots .250 CTC
RE-17 39.8 grains
.010" off the lands
115 DTAC
Wolf Primer
2968 fps
5 Shots .375" CTC
The circle aiming point is 1" across.
I began to get some very mild pressure signs at 40.2 and 40.6 grains, specifically some ejector marks.
The velocity averages from my testing:
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">39.0 39.4 39.8 40.2 40.6
2899 2940 2968 2996 3035</span>
I will head back later on to test some 20 round groups of 39.4 and 39.8 for ES and SD numbers, but so far it looks quite promising.
Well, I finally made it out to the range to test out some loads. My prior load was:
H4350 38.7 grains
.010" off the lands
115 DTAC
Wolf Primer
It yielded 2875 fps (26" Rock barrel). Much past that and I had ejector swipes and somewhat heavy bolt lift.
With my RE-17 testing, from 39.0 to 41.0 grains, I had about 30 fps for every .4 grain increase.
The POI for that 2 grain spread was very close together.
The two best loads were:
RE-17 39.4 grains
.010" off the lands
115 DTAC
Wolf Primer
2940 fps
5 Shots .250 CTC

RE-17 39.8 grains
.010" off the lands
115 DTAC
Wolf Primer
2968 fps
5 Shots .375" CTC

The circle aiming point is 1" across.
I began to get some very mild pressure signs at 40.2 and 40.6 grains, specifically some ejector marks.
The velocity averages from my testing:
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New'">39.0 39.4 39.8 40.2 40.6
2899 2940 2968 2996 3035</span>
I will head back later on to test some 20 round groups of 39.4 and 39.8 for ES and SD numbers, but so far it looks quite promising.