Hey everybody! 7mm Remington Mag
I am puzzled.
First off, I've been reloading for 12 years. I do it by the book; always loaded for accuracy, and I am NOT the guy who tries to wring the most fps out of any given load. I've worked up loads for various rifles, and haven't had any surprises....until now.
My goal is to get 162gr Amax'es shooting to 1000 yards, just to smack steel and to see if I can. My rifle is a Tikka 695, 24 inch barrel, JP Ent Bennie Cooley compensator.
I ladder-loaded, in 0.5 grain increments, two different batches; one with H-4831SC and the other with H1000. Started at minimum and worked up. The H-4831SC I loaded to what is listed as max, I had zero signs of pressure, and got 2780fps (which seems to me really slow!). So I loaded more, past the max, in 0.5 grains. I am not going to tell you how many grains of H-4831SC I stopped at, but still, ZERO signs of pressure, and I got 2868fps with it.
As for the H-1000 load, I went to 70.5 grains, and got 2897.
This seems way out to lunch.....I've scoured the forums, and this seems wayyyyyy slow for BOTH loads of powder?!?! Do I have a 'slow' barrel? I checked my chrony against my .300WinMag loads to make sure it wasn't messed up, and no, they were running exactly where they should.
I want 3000fps out of this rifle, and by all accounts, with a 24" tube and either one of these powders, it should easily be attainable in a SAFE manner.
Any ideas?