First outing with my reloads...

[stello1001]

Hey all,

I decided to hit the range with my reloads and see if I was good enough at both shooting and loading haha.

I took my 18" grendel, 20" grendel, 6.5CM, and 223. Although for the 223 I just shot factory ammo so I can get once fired brass.

Somewhere along the day, my garmin ran outta battery so I decided not to shoot my loads for the 18" grendel. I got to shoot and chrono all CM loads and most 20" grendel loads.

On the CM my first group of 5, which is the lowest charge weight, I had my turret still dialed for 700 yards from the match I shot yesterday. Damn it! So the shots didn't print on paper, but I did get the chrono reading. I shot a different charge weight in its place as there was grass covering the dot I was supposed to shoot though, so pardon the confusion.

The 223 shot amazingly well and I think is becoming my favorite riflrle. I had shot a 10 round group that looked alright. So I said "fuck it" and did a 20 round group right after. Both the barrel and can were HOT! Still managed to get a 10 shot group under an inch and a 20 shot group at just over an inch. With FACTORY mass produced ammo.

Here are some pics

I had a custom Taylor made target stand.

None of my reloads had any sign of pressure. The factory grendel ammo I shot was a different story. Sticky bolt lifts and some primer flattening.

The S&B modified ammo is sellier & ballot with 124s that I pulled and averaged out the charge weight to evenly distribute it across the rounds and seat the bullet 20 thou off the lands. The factory stuff jams.

The 18" grendel I have never been able to get it to shoot. Hopefully once I shoot the reloads it proves me wrong.

The 20" grendel had decent numbers but poor-ish group sizes.

Overall, had a kickass day! If anyone cares to give any feedback, I'll take it. If not, it's ok, enjoy these few pics.

Yes, I shot under a PINK tent!

 

[redbullitt]

Pink tent looks inclusive. Good call. You even used Mexican match ammo to really open things up. Impressive. Probably get 5 extra votes changed blue once they see your pics lol.

Appreciate the pics. Good shooting and good luck with the Grendel! Unless something is wrong with it I bet you'll get it to shoot just fine.

 

[Snafu_again]

Damn, that's pretty gangster shooting off the roof of your truck rested on a bag of deer corn! Like it!!

What's your Grendel load? Have played around with the 20" that I have and may be able to help.

 

[stello1001]

Damn, that's pretty gangster shooting off the roof of your truck rested on a bag of deer corn! Like it!!

What's your Grendel load? Have played around with the 20" that I have and may be able to help.

Haha thanks. Over the years, I've realized that a corn bag works really really good. Being in the field sometimes you have to make it work with what you got. A few years agoI only had a bag of corn and it really stabilized my position. I even used it on my creedmoor with an atlas cal attached to it via arca on this outing. I decided the corn was better than the bipod. Seeing how I managed to get an inch-ish group with 20 rounds out of my 223 with a barrel and can hot AF and heavy mirage, I'd say the setup is doing alright.


For the 20" grendel, i loaded the following charge weights of tac with a 123 SST and I'd have to check my notes. I believe i seated them 25 thou off the lands in virgin starline brass.

To the brass, I only chamfered the ID, used some dry lube (graphite) on the necks, ran a LE Wilson mandrel, and sat the bullets.
I think the results are decent. I'm not too worried on this rifle, I think there is plenty potential.

27.6
28.0
28.3
28.6
28.9


For the 18" grendel, which is the trouble child, I loaded the following charge weights of TAC:

26.4
26.8
27.2
27.6
28.0
28.3
28.6
28.9

I loaded these in once fired (from this same rifle) hornady brass with 123 SST at factory hornady ammo length, don't recall. However, these are the loads I didn't get to fire because my chrono died and prefer to wait til I can gather all the info possible when testing.

This is also the grendel rifle that I simply cannot get to shoot. You'll see on the target picture, the above row, has factory hornady ammo all over the place. I even tried playing with torque value on the action screws.

In the past, I've tried other factory ammo of different manufacturers and different bullet weights, nothing seems to work. I even took the scope off and made sure scope base, rings, and ring caps were not loose. This rifle shows no promise at all.

 

[Snafu_again]

Well, you're using my go toos, TAC and Hornady 123 A-Max. Also been getting good results with Nosler 129 ABLRs.

Good luck! Grendel is a great round and pretty easy to load for.

 

[stello1001]

Well, you're using my go toos, TAC and Hornady 123 A-Max. Also been getting good results with Nosler 129 ABLRs.

Good luck! Grendel is a great round and pretty easy to load for.

I wanted 129s but never found any lol.

I'm thinking for the 20" grendel that I'm using virgin brass, I'll maybe load up enough to complete a set of 100 pieces of brass. I shot 25 already in my initial load development so 75 more, with some cheap bullets just to fireform. Then start some serious load development using the once fired starline and move back to the 123s. That is strictly going to be a hunting rifle so I'm fine with the 123s.

I think also have 123 eldms and 123 amax bullets, I'll have to check. Any of these 3 different projectiles should be good for deer around here up to 200 yards wouldn't you say?

 

[Snafu_again]

I think also have 123 eldms and 123 amax bullets, I'll have to check. Any of these 3 different projectiles should be good for deer around here up to 200 yards wouldn't you say?

Absolutely, killed a lot of deer and pigs with the amax.