Had only an hour and half to play at the "short" range for load development, prior to going to 600-1000 the next day at the "other" range with the new barrel.
The following targets were shot with the 162 AMax from my Savage 7-08 build. The 150 SMK was gnat's ass accurate with the factory barrel, but it was only a 20 incher, lightweight contour and didn't have a fast enough twist for me to risk the 162's, so I changed barrels. Always looking for something better, and after reading all the good reports on the 162, and it's .625 BC, decided to give it a try.
The following targets were shot in a bit of a rush (read- some shooter error, no doubt) at 100 yards.
5 loads from 44.0-45.3 grains of H4350 under that bullet. Ten 'foulers' fired from the virgin barrel, then a patch of accelerator, foam with Wipe-Out and then patched it out when the line went cold. No "blue" indication of copper. That was the extent of "break-in"...
Then on to the round robin. All shots fired within the same 'hot' line of about 20 minutes. Gusty winds about 10-15.
All about minute of angle (not impressive, yet); odd thing was the last hot round of 45.3 showed only two holes- yet I shot three; and it was at a "clean" cardboard...no other holes...
So, I either pulled that shot like I've never done before into the next county, or it exactly hit the same hole...
The chrono results for the 45.3 were all over the road, 2711,2765, and (holy shit) 2848- that's HUMMIN ( and no pressure signs)....so I decided to let that one go.
Anyway, the 44.6 group showed the least vertical, and if attribute the shot on the right to wind change, it's a pretty tight group.
That's what I chose to load up for the next day.
Needed to zero this round at 200, and despite the swirling 10 mph wind got a couple five shot groups where three of them were touching, and the other two close...all sub minute even with the wind (and my wind calls SUCK)...
Some Chrono results I took while shooting these groups:
2674
2674
2676
2667
2686
2692
LOW 2667
HIGH 2692
AVG 2678
24.91 ES
0.91 SD
The steel at Manatee was non-existent except for one of the small swingers remaining on the left berm, but was able to get pretty consistent hits, considering my ability. Right before the rain came at the end of the day the wind calmed and I felt confident enough to shoot down the ditch to 1000. Punched the data into Strelok and after a couple minor elevation adjustments managed 2 out of three hits before the skies opened up.
So, it seemed to be shooting pretty well, though neither day had calm enough conditions for what I would normally consider a really good evaluation.
So, my question is- based on this data, does this look good enough to move onto the next step (playing with the jump for the 162, these were set at about .02, though the OAL gauge was giving me inconsistent readings with this bullet- perhaps because of the extreme secant ogive (?))
Or, do you think there is there more work to be done?
New at trying OCW (used to just pick the tightest group) so I'd appreciate any helpful advice.
The following targets were shot with the 162 AMax from my Savage 7-08 build. The 150 SMK was gnat's ass accurate with the factory barrel, but it was only a 20 incher, lightweight contour and didn't have a fast enough twist for me to risk the 162's, so I changed barrels. Always looking for something better, and after reading all the good reports on the 162, and it's .625 BC, decided to give it a try.
The following targets were shot in a bit of a rush (read- some shooter error, no doubt) at 100 yards.
5 loads from 44.0-45.3 grains of H4350 under that bullet. Ten 'foulers' fired from the virgin barrel, then a patch of accelerator, foam with Wipe-Out and then patched it out when the line went cold. No "blue" indication of copper. That was the extent of "break-in"...
Then on to the round robin. All shots fired within the same 'hot' line of about 20 minutes. Gusty winds about 10-15.
All about minute of angle (not impressive, yet); odd thing was the last hot round of 45.3 showed only two holes- yet I shot three; and it was at a "clean" cardboard...no other holes...
So, I either pulled that shot like I've never done before into the next county, or it exactly hit the same hole...
The chrono results for the 45.3 were all over the road, 2711,2765, and (holy shit) 2848- that's HUMMIN ( and no pressure signs)....so I decided to let that one go.
Anyway, the 44.6 group showed the least vertical, and if attribute the shot on the right to wind change, it's a pretty tight group.
That's what I chose to load up for the next day.
Needed to zero this round at 200, and despite the swirling 10 mph wind got a couple five shot groups where three of them were touching, and the other two close...all sub minute even with the wind (and my wind calls SUCK)...
Some Chrono results I took while shooting these groups:
2674
2674
2676
2667
2686
2692
LOW 2667
HIGH 2692
AVG 2678
24.91 ES
0.91 SD
The steel at Manatee was non-existent except for one of the small swingers remaining on the left berm, but was able to get pretty consistent hits, considering my ability. Right before the rain came at the end of the day the wind calmed and I felt confident enough to shoot down the ditch to 1000. Punched the data into Strelok and after a couple minor elevation adjustments managed 2 out of three hits before the skies opened up.
So, it seemed to be shooting pretty well, though neither day had calm enough conditions for what I would normally consider a really good evaluation.
So, my question is- based on this data, does this look good enough to move onto the next step (playing with the jump for the 162, these were set at about .02, though the OAL gauge was giving me inconsistent readings with this bullet- perhaps because of the extreme secant ogive (?))
Or, do you think there is there more work to be done?
New at trying OCW (used to just pick the tightest group) so I'd appreciate any helpful advice.
