I had the good fortune to help Robert at the request of one of his good friends work up a load & shoot his new rifle. It's a job that someone has to do 
. The rifle is chambered in .260 Remington. Optics are S&B 12-50x56 FFP.
I have never fired a .260 Rem. before so this was going to be new to me. We had decided on two different powders H4350 & H4831SC. We had Berger 140 Hunting VLD's & 142 Sierra Matchkings. The primers were all Federal 210M.
Since Robert had already proofed the rifle I started with a charge of 44.0 grs. H4831SC & the 140 Bergers. I took the bolt out & lined up the bore on the target & rough adjusted the scope. Two shots @ 100 yards & we were ready to go. Robert assembled 3 rds. of the starting load. The 3 shot group was .417. I tried a couple more 3 shot groups. I was getting double grouping. We throughly cleaned the bore & shoot it again. Robert changed seating depth & dropped the charge 1/2 grain to 43.5 grs. H4831SC. Still double grouping. Robert took the rifle to the shop (10 yards away) while I walked down to the target board to put up a fresh target. By the time I got back Robert had loosened the action screws & re-tightened them. We had decided that the correct load for this rifle was 43.5 grs. H4831SC & the 142 SMK. Robert loaded some up & sat down behind the rifle. His first group measured .221. No double grouping. I would like to think that it was the re-torquing of the action screws but the truth is closer to the fact that Robert is an amazing rifle shot among his many other talents. I said load up some a lay another group down. Well, I did the talkin' part & he did the shootin' part. He lays down a .121 group. Ok smart ass, Frank doesn't want 3 shot groups so give a 10 shot group. I personally think that is difficult for a rifleman to shoot a 10 shot group @ 100 yards & keep it under 1 inch. Robert starts on his 10 shot group about the 6th shot I heard a small string of cuss words. (I'm pretty sure that was the flyer). His 10 shot group comes in at .662. He wanted to know what the group measured without the flyer. I may have mentioned an activity that he could do to himself & refused to measure it that way. I told him that you shot it I measured it that way.
In the end I had a really good time with a really good friend. The rifle was an absolute dream to shoot. A really good looking rifle with no bad habits. The rifle's owner will be very happy with the end product.
I mentioned the good with the bad because it's all part of the process.
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. The rifle is chambered in .260 Remington. Optics are S&B 12-50x56 FFP.I have never fired a .260 Rem. before so this was going to be new to me. We had decided on two different powders H4350 & H4831SC. We had Berger 140 Hunting VLD's & 142 Sierra Matchkings. The primers were all Federal 210M.
Since Robert had already proofed the rifle I started with a charge of 44.0 grs. H4831SC & the 140 Bergers. I took the bolt out & lined up the bore on the target & rough adjusted the scope. Two shots @ 100 yards & we were ready to go. Robert assembled 3 rds. of the starting load. The 3 shot group was .417. I tried a couple more 3 shot groups. I was getting double grouping. We throughly cleaned the bore & shoot it again. Robert changed seating depth & dropped the charge 1/2 grain to 43.5 grs. H4831SC. Still double grouping. Robert took the rifle to the shop (10 yards away) while I walked down to the target board to put up a fresh target. By the time I got back Robert had loosened the action screws & re-tightened them. We had decided that the correct load for this rifle was 43.5 grs. H4831SC & the 142 SMK. Robert loaded some up & sat down behind the rifle. His first group measured .221. No double grouping. I would like to think that it was the re-torquing of the action screws but the truth is closer to the fact that Robert is an amazing rifle shot among his many other talents. I said load up some a lay another group down. Well, I did the talkin' part & he did the shootin' part. He lays down a .121 group. Ok smart ass, Frank doesn't want 3 shot groups so give a 10 shot group. I personally think that is difficult for a rifleman to shoot a 10 shot group @ 100 yards & keep it under 1 inch. Robert starts on his 10 shot group about the 6th shot I heard a small string of cuss words. (I'm pretty sure that was the flyer). His 10 shot group comes in at .662. He wanted to know what the group measured without the flyer. I may have mentioned an activity that he could do to himself & refused to measure it that way. I told him that you shot it I measured it that way.
In the end I had a really good time with a really good friend. The rifle was an absolute dream to shoot. A really good looking rifle with no bad habits. The rifle's owner will be very happy with the end product.
I mentioned the good with the bad because it's all part of the process.
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