Little bit of an update, but more of a venting moment.....
I shot the same load in 65 degrees F today. (25 degrees warmer than original load dev). speeds were the same. that's a good sign.
not a huge temp swing - but still. that was about the only good thing. groups were shit. SDs were 10+
I'm holding off on my opinions of this powder right now. my initial results are telling me that it's not maintaining single digit SDs across charges like my H4895 loads. even my "bad loads" with H4895 had better SDs. and it's not consistent so far, that same load was an SD of 10-11 today, last week it was 2.5
i'm getting ever so slight heavier bolt lift at 28.9g @ 2785fps with these 109s. that seems odd/slow to me.
I water tested the load for shits and giggles. tell me why the bolt lift was signifcantly LIGHTER, the group was TIGHTER, and the speeds were 30fps SLOWER.
my load with H4895/112s was really low as well on this barrel and was still getting funky primers. had to drop it to 28.1g still getting pressure signs on primers
i keep getting a carbon ring and thinking that's what is causing my pressure. I cleaned it - 70rds later - another ring. that's my main reason for switching to this Shooters World Powder.
i'm having a new barrel spun up and i'm going to resume testing in that. i'm 1000 rounds on this current barrel and haven't found anything it shoots well and consistent and problem free. i'd hate to formulate an official opinion on this powder until i know i gave a capable barrel.
i am going to try switching back to H4895 and the 109 hybrids and see what happens.
i changed both powder and bullets at the same time. groups are blah. SDs are blah.
but groups have been blah all along with this barrel. not just with this powder.
I used to enjoy this part of reloading, fine tuning things and finding out what shoots best. now i'm just aggravated.
2 - 3 barrels in a row i would break in - find a load, and basically shoot that same load from then on. i've been chasing my ass with this current barrel. but i also changed a lot of stuff around the same time and i'm honestly being too lazy to try to narrow it down.
I'm leaning toward a barrel problem.
i shot H4895/112s in my last BR barrel at 2775 with no problems. in the hot summer heat/rain. 29.2g
that same load in this barrel was piercing primers left and right even on cool days. that's why i ended up at 28.1g. that seems outrageously low for a BR even with 112s.
sorry i don't have better results with this stuff. if anyone test it in a BR - please report back with your speeds. i feel like i should easily be able to run it 2800fps at least.
or maybe i'm way off base?
