Wanted to provide a range report for a recent recipe load that happens to work in my rifle.
Rifle is a Savage 10fp tactical (24in barrel), Super Sniper 10x scope, Badger Ordnance Max 50 rings and 20MOA rail, harris br bipod, karsten cheek rest, 100mile-an-hour tape for a palm swell.
Load is 175smk, 4064 powder, winchester brass, CCI BR2 primer.
Loaded three rounds each weight at 42.0, 42.4, 42.8, 43.2, 43.6, 44.0. Setup a target with six 1inch shootnsee pasters on a one inch grid'd target. labeling next to each paster the weight to be fired onto each at 100yds. My optics were set for the impact of the round to strike one inch high...reason for this to esure to aiming point was never obscured with shot holes causing a different point of aim.
Fired the first round of each charge weight meaning fired the 42gr weight at the target labeled such, and the next round fired was the 42.4gr, and then the next round at 42.8, and so forth. Once complete with the first round of the first string of each charge weight, did the exact same rotation for the second and then third strings of fire. Once firing was complete, was not worried about group size, but only point of impact. The pasters on a 1inch grid'd target, this was easily identified. The same point of impact for three consecutive charge weights was the 42.8, 43.2, 43.6. (of note is well below max load)
Loaded 6 rounds of each charge weight headed back out to the range and fired all three weights in round robin fashion as above confirming the same point of impact for 3 groups...low and behold it was the same. The next 3 groups were fired with 1 rnd of each charge weight 42.8, 43.2, 43.6 onto the same target...low and behold it was in the same location. 43.2 was my optimal charge weight.
I then worked on depth seating: 5 rounds at .005, .010, .015, .020, and .030 from the lands. Fired as above in round robin fashion with 1 round of each depth seating and the .005 gave me the tighest group at .81 inches and the .010 and above were all over a minute of angle. Decided not to give up and load 5 rounds each at the lands, .001, .002, .003, .004. Fired in round robin and the .002 off the lands placed 5 rounds in .652 measured with a caliper.
Loaded 25 rounds at 43.2gr and .002 off the lands. All five groups averaged from .6 to .75. Low and behold and out of the box rifle consistently shoots .6 with every group fired.
Long process, I know, with multiple times to the range, but thats the fun part.
Did the exact same process with WCC brass. A nato case that is considerably thicker...less inside chamber space yeilding a higher pressure. OCW for the WCC brass was 41.2 with the same depth seat of .002 off the lands. These groups averaged between .5 and .7inch as well. The big difference was at the 200. The winchester brass averaged 1.3 inch groups, but the WCC brass with 5 groups were all under an inch measured with a caliper.
200yd update and continued validation.
Returned to the range a few weeks later with the following results:
-My optimal charge weight remains at 41.2 grains (well below max) of IMR 4064 pushing a 175smk out of WCC brass with a CCI BR-2 primer.
-Range conditions were different with it being 93 degrees which took a few groups to get proper elevation/windage at the 200.
-Had a chronograph available and the average was 2550fps with the 24inch barrel. What was interesting was my average deviation was just under 9fps per round...not bad working off a RCBS 505 slide weight scale.
-Groups are still holding up with the 1st (.942), 2nd (.655), 3rd (.898), and the final (1.121)which was a 5 shot group. I think I could have held tighter groups if I had more of the black 2inch shoot-n-see targets. Luckily had two in my range bag, because the white target center was hard to focus with the heat mirage.
_________________________________________________________
OCW:
175smk, 43.2 IMR 4064, Winchester brass, CCI br2 primer
175smk, 41.2 IMR 4064, WCC brass, CCI br2 primer
RCBS Partner single stage ($60)
RCBS Full length .308 dies ($34)
100rds of 175smk ($37)
100cci primers ($5)
1lb IMR 4064 ($22)
All cases were tumbled (RCBS $80) for 4 hours with crushed walnuts and shined for 2 hours with corncob and a dash of Dillon case shinner. Resized, trimmed with a lee hand trimmer ($10 tool), deburred with a lee deburrer ($5 tool), and a lee primer pocket scraper ($5 tool), and then thrown back into the tumbler for another hour of shinning.
100y and 200y ranges were gps and confirmed valid.
For all groups, fired off a bench, using bipod and shooting sock (wool military sock filled with plastic beads).
Hope this can help someone develop a load for their rifle. Don't know if I can upload, but I have photos of the groups and the rifle.
USMC0302
Rifle is a Savage 10fp tactical (24in barrel), Super Sniper 10x scope, Badger Ordnance Max 50 rings and 20MOA rail, harris br bipod, karsten cheek rest, 100mile-an-hour tape for a palm swell.
Load is 175smk, 4064 powder, winchester brass, CCI BR2 primer.
Loaded three rounds each weight at 42.0, 42.4, 42.8, 43.2, 43.6, 44.0. Setup a target with six 1inch shootnsee pasters on a one inch grid'd target. labeling next to each paster the weight to be fired onto each at 100yds. My optics were set for the impact of the round to strike one inch high...reason for this to esure to aiming point was never obscured with shot holes causing a different point of aim.
Fired the first round of each charge weight meaning fired the 42gr weight at the target labeled such, and the next round fired was the 42.4gr, and then the next round at 42.8, and so forth. Once complete with the first round of the first string of each charge weight, did the exact same rotation for the second and then third strings of fire. Once firing was complete, was not worried about group size, but only point of impact. The pasters on a 1inch grid'd target, this was easily identified. The same point of impact for three consecutive charge weights was the 42.8, 43.2, 43.6. (of note is well below max load)
Loaded 6 rounds of each charge weight headed back out to the range and fired all three weights in round robin fashion as above confirming the same point of impact for 3 groups...low and behold it was the same. The next 3 groups were fired with 1 rnd of each charge weight 42.8, 43.2, 43.6 onto the same target...low and behold it was in the same location. 43.2 was my optimal charge weight.
I then worked on depth seating: 5 rounds at .005, .010, .015, .020, and .030 from the lands. Fired as above in round robin fashion with 1 round of each depth seating and the .005 gave me the tighest group at .81 inches and the .010 and above were all over a minute of angle. Decided not to give up and load 5 rounds each at the lands, .001, .002, .003, .004. Fired in round robin and the .002 off the lands placed 5 rounds in .652 measured with a caliper.
Loaded 25 rounds at 43.2gr and .002 off the lands. All five groups averaged from .6 to .75. Low and behold and out of the box rifle consistently shoots .6 with every group fired.
Long process, I know, with multiple times to the range, but thats the fun part.
Did the exact same process with WCC brass. A nato case that is considerably thicker...less inside chamber space yeilding a higher pressure. OCW for the WCC brass was 41.2 with the same depth seat of .002 off the lands. These groups averaged between .5 and .7inch as well. The big difference was at the 200. The winchester brass averaged 1.3 inch groups, but the WCC brass with 5 groups were all under an inch measured with a caliper.
200yd update and continued validation.
Returned to the range a few weeks later with the following results:
-My optimal charge weight remains at 41.2 grains (well below max) of IMR 4064 pushing a 175smk out of WCC brass with a CCI BR-2 primer.
-Range conditions were different with it being 93 degrees which took a few groups to get proper elevation/windage at the 200.
-Had a chronograph available and the average was 2550fps with the 24inch barrel. What was interesting was my average deviation was just under 9fps per round...not bad working off a RCBS 505 slide weight scale.
-Groups are still holding up with the 1st (.942), 2nd (.655), 3rd (.898), and the final (1.121)which was a 5 shot group. I think I could have held tighter groups if I had more of the black 2inch shoot-n-see targets. Luckily had two in my range bag, because the white target center was hard to focus with the heat mirage.
_________________________________________________________
OCW:
175smk, 43.2 IMR 4064, Winchester brass, CCI br2 primer
175smk, 41.2 IMR 4064, WCC brass, CCI br2 primer
RCBS Partner single stage ($60)
RCBS Full length .308 dies ($34)
100rds of 175smk ($37)
100cci primers ($5)
1lb IMR 4064 ($22)
All cases were tumbled (RCBS $80) for 4 hours with crushed walnuts and shined for 2 hours with corncob and a dash of Dillon case shinner. Resized, trimmed with a lee hand trimmer ($10 tool), deburred with a lee deburrer ($5 tool), and a lee primer pocket scraper ($5 tool), and then thrown back into the tumbler for another hour of shinning.
100y and 200y ranges were gps and confirmed valid.
For all groups, fired off a bench, using bipod and shooting sock (wool military sock filled with plastic beads).
Hope this can help someone develop a load for their rifle. Don't know if I can upload, but I have photos of the groups and the rifle.
USMC0302
