Looks like Im going to pick up a project for a friend of mine. His rifle is a beautiful custom that was built by a local gunsmith, that normally with factory ammo is 3 shots on a dime. Gun has probably 500 rounds thru it in its lifetime. However, factory ammo is hard to find, and runs about $3.25 a shot when you can find it. A mutual friend of ours offered to do some reloading for him, but just hasnt had the time to finish up the project properly.
This is where I step in. So far the results I have seen are less than great. A couple weeks ago, he had me test fire the reloads, and it was a poor showing. Is in, I cant hit a 8" steel plate at 200 yards with a rifle that normally shoots 1/2" groups at 100.
This is what he has for components:
Sierra 100gr GameKings - good bullet, very close to the factory ammo he shoots
IMR 7828 powder
CCI 450 primers
250ish cases - once fired (Lapua loads Weatherby's ammo IIRC, so good brass)
He has 8# of the 7828 on hand, so he kind of married himself to it. Same with the 1000 CCI 450's. Bullets we can be a little more flexible, but the factory ammo runs a 100gr SP, so no reason to mess with a good thing. Ive tried to get to try some Nosler Partitions as this gun is smoking fast, and a tougher bullet might be a better choice, but he is kind of set in his ways.
Are the above components a good combo?
My thoughts are to bump the shoulder 10 or 15 thou to start with to headspace the case on the shoulder instead of the belt. Ive done some looking around, and this seems to help with case life. Ive also heard that belted mags can have issues if you size them too many times, they get a ring around case, right above the belt. Generally requires a collet die from some place like Innovative Technologies to fix this so Id like to avoid this if possible. I understand that these cases may only stand up to 3 or 4 firings before they are scrap. Good plan?
With that 100gr bullet, Hodgdon lists at 73gr for max charge. I figured dropping back to 68gr to start, jump .5 gr, run a ladder with 3 shot groups. So 68, 68.5, 69, 69.5, 70, 70.5, 71, 71.5, 72, 72.5, 73. Does that sounds feasible, or should I take bigger jumps on powder as the case capacity is so high? My general rule is round 1% of case capacity per jump, which would be roughly .7gr jumps to get the ladder done quick, then come back pick the best group, and fine tune with a little +/- of say .3gr. Once again, sounds good?
Lastly, and this is something I need some help on. What should we be running for OAL? Book calls for 3.200", which is probably what the factory ammo runs. This is a legit Weatherby barrel, so it does have the huge amount of freebore like most Weatherby magnums have. However, the previous guy seated the bullets out super long in an attempt to sit like 20 thou off the lands. This can and did cause some pressure issues I seen in early test loads. So Im inclined to try factory OAL as this is what the gun seems to like best. However I see alot of guys talking about running them long into the freebore and having success. What are you gentlemens thoughts on this?
The rest will be pretty much the norm for me. Decap, tumble in SSTL media, inspect before I start anything. Then size, trim, deburr, load.
Thanks for the help
This is where I step in. So far the results I have seen are less than great. A couple weeks ago, he had me test fire the reloads, and it was a poor showing. Is in, I cant hit a 8" steel plate at 200 yards with a rifle that normally shoots 1/2" groups at 100.
This is what he has for components:
Sierra 100gr GameKings - good bullet, very close to the factory ammo he shoots
IMR 7828 powder
CCI 450 primers
250ish cases - once fired (Lapua loads Weatherby's ammo IIRC, so good brass)
He has 8# of the 7828 on hand, so he kind of married himself to it. Same with the 1000 CCI 450's. Bullets we can be a little more flexible, but the factory ammo runs a 100gr SP, so no reason to mess with a good thing. Ive tried to get to try some Nosler Partitions as this gun is smoking fast, and a tougher bullet might be a better choice, but he is kind of set in his ways.
Are the above components a good combo?
My thoughts are to bump the shoulder 10 or 15 thou to start with to headspace the case on the shoulder instead of the belt. Ive done some looking around, and this seems to help with case life. Ive also heard that belted mags can have issues if you size them too many times, they get a ring around case, right above the belt. Generally requires a collet die from some place like Innovative Technologies to fix this so Id like to avoid this if possible. I understand that these cases may only stand up to 3 or 4 firings before they are scrap. Good plan?
With that 100gr bullet, Hodgdon lists at 73gr for max charge. I figured dropping back to 68gr to start, jump .5 gr, run a ladder with 3 shot groups. So 68, 68.5, 69, 69.5, 70, 70.5, 71, 71.5, 72, 72.5, 73. Does that sounds feasible, or should I take bigger jumps on powder as the case capacity is so high? My general rule is round 1% of case capacity per jump, which would be roughly .7gr jumps to get the ladder done quick, then come back pick the best group, and fine tune with a little +/- of say .3gr. Once again, sounds good?
Lastly, and this is something I need some help on. What should we be running for OAL? Book calls for 3.200", which is probably what the factory ammo runs. This is a legit Weatherby barrel, so it does have the huge amount of freebore like most Weatherby magnums have. However, the previous guy seated the bullets out super long in an attempt to sit like 20 thou off the lands. This can and did cause some pressure issues I seen in early test loads. So Im inclined to try factory OAL as this is what the gun seems to like best. However I see alot of guys talking about running them long into the freebore and having success. What are you gentlemens thoughts on this?
The rest will be pretty much the norm for me. Decap, tumble in SSTL media, inspect before I start anything. Then size, trim, deburr, load.
Thanks for the help
