barnfrog
Member
This is a bit of a long read, so settle in or move on to another thread. You’ve been warned.
I’m trying to work up a load for my .243 Winchester XPR, and I’m wondering if I’m expecting too much. All of the loads mentioned below were Hybrid 100v powder in Winchester cases with WLR primers and Barnes 80 gr TTSX bullets, shot at 100 yards using front and rear bags, to be used for hunting at a max distance of 250 yards. This was the first bullet I tried working up, ever, so my methods were a little scattered.
Based on data from Hodgdon and Barnes, starting load was around 40.0 grains of powder and max was around 44.5. Being a rank newbie, I figured why "waste" powder on the lower end and started at 41.0 grains, but played it safe and only loaded up to 43.5 grains to stay short of max. I loaded three rounds at each charge, seating the bullets 0.090” off the lands because the Barnes factory loads that shot well out of my gun were seated at that depth. Here are the group sizes of that first salvo, as well as the vertical distance of each group’s centroid from my POA:
Charge..........Group..........Vert. from POA
41.0................2.14”...............-0.78”
41.5................1.58”...............-0.80”
42.0................0.87”...............-1.24”
42.5................2.71”...............-0.74”
43.0................0.84”...............-0.60”
43.5................2.39”...............-1.44”
Again, having no experience, I latched right onto that smallest group at 43.0 grains and loaded up five more to see if it would replicate. That bunch grouped at 1.77”, which was somewhat disappointing. Looking around online I read that many people felt the Barnes copper bullets like to be pushed fast, so I loaded up three groups at slightly higher charges than before and got the following results:
Charge.........Group........Vert. from POA
43.8...............2.26”..............1.04”
44.0...............1.74”..............1.08”
44.2......Slight primer cratering, ejector swipe on first round. Pulled remainder.
Those loads obviously weren’t what I was looking for either, so I talked to my boss who also reloads, and he advised me to try adjusting seating depth. I should note at this point that even though I listed the vertical distances from POA above, I didn't actually measure them until recently. So instead of trying a load in between 41.0 and 41.5 grains, I took the 43.0 grain load and tried increasing the seating depth because the Barnes website and other sources indicated the TTSX tends to shoot well when seated pretty far off the lands. Barnes recommends 0.025” increments, so that’s what I tried. Here are the results of those groups:
Seating depth..........Group
0.125”.......................1.23”
0.150”.......................2.54”
0.175”.......................2.54”
0.200”.......................2.13”
0.225”.......................2.07”
Going on the assumption that since I had two previous groups under an inch there had to be some way of doing it again, I ignored that 1.23" group as not being good enough. I next tried varying the seating depth at 42.0 grains, this time starting at Barnes’s recommended 0.050” off the lands and then worked deeper. That netted these groups:
Seating depth............Group
0.050”.........................1.93”
0.075”.........................2.14”
0.100”.........................1.78”
By this time, I was starting to get frustrated. Hunting season was long past, so I put the Barnes aside and decided to practice my load development using some cheaper bullets. But a little while ago I decided to take another crack at the TTSX, and I’ve started to mull over how to proceed. I see three decent options, and my boss suggested option #4.
By now I’ve burned through a whole box of bullets and then some. I bought two more boxes, having committed to finding a good load for them, whether with this powder or another. But I’d like to have a few of them left to hunt with if and when I do find that load, so I’m looking for thoughts on what the chances are that I can find a sub-MOA load in under 30 more rounds, and the best approach for doing so.
Thanks for reading this far if you were able to stay awake that long. Any suggestions are welcome.
I’m trying to work up a load for my .243 Winchester XPR, and I’m wondering if I’m expecting too much. All of the loads mentioned below were Hybrid 100v powder in Winchester cases with WLR primers and Barnes 80 gr TTSX bullets, shot at 100 yards using front and rear bags, to be used for hunting at a max distance of 250 yards. This was the first bullet I tried working up, ever, so my methods were a little scattered.
Based on data from Hodgdon and Barnes, starting load was around 40.0 grains of powder and max was around 44.5. Being a rank newbie, I figured why "waste" powder on the lower end and started at 41.0 grains, but played it safe and only loaded up to 43.5 grains to stay short of max. I loaded three rounds at each charge, seating the bullets 0.090” off the lands because the Barnes factory loads that shot well out of my gun were seated at that depth. Here are the group sizes of that first salvo, as well as the vertical distance of each group’s centroid from my POA:
Charge..........Group..........Vert. from POA
41.0................2.14”...............-0.78”
41.5................1.58”...............-0.80”
42.0................0.87”...............-1.24”
42.5................2.71”...............-0.74”
43.0................0.84”...............-0.60”
43.5................2.39”...............-1.44”
Again, having no experience, I latched right onto that smallest group at 43.0 grains and loaded up five more to see if it would replicate. That bunch grouped at 1.77”, which was somewhat disappointing. Looking around online I read that many people felt the Barnes copper bullets like to be pushed fast, so I loaded up three groups at slightly higher charges than before and got the following results:
Charge.........Group........Vert. from POA
43.8...............2.26”..............1.04”
44.0...............1.74”..............1.08”
44.2......Slight primer cratering, ejector swipe on first round. Pulled remainder.
Those loads obviously weren’t what I was looking for either, so I talked to my boss who also reloads, and he advised me to try adjusting seating depth. I should note at this point that even though I listed the vertical distances from POA above, I didn't actually measure them until recently. So instead of trying a load in between 41.0 and 41.5 grains, I took the 43.0 grain load and tried increasing the seating depth because the Barnes website and other sources indicated the TTSX tends to shoot well when seated pretty far off the lands. Barnes recommends 0.025” increments, so that’s what I tried. Here are the results of those groups:
Seating depth..........Group
0.125”.......................1.23”
0.150”.......................2.54”
0.175”.......................2.54”
0.200”.......................2.13”
0.225”.......................2.07”
Going on the assumption that since I had two previous groups under an inch there had to be some way of doing it again, I ignored that 1.23" group as not being good enough. I next tried varying the seating depth at 42.0 grains, this time starting at Barnes’s recommended 0.050” off the lands and then worked deeper. That netted these groups:
Seating depth............Group
0.050”.........................1.93”
0.075”.........................2.14”
0.100”.........................1.78”
By this time, I was starting to get frustrated. Hunting season was long past, so I put the Barnes aside and decided to practice my load development using some cheaper bullets. But a little while ago I decided to take another crack at the TTSX, and I’ve started to mull over how to proceed. I see three decent options, and my boss suggested option #4.
- Try a seating depth test at 41.2 grains, as the centroid distances at 41.0 and 41.5 were very close to each other, likely indicating something in between should be a stable load.
- Go back to the 42.0 grain and 43.0 charge weights and explore seating depth further, since I only went up from 0.090” with the 43.0 grain loads and only went to 0.100” with the 42.0 grain loads.
- Scrap the Hybrid 100v and start over with another powder (IMR 4350 and H4895 have both produced sub-MOA loads with other bullets in this gun).
- Given that this is a short- to medium-range hunting load, see if the 43.0 grain load that produced a 1.23” group will replicate, and if it does, call it good enough.
By now I’ve burned through a whole box of bullets and then some. I bought two more boxes, having committed to finding a good load for them, whether with this powder or another. But I’d like to have a few of them left to hunt with if and when I do find that load, so I’m looking for thoughts on what the chances are that I can find a sub-MOA load in under 30 more rounds, and the best approach for doing so.
Thanks for reading this far if you were able to stay awake that long. Any suggestions are welcome.
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