Note 1: The data below has been transcribed from its respectively (and respectfully) cited sources, proceed with caution with concern for typographical errors in the original publication or this transcription.
Note 2: Best known practices for safe and responsible load development should be followed. The personal opinions expressed below are exactly such. Personal opinions and un-cited, personal load data are only provided for informational purposes, and should not supersede your better judgement for safe reloading practices. The author and THR assume no liability for the use or misuse of this information.
Note 3: Some of these bullets are pretty particular in form, so generic data for one bullet may not well fit well with others. You'll note below, for example, the max load for the heavier 77 SMK is greater than that for the 75 VLD.
Note 4: The Hornady 73 and 75 ELD's share data, and Sierra suggests the same load data can be used for the 77 SMK and TMK. The COAL for these respective pairings are different, the data for the 73 vs. 75 ELD's provided below. I was not able to locate COAL data for the 77 TMK, such it was not provided. The 77 TMK is notably longer than the 77 SMK due to the lightweight polymer tip, and slightly different profile, such the COAL and seating depth will differ for the two, just as it does for the 73 and 75 ELD's.
Personally, I often don't follow the "start at the starting load and work up" rule. I never start at the max, but I also have been handloading long enough to know where I can get away with bending that overly conservative "better safe than at risk" rule. I know I'll never be satisfied with the performance of a round loaded at its starting load (in this example, approx 300fps slower than max load potential), so I typically only pick powders which should yield the velocity I desire, then judge the powder span and pick a responsible starting point somewhere at the bottom of my velocity tolerance, and work up from there. I consider this method to be LESS BLIND than buying a factory round and shoving it willy nilly into my rifle.
24grn Varget under the 77SMK (OVER BOOK) is a pretty standard load for Service Rifle, I've been shooting it for many years.
The Hornady ELD seems very tolerant of jump. The VLD's traditionally have been touted as a short jump bullet, or a jam, but I've attentively loaded some to jump as much as 50 thou and have been happy. I generally consider the SMK's my workhorse, so I like to load them with a short jump (5-15thou) to gain as much powder space as I can - BUT they'll jump just fine. I haven't fired the TMK enough to be familiar with what it likes, but I've shot well with it jumping 20thou so far. The 75 A-max/ELD is a LONG bullet (as is the 77 TMK). It can't be seated to AR mag length, as the bearing surface will be below the case mouth. I'm not sure what the mag length is in the Axis, but I would single feed it for this test, and let it be out near my lands, 20 thou or less. I'd single feed ALL of them, for this test, for that matter, whether they were over length or not, just to be sure everything stays in order during the round robin.
What I would do, given 11 bullets:
1 Bullet: Strip my bolt and seat progressively deeper to feel for the lands - make that one dummy for future reference - this is your kiss length, and everything should be shorter than this.
5 Bullets: Load up my "safe" mid-range load and shoot a round robin, cleaning and shooting some other foulers between each flight. Note any issues for vertical dispersion - if one bullet cries out for more powder, you have 5 left to take back to the reloading bench and pour on a little more steam to see if you can shrink it down.
Last 5: Back to the bench for more powder if needed, else load them up and play. OR you could load 5 with one powder, 5 with another. I personally think a guy learns more by running more loads with one powder, however.
I COULD BE CONVINCED to do 3 sets of 3 shot groups (+1) instead of 2 sets of 5 shot groups, giving myself more room to play with powder charge. But I much prefer 5 shot groups. In that case, I'd make my ONE dummy at kiss length, load 3 of each at 3 different powder charges. OR, you could compare 2 or 3 different powders...
I personally would shoot these at 200 or 300yrds (assuming your 300yrd groups aren't significantly bigger, in angular dispersion, than your 100's). This will give a little more info regarding bullet stability.
I'd be VERY tempted, if the first 3 or first 5 shot well at 100/300, to take the rest out to 500/600, assuming you 1) have a chrony, 2) know how to calc your dope, and/or 3) have sufficiently large targets to ensure you'll make contact.
Published data provided for reference.
69 SMK___________
COAL: 2.260
Benchmark: 21.5 - 23.5 Hodgdon Online
H322: 20.0 - 23.6 Sierra Online
H335: 23.0 - 25.7 Sierra Online
Varget 19.9 - 26.4 Sierra Online
73 ELD-M__________
COAL: 2.250"
Varget: 21.8 - 24.6 Hornady 10th
75 A-max/ELD-M_____
COAL: 2.390"
Varget: 21.8 - 24.6 Hornady 10th
75 VLD_____________
COAL: 2.260"
Varget: 20.5 - 22.7 Berger 1st
77 SMK_____________
COAL: 2.260"
Benchmark: 20.5 - 22.8 Hodgdon Online
H322: 20.6 - 21.8 Sierra Online
H335: 21.6 - 22.6 Sierra Online
Varget: 22.6 - 23.9 Sierra Online
If I'm getting 6'' groups then I know it doesn't like them and move onto the next batch/weight. From what I gather its a 2 or 3'' shoot n c on an f class target and 20 shots 20min. winner with the most in the shoot n c. Pretty sure its 2''. Ive got until mid March to get everything squared away.
