Match bullet journey

[Axis II]

Anything over 69 gr is going to be sketchy with a 1:9 twist barrel; some will shot the 75 and some won't. The 68/69BTHP should be fantastic in the 1:9 though. Having ten bullets is not much to work up any kind of load. I've rarely seen the starting load being the most accurate, so that is a problem.

It is not that expensive to have a gunsmith ream out the chamber to normal size chamber and throat is it? Why limit yourself to short seated cartridges when a one time ream can open up all kinds of ammo to you?

23.5 gr H335 was one of the best loads for me with 69 gr BTHP, but that is seating to 2.250". And the 69s are be plenty good for 300 yds. Beyond 300 I would want the 77s, but 300 is definitely within 69 gr territory. I have several hundred 69s I am not currently using, so if you want some I can send you 100 to do a proper work up. But I would get it reamed out first so you have a long term solution and not a make-do.

When i first purchased the rifle and didn't know the bullet was being jammed into the lands i had issue with it ejecting rounds and extracting them and it was found the extractor was missing a detent and the ejector was bad so they replaced the entire bolt face and i was able to speak with the gunsmith about the short throat and he said what do you mean bullets are contacting the lands and stated if i was reloading just seat them deeper so they weren't in contact with the lands that messing with the chamber might mess with the accuracy and out of the 3 rounds he fired when testing the ejector and extractor he wouldn't mess with anything so i kind of went with what they said. I've honestly thought about grabbing some factory 69-77gr bullets or even the FMJ that make contact and do a short video of how they stick and send it to savage and ask for a whole new barrel. I guess being ignorant to some of the issues i just took their word on it.

 

[Damon555]

When i first purchased this rifle i purchased a bunch of different ammo and was also given a bunch of different stuff including some match ammo. Not know what i was doing until i began reloading i would chamber a round and have it be somewhat hard to chamber and sometimes when we called cold range and i needed to extract that round the bolt wouldn't lift and get stuck. One ammo that comes to mind was some wolf FMJ i would need to lay the rifle down on the bench and smack the bolt open! Once i started reloading and realized what was happening i gave all that ammo away. I tried factory rounds in the 68gr region and also had issues with the bolt becoming stuck when trying to extract a live round. I started using the Hornady OAL tool with modified case and came to the conclusion with that tool 55gr V max which is my favorite bullet was into the lands at 2.235-2.240 with book being 2.250. Using the bolt lift method recommended here by taking the firing pin and ejector out it was confirmed 2.240ish was my stopping point. I did this with FMJ, SP, Nosler BT, 50-55gr V max and not one single bullet hit book OAL recommendations. 55gr SP w/c when seated per bolt lift method and Hornady OAL tool the cannelure is covered by the brass ever so slightly.

I wish I lived close to you.....I've got the tools to unscrew that barrel and get a really good look at it.....Maybe Savage needs to hear about this?

 

[Axis II]

I wish I lived close to you.....I've got the tools to unscrew that barrel and get a really good look at it.....Maybe Savage needs to hear about this?

I emailed them about a month ago and stated that i was told by a few people i have the issue and that i cannot use certain ammo. The response I received was all chambers and barrels are to SAMMI specs but if i would like them to take a look at it to send it in. I don't doubt there is something wrong with it but my fear is they ream it and it shoots like crap as the gunsmith 4yrs ago was afraid of. I was given several boxes of 68gr factory stuff i recently gave away to someone with an AR because i couldn't use it.

 

[Varminterror]

That's a ~1.5" group beside a ~4" group. We're not talking about powder fouling mythology here - that's way too much deviation. While not a standard practice, I've had multiple instances in the past where I've used 50grn Rem UMC JHP's or 55grn Rem UMC FMJ's as sighters and foulers, standing into my handload workups for 223/5.56. NEVER have I had a load which would shoot sub-MOA suddenly get railed out to >4" simply because I used the wrong bullet or powder ahead of it. That's like saying your car suddenly can't drive over 30mph because you put the wrong brand of tire on - sure, one brand might be quieter, ride nicer, and get better gas mileage, SLIGHTLY SO, but changing bullets and powder from foulers to development loads isn't pushing a 4x multiplier on his group size...

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Like I have said before, there is something wrong with any rifle that can't chamber factory ammo. That rifle is defective and you are heating your head against the wall for nothing.

One of my rifles has a 1:9 twist. Remember, it's not only the bullet weight but the length too. Some bullets of the same weight may not shoot as well as others because they are longer. In my rifle the most accurate match bullet is a 69gr Nosler Custom Competition bullet. A close second us the 69gr Sierra MatchKing bullet. There are others and some slightly heavier but nothing over a 73gr bullet depending on the length.

 

[Axis II]

Well its a really nice/warm weekend here so I will be loading up some more of these to see what they do. I think I'm going to load the 73-75 with H335 for something different and see what happens. Any suggestions?

 

[Axis II]

Well I headed to the range tonight after lowing the scope from high rings to mediums and resighted back in with 55gr Hornady SP and 3-3shot groups were terrible 1.5-2'' groups for both groups. I got the scope dialed in and looked in my ammo box and there say 3 69gr SMK and 3 77gr SMK with slightly of minimum loads of H322 and CCI BR primers. I touched the barrel and it was warm and probably shouldn't have been fired that warm but daylight was fading fast and I was just dying to shoot these rounds!

I fired the 69gr SMK first and said okay, its about an inch away from bull no big deal. I fired #2 and said what the heck I must have missed so I ran down range and son of a gun its touching the first hole! I fired #3 and it was about 10-15k away from the other two and by now the barrel was hot enough to be uncomfortable. I loaded the 77gr SMK into my magazine and fired #1 which printed about 1/2'' left of bull and fired #2 which went exactly through #1 and #3 about 1/4'' away from the others and I definitely threw that one cause I was in a hurry.

I only had to fire 3 rounds and looks like I found my accuracy node! lol. I have about 9 or so of these left so I will be loading up another 3 with a slightly heavier charge and shoot from a cool barrel and record my results. All in all I'm happy with the way these 3 shot.

@Varminterror I don't think my rifle likes Hornady cause how in the heck did those 77gr SMK do that while the Hornady of lower or closer weight slung all over the place?
Well I headed to the range tonight after lowing the scope from high rings to mediums and resighted back in with 55gr Hornady SP and 3-3shot groups were terrible 1.5-2'' groups for both groups. I got the scope dialed in and looked in my ammo box and there say 3 69gr SMK and 3 77gr SMK with slightly of minimum loads of H322 and CCI BR primers. I touched the barrel and it was warm and probably shouldn't have been fired that warm but daylight was fading fast and I was just dying to shoot these rounds!
I fired the 69gr SMK first and said okay, its about an inch away from bull no big deal. I fired #2 and said what the heck I must have missed so I ran down range and son of a gun its touching the first hole! I fired #3 and it was about 10-15k away from the other two and by now the barrel was hot enough to be uncomfortable. I loaded the 77gr SMK into my magazine and fired #1 which printed about 1/2'' left of bull and fired #2 which went exactly through #1 and #3 about 1/4'' away from the others and I definitely threw that one cause I was in a hurry.
I only had to fire 3 rounds and looks like I found my accuracy node! lol. I have about 9 or so of these left so I will be loading up another 3 with a slightly heavier charge and shoot from a cool barrel and record my results. All in all I'm happy with the way these 3 shot.
@Varminterror I don't think my rifle likes Hornady cause how in the heck did those 77gr SMK do that while the Hornady of lower or closer weight slung all over the place?

 

[horsey300]

Well I headed to the range tonight after lowing the scope from high rings to mediums and resighted back in with 55gr Hornady SP and 3-3shot groups were terrible 1.5-2'' groups for both groups. I got the scope dialed in and looked in my ammo box and there say 3 69gr SMK and 3 77gr SMK with slightly of minimum loads of H322 and CCI BR primers. I touched the barrel and it was warm and probably shouldn't have been fired that warm but daylight was fading fast and I was just dying to shoot these rounds!

I fired the 69gr SMK first and said okay, its about an inch away from bull no big deal. I fired #2 and said what the heck I must have missed so I ran down range and son of a gun its touching the first hole! I fired #3 and it was about 10-15k away from the other two and by now the barrel was hot enough to be uncomfortable. I loaded the 77gr SMK into my magazine and fired #1 which printed about 1/2'' left of bull and fired #2 which went exactly through #1 and #3 about 1/4'' away from the others and I definitely threw that one cause I was in a hurry.

I only had to fire 3 rounds and looks like I found my accuracy node! lol. I have about 9 or so of these left so I will be loading up another 3 with a slightly heavier charge and shoot from a cool barrel and record my results. All in all I'm happy with the way these 3 shot.

@Varminterror I don't think my rifle likes Hornady cause how in the heck did those 77gr SMK do that while the Hornady of lower or closer weight slung all over the place?
Well I headed to the range tonight after lowing the scope from high rings to mediums and resighted back in with 55gr Hornady SP and 3-3shot groups were terrible 1.5-2'' groups for both groups. I got the scope dialed in and looked in my ammo box and there say 3 69gr SMK and 3 77gr SMK with slightly of minimum loads of H322 and CCI BR primers. I touched the barrel and it was warm and probably shouldn't have been fired that warm but daylight was fading fast and I was just dying to shoot these rounds!
I fired the 69gr SMK first and said okay, its about an inch away from bull no big deal. I fired #2 and said what the heck I must have missed so I ran down range and son of a gun its touching the first hole! I fired #3 and it was about 10-15k away from the other two and by now the barrel was hot enough to be uncomfortable. I loaded the 77gr SMK into my magazine and fired #1 which printed about 1/2'' left of bull and fired #2 which went exactly through #1 and #3 about 1/4'' away from the others and I definitely threw that one cause I was in a hurry.
I only had to fire 3 rounds and looks like I found my accuracy node! lol. I have about 9 or so of these left so I will be loading up another 3 with a slightly heavier charge and shoot from a cool barrel and record my results. All in all I'm happy with the way these 3 shot.
@Varminterror I don't think my rifle likes Hornady cause how in the heck did those 77gr SMK do that while the Hornady of lower or closer weight slung all over the place?

This will sound stupid maybe, but if a 10 round group of each loading stays consistent, you're in trouble sir! (The good kind of trouble! )

 

[Axis II]

This will sound stupid maybe, but if a 10 round group of each loading stays consistent, you're in trouble sir! (The good kind of trouble! )

I sure hope so! I'm waiting on the rifle club to email me back when the rifle matches are so i can get out there and see what she does. In the meantime do i go with 69gr or 77gr SMK? If this next round of testing goes well i will try a 10 shot group and see.