This is driving me crazy!:banghead:
Try to bear with me as I am going to make this as through as possible.
I'm shooting a Savage 12BVSS 26" barrel .223 bolt action for which I'm handloading. I had loaded 26g of H335 under a Winchester 55g FMJBT bullet with CCI small rifle primers. The rifle has a 1:9 twist rate.
This combination exhibits tremendous over pressure signs, blowing holes in the primers and sometimes blowing the primers completely out of the shell! My groups however are sub MOA.
I was following the recommendations on the Hodgdon container which said max 26g and small rifle primers. Incidently, so no one thinks I went right to the max, I worked up from 24g in .2g increments. 24, 24.2, 24.4 ... up to 26 grains. As I said, the 26 grains yielded great results but with lots of over pressure. (I know I know - I don't have a chrony but will sometime in the future - as it stands now, I don't have one.)
I called Speer, because the say in their manual, which I have a copy of, to use small rifle magnum primers. My thinking was it would be that much more pressure but they Speer rep said no it wouldn't, it would be a more even burn. I decided to try it. Yup - he was right, no signs of overpressure even with 26 grains.
The way I found this out was tonight I started at 25 grains, 4 shots. Then 25.2g's, 4 shots etc and worked my way up to 26, looking for telltale signs along the way but there were none.
So here's the problem - at 26 grains I'm closing in at one MOA but I'm not there yet. The rifle seems to want more speed (I know I know - get a chrony but as I said - I don't have one yet. How does one reconcile group size with velocity anyhow?). Have any of you continued up the ladder in maybe .1 or .2 grain increments till signs of overpressure appear? My reasoning is that maybe another .2 or .4 grains would be it. What do ya think?
My AR - she loves 55g FMJBT with 26g H335 and mag primers and shoots 3/4" groups all day long. The Savage, when it was showing the overpressure signs, I was shooting a nice cloverleaf pattern. Sometimes I could put 8 shots inside a nickle sized circle (benched of course with a 12x scope). Now I'm lucky to be shooting 1 1/2" groups. So whatta ya all think (besides get a chrony). (BTW - the chrony will tell me the speed and consistancy but it's not going to tell me what the rifle likes for smallest group sizes will it?)
I'm open to suggestions.....
Tanks....
Try to bear with me as I am going to make this as through as possible.
I'm shooting a Savage 12BVSS 26" barrel .223 bolt action for which I'm handloading. I had loaded 26g of H335 under a Winchester 55g FMJBT bullet with CCI small rifle primers. The rifle has a 1:9 twist rate.
This combination exhibits tremendous over pressure signs, blowing holes in the primers and sometimes blowing the primers completely out of the shell! My groups however are sub MOA.
I was following the recommendations on the Hodgdon container which said max 26g and small rifle primers. Incidently, so no one thinks I went right to the max, I worked up from 24g in .2g increments. 24, 24.2, 24.4 ... up to 26 grains. As I said, the 26 grains yielded great results but with lots of over pressure. (I know I know - I don't have a chrony but will sometime in the future - as it stands now, I don't have one.)
I called Speer, because the say in their manual, which I have a copy of, to use small rifle magnum primers. My thinking was it would be that much more pressure but they Speer rep said no it wouldn't, it would be a more even burn. I decided to try it. Yup - he was right, no signs of overpressure even with 26 grains.
The way I found this out was tonight I started at 25 grains, 4 shots. Then 25.2g's, 4 shots etc and worked my way up to 26, looking for telltale signs along the way but there were none.
So here's the problem - at 26 grains I'm closing in at one MOA but I'm not there yet. The rifle seems to want more speed (I know I know - get a chrony but as I said - I don't have one yet. How does one reconcile group size with velocity anyhow?). Have any of you continued up the ladder in maybe .1 or .2 grain increments till signs of overpressure appear? My reasoning is that maybe another .2 or .4 grains would be it. What do ya think?
My AR - she loves 55g FMJBT with 26g H335 and mag primers and shoots 3/4" groups all day long. The Savage, when it was showing the overpressure signs, I was shooting a nice cloverleaf pattern. Sometimes I could put 8 shots inside a nickle sized circle (benched of course with a 12x scope). Now I'm lucky to be shooting 1 1/2" groups. So whatta ya all think (besides get a chrony). (BTW - the chrony will tell me the speed and consistancy but it's not going to tell me what the rifle likes for smallest group sizes will it?)
I'm open to suggestions.....
Tanks....