Masters of Reloading......my 300WM is not shooting good.

[AtownBcat]

Hey guys im having trouble getting my 300WM to group worth a crap.

Here are the details:
First I used a "lead sled" to try and take me out of the picture....

The gun in a Remington 700SPS. I have had the barrel floated and the action bedded. The trigger has been worked and set to 3lbs. The scope is a vx-3 8.5 to 25

Im using Win brass
and BR-2 primers

The first pic is:
180gr accubonds
75.5 gr of r22
and the bullet is seated .010 off the lands

The next pic is the same except the bullet is seated .035 off the lands


This pic is
200gr accubonds
70.5gr of H4831
seated .010 off the lands


and you guessed it the same except .035 off the lands
and i only had time for 3 shots before i ran out of light



I realize that alot of youy guys do some pretty fancy stuff but i was really only trying to get it to shoot a 1moa group. I will be honest i didn't "work up that powder charge...i just used what the nosler book said was the most accurate...again was hopeing for a 1moa group..and them fine tune.

All shot @100 yards

It was about 85 degrees and i waited 2-3 minutes between shots.....remember im still new be gental.

thanks
ryan

[AJ Peacock]

Sometimes a rifle likes hotter loads and sometimes milder. The load's you are shooting are in the medium range (around 56k psi or so). I'd work up a bit and see if it settles down.

My preferred method of working up a load is to shoot over a chronograph and shoot loads from the low to the high in .3gr increments (essentially the ladder method). I'll then look at the velocities and the vertical dispersion. If I have a set of 3 consecutive shots that are very near in velocity and also very nearly the same impact point 'vertically', I'll choose that level of loading and play around with the seating depth. I had a 7RM that shot the best at the highest pressure and was around 1.5moa at lower pressures.

Also, have you really cleaned the barrel lately?

Hope this helps,
AJ

[AtownBcat]

thanks for the reply...but what you said actually brings up another subject that i have had a hard time wrapping my mind around...you mentioned that first you will play with the charge and get it dialed in..then play with the seating depth. Well doesnt this change the load? I mean if you seat the bullet deeper it would increase pressure right...or am i missing something?

[royinidaho]

Ryan,

AJ is giving good advice.

Just to confuse you a bit I'll thrown in a couple of cents worth.

That last load "looks" the most promising in my eyes.

I see a bit of vertical dispersion but more horizontal dispersion in the first groups.

As AJ said some like hotter and some like it cooler.

Based on the way you are going at it, I'd select the 200gr accubond load with
70.5gr of H4831 seated .035 off the lands.

I'd then, if you have room I'd load 5 with an added grain of powder and another 5 with a grain less. If the dispersion switches from horizontal to vertical somewhere in that range of powder weights is the load that will most closely approach a symmetrical/uniform group.

However, I'm pretty much like AJ, I want all of the velocity that I can get and still be accurate. His method, which I also use, helps find the nodes in about as many shots as you have already shot in those 4 groups.

No sense burning anymore powder and using up barrel life as one needs to, though it is just fun to shoot.

PS: The barrel cleaning question was a hint. Use a good copper remover is another hint.

[AJ Peacock]

Originally Posted by AtownBcat

thanks for the reply...but what you said actually brings up another subject that i have had a hard time wrapping my mind around...you mentioned that first you will play with the charge and get it dialed in..then play with the seating depth. Well doesnt this change the load? I mean if you seat the bullet deeper it would increase pressure right...or am i missing something?

You are getting the idea. I play with the seating depth in .005" increments. I'll normally start at .015" from lands and do my ladder tests. I don't normally go any further from the lands that about .025", so the rise in pressure isn't normally too significant. But I still continue to shoot it over the chrono, so I can immediately see any drastic changes.

AJ

[Nomad]

Do you have a round count on the barrel?
If over 1000 would check out the barrel
Items are hard to find for reloading but RL25 with 200 sierra mk and gk
have shot well in four 300 wins that have used this load which is
76.5 of reloader, 215M, win cases with the 200 by sierra tried the load
using the accubound not as good a group....

[338 LEGEND]

I have a 300WM that loves rl-22 and 180 gr accubonds, I dont like to give powder charges but seeing you have already shot 75 grains here goes.
74.0 gr RL-22 WITH 180GR ACCUBONDS and a fed-215 primer. I would start .010 of the lands and move in .002 incerments. I have shot this load in three rifles and all shot better then moa at 100 yards just had to play with the bullet depth, all were with in .010 of the lands.