How to choose proper bullet weight for barrel twist?

[Longrange_Newby]

I am shooting a T/C encore with a 28'' barrel 1:9 twist chambered in .300 Win mag. Currently I am shooting a 180gr Barnes triple shock boat tail federal factory load, the bullets seem to group very well at times then one or two will be 1 to 1.5 inches outside the group @ 100 yards. I am also getting started into reloading and was wondering if it is better to use a heavier bullet with such a tight twist rate, if that will help bring my groups in tighter.

 

[angus-5024]

sounds like more of a stress in the barrel/action issue. Is the action bedded?

 

[SavageShtr]

sounds like more of a stress in the barrel/action issue. Is the action bedded?

The T/C Encore is a single shot break barrel design!! You may only have to play with the OAL(Over all length) of your reloads to eliminate the flyers, or change bullet types. It also may be just the way you are with cheek weld grip of the rifle and the type of rest you are shooting off of!! Give us a little more detail as to how you are shooting, IE shooting from iPod rear bag off sand bags on the bench or what ever you are doing!! You can shoot the heavier pills out of that barrel for sure. Just some food for thought.

 

[Longrange_Newby]

I am shooting from a bench the rifle is being supported under the forearm and butt, the stock is a eabco thumbhole laminate, I am shooting by only holding the rifle with one hand trying to minimize as much human error i can.

 

[Longrange_Newby]

I forgot to mention I also shot 4 rounds of some older federal 180gr nosler partitions and the group was much tighter but the fps from those bullets is quite a bit less, and thats why I was wondering about a heavier bullet so I can retain the same or more energy with my fps being a lil slower which might stabalize or manage bullets flight

 

[SavageShtr]

All you can do is try the heavier bullets to see how they group. I don't think anyone can say use this or that bullet and your good to go!! Every gun likes different bullet, powder, primer combos. You could try to change the powder charge and see if that helps as well. That is all the fun of reloading and trying to find the best load that works for your particular rifle. Do you have or have access to a chronograph? Knowing what kind of extreme spreads you get will help to determin if there is something amiss. Try different seating depths and shoot them to see if you can tighten up the groups and not get the fliers!!

 

[angus-5024]

haha... saw encore, thought icon. my bad.

 

[load]

twist rates are for bullet length more than weight.

 

[Longrange_Newby]

I will need to try a few different things, I really want to get this figured out and be able to shoot tighter groups than my dads 300 win mag that best of the west set up with a huskemaw scope and some boxes of ammunition.

 

[Korhil78]

I will need to try a few different things, I really want to get this figured out and be able to shoot tighter groups than my dads 300 win mag that best of the west set up with a huskemaw scope and some boxes of ammunition.

Not trying to shoot down your dreams, but if your dad has a custom gun with a high quality scope and custom ammunition for that gun, you probably won't ever shoot better with your factory encore. I'm not saying don't even try. You should try and get your gun to shoot as accurately as it can. You will also learn a lot about reloading while you test different things out. So go for it but if you want to base your success off of trying to make your factory gun shoot better than your dads custom gun then you had better prepare for failure . Instead base your success off of how well your reloads do for you and your gun and retain what you learn from doing it.

 

[Longrange_Newby]

His is just a factory browning a-bolt stainless with a 26'' barrel with a huskemaw scope on it. He is shooting 190 gr berger VLD's. Dont know the load data but comparing his ballistic turrets compensation to my bullets ballistics according to the G7 calculator, they are very similar in trajectory. On my rifle I have the Leupold VXlll LR with the varmit reticle. Before the Leupold I had a Millet turret style scope and it fell apart after only a box of bullets.

 

[Korhil78]

Ahhh...ok. It the previous post it sounded like he had a custom gun. You should be able to catch up to him with reloads then!

 

[bosty2]

Try some 180 Grain Hornady super performance roundso out of your 300 Win Mag. I just bought an ICON (yes they are bedded with free floating bbl) and I spent about $400 on different rounds (shared expense with another guy) and found out that the Hornady's shot the best, I mean ABSOLUTLY out performed any other factory premium load! I was amazed...I do realize that every gun likes different ammo...later on talking to the owner of our local gunshop/range, he mentioned to me the same thing. That he recommends customers to try the Hornady's if they are having problems getting their rifles to pattern their other favorite loads, 9 times out of 10 it works for them.