26 Nosler load advice

[clark33]

I recently purchased a 26 Nosler from MOA Rifles. Got the load data from the gunsmith and could not produce groups better that 1.75"-2" with what he gave me.

Load he gave me:
140 Berger VLD
74.5gr H1000
Norma or Nosler brass
Fed 215 primers
seat 0.020-0.025" off lands

So, after doing some reading I decided to give Retumbo a try. I am using 140 Berger VLDs, 77gr of Retumbo, Nosler Brass, FED 215 primers, and I am seating them 0.020" off the lands.

This load showed great potential. I shot a group of 7 with 4 min between each shot, 4 were clover leafed and the other 3 were spread within .25" to .5" of the group of 4 (most likely due to me). But I also noticed my primers were a little flat and cratered where the firing pin struck. But no sticky bolt.

I am fairly new to reloading and would like some advice as to what my next step should be. I was thinking of knocking the load down to 75.5gr of Retumbo and seating some at 0.010, 0.030, 0.050, and 0.070, seeing which of those groups best, then work the charge up from there.

Any tips or advice?

Thanks

 

[Beneviolence]

Do you have an actual measurement of the distance to the lands or are you going off of a spec? Check the crown? Have chrono data? Have you shot sub-MOA on a capable rifle before (ie; is it user error)?

Make sure that what you're using for metering the powder is consistent, my RCBS thrower doesn't like the long grains like H1000 or IMR 4064 and can have very inconsistent throws.

 

[clark33]

I am measuring from the lands and using hornady bullet comparator to get my measurements from the ogive. I have shot sub moa in a capable rifle before but I am not saying I am without my short comings at the range on any given day. I have the rcbs quick charge and rcbs digital scale, I am very careful when calibrating the scale and check constantly to make sure it is maintaining its zero.

I haven't checked the crown and wouldn't know what I was looking for if I did to be honest.

 

[Danny1788]

Try US869 powder it will be more consistent, try around 86gr but work up to that and be safe.

 

[clark33]

How is the temp stability of US869?

Would you guys recommend trying the berger seating depth test with the start load to find the sweet spot then work charge up from there?

 

[Danny1788]

Yes I would do a seating depth test to find where they are grouping the best then go back and change powder charge or even change powders.

 

[clark33]

I'll give that a shot, thanks for the advice! Hoping I can find a good load before putting to many down the pipe in this one.

 

[Trm82]

I'm loading the 135classic hunter with Bergers max load of retumbo and it awesome. 3 shot 3" groups at 825 yards. Velocity is 3405 fps.

 

[clark33]

I'm loading the 135classic hunter with Bergers max load of retumbo and it awesome. 3 shot 3" groups at 825 yards. Velocity is 3405 fps.

Mind giving some more details?

How far off the lands are you seating them?

 

[Trm82]

I dont know the seating depth of hand but the Gun is a Tikka T3 with a 26" benchmark bbl. They are loaded to mag length in the tikka magazine. Nosler brass , fed215m primer and the max load that berger has posted of retumbo and the 135 gr CH. This group was 3.25" at 825 yards.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

I dont know the seating depth of hand but the Gun is a Tikka T3 with a 26" benchmark bbl. They are loaded to mag length in the tikka magazine. Nosler brass , fed215m primer and the max load that berger has posted of retumbo and the 135 gr CH. This group was 3.25" at 825 yards.

Shoots like doodoo. Send it to me so I can fix it.

Good shootin'

Sounds like a nice build. Goog job.

 

[LongBomber]

I have shot a pile of different bullets from my 26. I didnt get the best accuracy from the 140vld, I had to slow them down to under 3200ish fps before they shot consistent, it almost seemed as though they were having the nose slump issue the 338 300gr had. Not much point shooting a vld from the 26 at a speed you can get from a less case.

US869 got good speeds with several bullets, but it is a dirty powder. RL 33 seems to work well, imr7977 was ok with the under 120gr bullets.