7mm SAUM Wildcat!

[redneckclimbing]

Got out today and really got to ring her out a little bit! I loaded 15 cartridges, all with the 180gr. hybrids, starting with 58.5 grains of 4831sc going up .5 grains at a time up to 60.5 grains.

60.5 I believe is a pretty safe max. load in this cartridge. The primers were getting flat and the bolt lift was starting to get stiffer, but still not bad at all. Also there were absolutely no ejector marks at all. Time will tell but I think this load will show to have good primer pocket life as well. Also, this is a slightly compressed load, so if do anything different I will probably start with a different powder.

Here are the results starting with a clean barrel:
58.5: 2735 2824 2828
59.0: 2855 2851 2837
59.5: 2866 2873 2882
60.0: 2893 2903 2906
60.5: 2923 2912 2932

 

[redneckclimbing]

Got out today and shot the GT for groups. Starting with 58.5 grains I went up to 60.5 grains, .5 grains at a time, three shots each. As I was saying on another post I think that cartridges like this. As well as others where the bullet is seated long in cases that are not redecioulsy "over-bore" are going to be the wave of the future. They get very close to the velocities of their magnum counterparts in most cases and are extremely easy to load for.

I loaded some rounds with a powder scoop, and wasn't even really picky with that, to get sighted in. When I got sighted in I had three left so I shot a group. To my delight they landed in a line .25" wide x 1.5" tall at 200 yds!

The 58.5 gr load stood out above the rest which is really saying something because the biggest was a .9 MOA with a called flier that took it up from about .75 MOA. The rest settled in around .75 MOA. Then they tightened down to .54 MOA at 60.5 grains again.

The 58.5 gr loads landed in a group that measured out to .304 MOA even with a called flier low and right,gun)one of my better groups! The "jerk" as I like to call it landed just low and right about .5" just as I knew it would when I pulled the trigger! The other two were in the same hole! The group measured out .666" ctc (kind of weird, but I'll take it) @ 200 yds!

I will see what happens around 60.7 and try the 58.5's again just to make sure it wasn't a fluke but if I can put three in one hole @ 200 yds. next time, you can bet that i will have found my load!