emn83
Well-Known Member
Well, after more than a week of my first hand loads sitting in my cabin, I finally took them to the range yesterday for a little testing.
I was shooting:
Hornady Match Brass
Hornady 178gr A-Max bullets
Varget Powder at 41.0, 42.0, 43.0, 43.5 and 44 grains
CCI 200 primers.
first a confession, I must have bumped my scope or something because all of my shots with the 42gr were off the paper, and I got no usable data. With the other powder weights, I shot two 3 round groups, with results as follows>
42.0gr: 1.111" and 0.63" Average" .8705
43.0gr: 0.85" and 2.049" (0.44)* Average: 1.447 (o.645)*
43.5gr: 1.68 (0.077)* and 0.50 Average: 1.095 (0.58)*
44.0gr: 2.16" and 2.985 Average: 2.57
*groups and averages without fliers, though of course 2 shots really isn't a group.
I was really surprised at how the group with 44gr of powder ballooned so much. At first I thought it was because I was tired, but when I went back and did the second group with each level, I shot 44, 43, 43.5, so the second 43,5 group was the last group of the night. I had shot both groups with 42 one after the other, just to make sure my sights were on.
I let the barrel cool between strings of shots, but did not clean between strings, should I have done that?
I plan on going back and re testing the 43 and 43.5 and maybe the 42 at 200 yards, to see how they do, and to set my zero for 200 yards.
Any questions or comments/suggestions are welcome, this was my first attempt at reloading, and I already noticed an improvement in my groups, this was the first time I shot multiple groups under 1MOA
I was shooting:
Hornady Match Brass
Hornady 178gr A-Max bullets
Varget Powder at 41.0, 42.0, 43.0, 43.5 and 44 grains
CCI 200 primers.
first a confession, I must have bumped my scope or something because all of my shots with the 42gr were off the paper, and I got no usable data. With the other powder weights, I shot two 3 round groups, with results as follows>
42.0gr: 1.111" and 0.63" Average" .8705
43.0gr: 0.85" and 2.049" (0.44)* Average: 1.447 (o.645)*
43.5gr: 1.68 (0.077)* and 0.50 Average: 1.095 (0.58)*
44.0gr: 2.16" and 2.985 Average: 2.57
*groups and averages without fliers, though of course 2 shots really isn't a group.
I was really surprised at how the group with 44gr of powder ballooned so much. At first I thought it was because I was tired, but when I went back and did the second group with each level, I shot 44, 43, 43.5, so the second 43,5 group was the last group of the night. I had shot both groups with 42 one after the other, just to make sure my sights were on.
I let the barrel cool between strings of shots, but did not clean between strings, should I have done that?
I plan on going back and re testing the 43 and 43.5 and maybe the 42 at 200 yards, to see how they do, and to set my zero for 200 yards.
Any questions or comments/suggestions are welcome, this was my first attempt at reloading, and I already noticed an improvement in my groups, this was the first time I shot multiple groups under 1MOA