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Long Range Hunting & Shooting
Some guidance so I don't blow myself up...
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<blockquote data-quote="MontanaRifleman" data-source="post: 332424" data-attributes="member: 11717"><p>Ronedog, cool that things are coming together. Lee dies wouldn't be my first choice, but use them and see how they work for you. I dont have a concentricity gauge but it's a very useful tool and on my list. I will be getting a Sinclair. If the Lee dies aren't getting your necks and bullets concentric enough, get some Redding dies. H4350 is a good stable powder that produces about average velocities. RL17 will get you more speed but I'm not sure how temp stable it is.</p><p> </p><p>On figuring out lands seating depth, I take a case and seat a bullet in it then pop it out with a kinetice bullet puller and repeat the process until the neck is stretched far enougth that I can manually insert the bullet with a little force with just enough neck tension so the neck holds the bullet and not so little that it slides up and down loosely. Other guys like cutting a couple of slits in the neck to do this. I then load the case with bullet seated long into the chamber, then slowley close the bolt on it. Then I slowley and carefully open the bolt and pulll the bullet out and measure. I do this several times for consistancy. If your Ruger is a CRF, you may not be able to this. Also, sometimes bullets will show marks from the lands and sometimes they wont.</p><p> </p><p>In my Sako 300 WSM, the throat is chambered long and to seat a bullet to the lands leaves the bearing surface of the bullet only catching 2/3rds of the neck with a 210 Berger. This would not work in my rifle with a 185 Berger. I would have to seat the bullet back off the lands far enough to get a good bite on the neck. There is a sticky in the "Rifles, Bullets, Barrles and Ballistics forum on how to seat the Bergers for accuracy.</p><p> </p><p>I have never crimped hunting bullets and have never had a problem. You will get some different opinions on this but most guys will not crimp their bullets, especially for precision LR loads. I size my case with a bushing die that allows for .0015" neck tension on my seated bullets. Some will say that's not enough for hunting bullets, but so far no problems here. I do not and will not load my bullets "into" the lands.</p><p> </p><p>On your effective range. I do not look at energy. 1000 ftlbs is roughly a good number for deer size animals, but depending on the bullet and cartridge you can go lower for deer/antelope IMO. However.... in the case of the 30 cal 185 VLD, 1000 ftlbs is too low because you end up with a velocity of about 1560 fps which is not enough for expansion of that bullet, unless you hit some bone to initiate expansion. Bergers and most bullets expand @ 1800 fps. Out of your .06 @ 2700 fps and 3000' elevation, your max effective range is about 650 yds.</p><p> </p><p>Hope that helped and keep us posted on progress <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p> </p><p>Mark</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MontanaRifleman, post: 332424, member: 11717"] Ronedog, cool that things are coming together. Lee dies wouldn't be my first choice, but use them and see how they work for you. I dont have a concentricity gauge but it's a very useful tool and on my list. I will be getting a Sinclair. If the Lee dies aren't getting your necks and bullets concentric enough, get some Redding dies. H4350 is a good stable powder that produces about average velocities. RL17 will get you more speed but I'm not sure how temp stable it is. On figuring out lands seating depth, I take a case and seat a bullet in it then pop it out with a kinetice bullet puller and repeat the process until the neck is stretched far enougth that I can manually insert the bullet with a little force with just enough neck tension so the neck holds the bullet and not so little that it slides up and down loosely. Other guys like cutting a couple of slits in the neck to do this. I then load the case with bullet seated long into the chamber, then slowley close the bolt on it. Then I slowley and carefully open the bolt and pulll the bullet out and measure. I do this several times for consistancy. If your Ruger is a CRF, you may not be able to this. Also, sometimes bullets will show marks from the lands and sometimes they wont. In my Sako 300 WSM, the throat is chambered long and to seat a bullet to the lands leaves the bearing surface of the bullet only catching 2/3rds of the neck with a 210 Berger. This would not work in my rifle with a 185 Berger. I would have to seat the bullet back off the lands far enough to get a good bite on the neck. There is a sticky in the "Rifles, Bullets, Barrles and Ballistics forum on how to seat the Bergers for accuracy. I have never crimped hunting bullets and have never had a problem. You will get some different opinions on this but most guys will not crimp their bullets, especially for precision LR loads. I size my case with a bushing die that allows for .0015" neck tension on my seated bullets. Some will say that's not enough for hunting bullets, but so far no problems here. I do not and will not load my bullets "into" the lands. On your effective range. I do not look at energy. 1000 ftlbs is roughly a good number for deer size animals, but depending on the bullet and cartridge you can go lower for deer/antelope IMO. However.... in the case of the 30 cal 185 VLD, 1000 ftlbs is too low because you end up with a velocity of about 1560 fps which is not enough for expansion of that bullet, unless you hit some bone to initiate expansion. Bergers and most bullets expand @ 1800 fps. Out of your .06 @ 2700 fps and 3000' elevation, your max effective range is about 650 yds. Hope that helped and keep us posted on progress :) Mark [/QUOTE]
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Some guidance so I don't blow myself up...
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