johnnyk
Well-Known Member
Back in December I traded Overkill338 a box of 212gn ELD-X's for a box of 225gn ELD-M's and decided to give them a whirl today. The following are a few moments in the life of a dedicated reloader, whose been away from his bench for too long, and struggles to get back and get some "group therapy". Everything has been a struggle today. After everything is done, Walmart run done, wife is happy, groceries are put away, it's 2:00PM!
I finally sit down and realize no prepped brass. So I start bumping the shoulders back and after 5-6 I decide to check the OAL. Dang. They've got to be trimmed too. Argghh! Instead I pick out three (03) that are in the 2.615" range. That's below the max 2.620" but after running through the Hornady sizing die they're pushing 2.618-2.6195". Good enough.
Clean the primer pockets, de-bur/champher the necks, and wipe the lube off. Consulted the Hodgdon and Alliant Reloading websites and have 73.5gn of RL-26 planned as my charge. I have been running 74.0-74.5gn for the 212gn -X's and have had good velocity (3040-3070fps) from the 28" Pac-Nor barrel. Accuracy is absolutely stellar. If I just halfway show up it shines!
Use my OAL gauge and get my best fit. I load three primers in my Frankford Arsenal hand primer and prime the cases.
Grab an opened, "working" 1lb container of RL-26 and pour some in a small glass fruit cup that I keep on the bench for this. Calibrate and adjust my high precision Mettler Toledo lab balance and using a small plastic measuring spoon (marked "just a pinch") I load the weigh pan I've zeroed off. Dumping powder this way is easy and fast, for me, when only loading a few. The three loads come out as; 73.498, 73.500 & 73.502gn's, respectively.
I then start seating a bullet but haven't readjusted the seating die from the 212's to the 225's. So I go slowly at first but start getting ansie and end up with the first bullet set .050" off the rifling. I said the heck with it, tightened the set screw down and seat the other two.
After fiddling with the LabRadar phone app for 5 minutes (new phone recently), I gave up on it, armed the thing (I thought) and sat down. Already had my 100yd target up so I settled in behind the rifle, adjusted the parallax, closed the bolt and "squeezed the syringe", I mean trigger. As I recovered from the recoil, I looked at the LR, Dang it, didn't arm it! Got up and pressed the arm button and sat back down behind the rifle. Looked through the Vortex and the first round's POI is straight up over the orange dot approx 3.5-3.75", perfect. I run the other two rounds and the LR gives me 2967 and 2966fps. Not too shabby for a 225gn. Back on the Vortex I see "effort paid in full" or very close to it. I'm good for a few more days. Now I have a reason to get on that brass! Hope ya'll have a good week.
I finally sit down and realize no prepped brass. So I start bumping the shoulders back and after 5-6 I decide to check the OAL. Dang. They've got to be trimmed too. Argghh! Instead I pick out three (03) that are in the 2.615" range. That's below the max 2.620" but after running through the Hornady sizing die they're pushing 2.618-2.6195". Good enough.
Clean the primer pockets, de-bur/champher the necks, and wipe the lube off. Consulted the Hodgdon and Alliant Reloading websites and have 73.5gn of RL-26 planned as my charge. I have been running 74.0-74.5gn for the 212gn -X's and have had good velocity (3040-3070fps) from the 28" Pac-Nor barrel. Accuracy is absolutely stellar. If I just halfway show up it shines!
Use my OAL gauge and get my best fit. I load three primers in my Frankford Arsenal hand primer and prime the cases.
Grab an opened, "working" 1lb container of RL-26 and pour some in a small glass fruit cup that I keep on the bench for this. Calibrate and adjust my high precision Mettler Toledo lab balance and using a small plastic measuring spoon (marked "just a pinch") I load the weigh pan I've zeroed off. Dumping powder this way is easy and fast, for me, when only loading a few. The three loads come out as; 73.498, 73.500 & 73.502gn's, respectively.
I then start seating a bullet but haven't readjusted the seating die from the 212's to the 225's. So I go slowly at first but start getting ansie and end up with the first bullet set .050" off the rifling. I said the heck with it, tightened the set screw down and seat the other two.
After fiddling with the LabRadar phone app for 5 minutes (new phone recently), I gave up on it, armed the thing (I thought) and sat down. Already had my 100yd target up so I settled in behind the rifle, adjusted the parallax, closed the bolt and "squeezed the syringe", I mean trigger. As I recovered from the recoil, I looked at the LR, Dang it, didn't arm it! Got up and pressed the arm button and sat back down behind the rifle. Looked through the Vortex and the first round's POI is straight up over the orange dot approx 3.5-3.75", perfect. I run the other two rounds and the LR gives me 2967 and 2966fps. Not too shabby for a 225gn. Back on the Vortex I see "effort paid in full" or very close to it. I'm good for a few more days. Now I have a reason to get on that brass! Hope ya'll have a good week.
