308 with Hammer 152gr load testing

[Winkfish]

I attempted to load the Hammer Sledgehammer 152gr in my 16" barreled 308. Please see the attached. Me and my trigger finger were not getting along the other day while testing, so I am sure that I could do better.

I am going to test 50.2, 51.2 and 51.8 grains of CFE223 and see what happens again. There were no pressure signs on any of primers. I am not sure if going to 51.8 will be above spec from a pressure standpoint.

What do you guys think of the results:

 

[RockyMtnMT]

If your shooting did not feel great then I would look at your top load. It had no vertical. Usually poor trigger control will cause horizontal.

I assume you are at 100y? Can you try 200 or 300?

Steve

 

[middleofnowhere]

Tagging in...

 

[Brianc74]

Tagging in aswell.
Wounded how these would do in my Kimber Adirondack 308 with a 18" barrel with a 1-12 twist.

Brian

 

[Winkfish]

Yep I am at 100 right now. I may only be able to shoot at 100 for my next outing until I can get stuff setup again at 2 and 300. That may have to wait until after the holidays.

I will also add a couple rounds at 51.6. From what I have read about these rounds they are typically producing lower pressure for the same powder change vs other bullets? I have looked at a few different loading manuals and they indicate 51 to 51.5 as a max charge for CFE. I saw no pressure signs at 51.6. How concerned should I be about going being around 51.6 or 51.8?

I am not as experienced at reloading as many of the folks around here so I am interested in learning more. Based on velocity and group size you would recommend analyzing groups that have the least vertical spread vs smallest overall group?

I see that 51.4 has the least velocity spread however it appears to be a node of inaccuracy.

Thank you for taking the time to provide input and feedback.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Yes generally they will show a little less pressure than lead core bullets. We loaded the 152g Hammer Hunter in a model 70 with 22" barrel using the cfe-223. We settled on 51g at 3000fps. This load was mild. Also was loaded with wlrm primer.

It is not as good for bullet sales but I do not mess around with shooting groups until I have found the charge that I like. In the 308 case I would load in 1g increments until I find pressure and then back off a grain. Then I would shoot for group and check es and get average vel. Usually at this point I am done. Very rarely do we need to make a seating depth adjustment to tighten the group.

At the point that you are at right now. I would load the top end load that you ran and spend a bit of time shooting it and see how it groups on a day when you are shooting well. If accuracy is not acceptable then seat them a quarter turn deeper or about .02" deeper and shoot for group. If you are shooting well there is not point in shooting a 3rd shot if the 1st two are not a good group. More shots will not make the group better.

It looks to me like you are probably there. That last group is about 3/4" on a not such good day out of a 16" barrel. Not bad.

Steve

 

[Winkfish]

I made a quick run to the range this morning before dawn with what I had loaded. Time was short with family coming into town this weekend.

I setup my truck and put some light on the target. This was done at 7am this morning.

While everyone is napping from overeating this weekend I will get back to loading the rest of the rounds I have. 50.2, 50.8, 51.2 were 3 shots and 51.8 was 5.

Temps were 20 degrees with light snow, little to no wind.

 

[doverpack12]

I would load 51.0 and call it good. Both 50.8 and 51.2 were good groups.