A newcomers perspective/guide into Customs and reloading

[Taylorbok]

A salami spec 30 Nosler is only 3.34 coal, I was to have a chamber cut for 3.6 coal with .225 freebore.

Only thing may try to do is recut my chamber to a SAAMI spec 300 ultra mag. I don't even know if that's possible. I am still learning everyday.

just because you have a longer free bore does not mean you can't shoot off the shelf ammo. In fact in this instance I would recommend you go buy some and see what it does.

Freebore does not independently dictate COAL, bullet shape has just as much if not more to do with it. There can be issue running a long bullet in a short throated chamber but no problem to run a short bullet in a long throat

I think you have some learning to do about reloading and load development. Is there someone in your area that can teach you a bit. There is a ton of great videos on you tube also.


I would not re-chamber the rifle unless you diagnose it to be a bad chamber job.

 

[Lahunter76]

just because you have a longer free bore does not mean you can't shoot off the shelf ammo. In fact in this instance I would recommend you go buy some and see what it does.

Freebore does not independently dictate COAL, bullet shape has just as much if not more to do with it. There can be issue running a long bullet in a short throated chamber but no problem to run a short bullet in a long throat

I think you have some learning to do about reloading and load development. Is there someone in your area that can teach you a bit. There is a ton of great videos on you tube also.


I would not re-chamber the rifle unless you diagnose it to be a bad chamber job.

Yes I have a ton to learn, and am working on that every day I can.
I will go pick up a box of loaded ammo if I can find some.
I do not want to re-chamber my rifle. That's a very last thing I will do once options are all extinguished

 

[vancewalker007]

Sorry to hear it's not working out for you. The only person I know with a 30 Nosler has problems with it - he shoots a lot better than me, consistently as good or better than whatever rifle he touches, but is having fits with that chambering.

Maybe I'm late to the game and "builder" isn't synonymous with gunsmith, but seems like the guy who put this together might should be embarrassed about 4" at 100 and want to look it over. I'm pretty sure the guy I work with would be so ****ed about that he'd want to prove it could shoot a nickle just because he's proud of what he does and would refuse to let something with his name attached to it exist that shoots that way. He might never let me hear the end of it if it was my handloads that were the root cause, but he'd back up his work.

I would think a fair deal would be for you and him to either agree on a factory ammo to shoot, or you pony up and buy a set of handloads from somewhere reputable (to remove yourself from the equation here, for fairness to the smith) and each of you shoot half of them. If it shoots at an inch or less, I think he lived up to his end unless he made specific promises. If it shoots godawful, you'd have to come to an agreement over terms, but at that point he should agree something needs to be changed.

30 Nosler High-end bullet – Custom Reloads of Dallas

dallasreloads.com

I was going to suggest this as well. You need several shooters to give it a go and see if the issue reproduces. We had to do this recently with a stock 7mm REM Mag. After verifying the rifle setup was sound, ie. all screws properly tightened, four of us shot it, same ammo. Same result more or less so the owner re-barreled it and now its fine.

 

[Troutslayer2]

I think you should revisit the 215 and single load them. I think you should consider trying a different powder. I think if you do not have 1. Chrongraph 2. A way to measure CBTO (Hornady Comparator) 3. A way to measure the distance to the lands (Hornady tool or a rod with rod stops. You should stop what you are doing until you acquire these tools.

I also think you should see what factory ammo can do. Bullets love freebore!

 

[Lahunter76]

I think you should revisit the 215 and single load them. I think you should consider trying a different powder. I think if you do not have 1. Chrongraph 2. A way to measure CBTO (Hornady Comparator) 3. A way to measure the distance to the lands (Hornady tool or a rod with rod stops. You should stop what you are doing until you acquire these tools.

I also think you should see what factory ammo can do. Bullets love freebore!

Yes I have contemplated using the 215 Berger's, I have 100 of them, I also have thought about finding some 230s and trying them.

I have all the above tools! I have used the Crono all but the last few times I had shot it due to bad over cast or just not a huge time to do anything but set down and shoot 3 rounds. I will continue to keep working with my stuff and go from there.

 

[sp6x6]

I was shooting 4'' out of a 257 wby w/berger,went to AB and got less than 1''

 

[stormc]

You have nice equipment. I doubt it's the rifle or scope. You shoot sub minute accuracy with other rifles, so it's probably not you. I would look at the simple things first.
Big 30 and 338's with breaks are VERY hard on scope mounts. I would pull your rings and go over your base or bases thoroughly. Make sure the mounting screws are not hydro locked by to much oil or loctite, and re torque.
A 30 Nosler can foul a new barrel very quickly. I'm sure you have been cleaning it during break in, but I would give it a thorough cleaning. Like, until you're sweating clean. And check it with a scope if you can.
Check the bedding over and fire a few rounds to let it "settle in" before you get disappointed by your fist group.
I would also try a different bullet or two. Maybe something with a tangent ogive, like the old Sierra MK, that's easy to tune.
Good luck!

 

[nksmfamjp]

You have nice equipment. I doubt it's the rifle or scope. You shoot sub minute accuracy with other rifles, so it's probably not you. I would look at the simple things first.

Buy a box of factory 30 Nosler. Shoot it all into 4 groups of 5. What do you get?

Take that target to the builder. Ask for analysis….the builder owes you a gun that shoots. If they deny your claim, ask them to prove it. Same thing 4 groups of 5. Their cost.

I only see 2 possible concerns with your build….builder(chamber, bedding, assembly) or the barrel(rough bore, dimensionally bad, not straight, twist messed up).

Could be shooter or broken scope, but based on your info seems less likely. That 30 Nosler is probably a hard kicker. I had a 300WSM that I didn't shoot well for some reason. I really nit picked my technique and turned 0.8-2" groups into 4- 5 shot groups under 0.5". Then I knew it was me. I had to work at it, but I pulled out of that slump. I'm not a crap shooter.

I had shot many groups under 0.8"….several groups under 0.5" with my friends Savage 308.

 

[Lahunter76]

You have nice equipment. I doubt it's the rifle or scope. You shoot sub minute accuracy with other rifles, so it's probably not you. I would look at the simple things first.
Big 30 and 338's with breaks are VERY hard on scope mounts. I would pull your rings and go over your base or bases thoroughly. Make sure the mounting screws are not hydro locked by to much oil or loctite, and re torque.
A 30 Nosler can foul a new barrel very quickly. I'm sure you have been cleaning it during break in, but I would give it a thorough cleaning. Like, until you're sweating clean. And check it with a scope if you can.
Check the bedding over and fire a few rounds to let it "settle in" before you get disappointed by your fist group.
I would also try a different bullet or two. Maybe something with a tangent ogive, like the old Sierra MK, that's easy to tune.
Good luck!

Yes I am in the process of acquiring some different bullets to try. I also have some old 220 Sierra MKs!!!

I have 9 rounds loaded up with 3 different powder charges I am going to try this weekend and if I do not feel like I am happy I am going to make bullet changes with what I have.

My plan is to clean it to a shine!! Tonight! had not been cleaning it that good just quick cleaning it after each session of shooting.

I also plan on checking my mounts and screws. Had checked all with a fat wrench last weekend but had not unscrewed them and check it like you suggest.

 

[Lahunter76]

Buy a box of factory 30 Nosler. Shoot it all into 4 groups of 5. What do you get?

Take that target to the builder. Ask for analysis….the builder owes you a gun that shoots. If they deny your claim, ask them to prove it. Same thing 4 groups of 5. Their cost.

I only see 2 possible concerns with your build….builder(chamber, bedding, assembly) or the barrel(rough bore, dimensionally bad, not straight, twist messed up).

Could be shooter or broken scope, but based on your info seems less likely. That 30 Nosler is probably a hard kicker. I had a 300WSM that I didn't shoot well for some reason. I really nit picked my technique and turned 0.8-2" groups into 4- 5 shot groups under 0.5". Then I knew it was me. I had to work at it, but I pulled out of that slump. I'm not a crap shooter.

I had shot many groups under 0.8"….several groups under 0.5" with my friends Savage 308.

With my equipment, weight of the rifle, it's actually very nice to shoot!

I had a Browning Micro Hunter in a 300 WSM, that I could not shoot well, and it was not that the gun couldn't shoot well, it was because that guns weight and short barrel caused it to not be a shooter friendly rifle…..I let that one go.

 

[Lahunter76]

Ok…..after my dad and I took it completely apart and put a fat wrench on every screw and set it to correct torque then shot 9 rounds at three different loads and shot them, allowed barrel to cool and cleaned well between.
I loaded 4 rounds based off the three different weight charges from Saturday….ended up being
88.5 of N570
2.908 length (using a Hornady comparator)
It was cloudy so did not use chronograph.

My dad shot three, two very close and then the third was just above the red….I then took the 4th round and shot and put it next to his first two. So we are going to load up 4 more and pull out chronograph and see how that goes.

This is better then what It was doing. Based off my last choreographed rounds I expect around 3000 fps at muzzle. I believe that my dads 3rd shot was him pulling maybe because when I was able to follow up with a 4th close to his first two that leads me to believe it was him……

Also my base was not tight…..this may have been my problem…..that's been corrected

Also my dads never reloaded BUT he says he thinks there's too much smoke coming out end of barrel and using truck analogies about too much smoke can't be good…..as I am watching yes it does have a little more puff of a light gray cloudy smoke but I think it's probably how the break is spreading and not just shooting it out front…any opinions on this will be good

 

[LongBomber]

Ok…..after my dad and I took it completely apart and put a fat wrench on every screw and set it to correct torque then shot 9 rounds at three different loads and shot them, allowed barrel to cool and cleaned well between.
I loaded 4 rounds based off the three different weight charges from Saturday….ended up being
88.5 of N570
2.908 length (using a Hornady comparator)
It was cloudy so did not use chronograph.

My dad shot three, two very close and then the third was just above the red….I then took the 4th round and shot and put it next to his first two. So we are going to load up 4 more and pull out chronograph and see how that goes.

This is better then what It was doing. Based off my last choreographed rounds I expect around 3000 fps at muzzle. I believe that my dads 3rd shot was him pulling maybe because when I was able to follow up with a 4th close to his first two that leads me to believe it was him……

Also my base was not tight…..this may have been my problem…..that's been corrected

Also my dads never reloaded BUT he says he thinks there's too much smoke coming out end of barrel and using truck analogies about too much smoke can't be good…..as I am watching yes it does have a little more puff of a light gray cloudy smoke but I think it's probably how the break is spreading and not just shooting it out front…any opinions on this will be good

Have you done seating depth testing in your reloading? I think you will find that to be the single biggest factor in groups at 100y. Run a seating depth test in small increments something like 3 thou steps using a lower end book powder charge.
Or if you want to try and shortcut it a bit you could go berger seating depth test style, but those steps go right over several good seating depth nodes.

If the rifle is all put together right you should see groups under 1/2moa @100 just from seating depth testing. Then adjust powder to tune in the speed and es/sd numbers.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Make sure the mounting screws are not hydro locked by to much oil or loctite, and re torque.

I have never heard of this before. Could you explain what you are referring to?

One drop of Loctite will fill the threads of a #6 or #8 base screw.

 

[GoosePilot]

I had a Swarovski scope that gave me 10 years of hunting fits. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. Crosshairs could move ever so slightly. Checked and changed everything else by several different shops. Put a new scope on and presto.