Boyd and others with 300 Ultras

Brent

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2001
Messages
2,537
Location
Palmer, Alaska
Going to the range in an hour with the 300 Ultra and the Oehler 43. Pressure equipment is in place and I will be testing loads of RL25 and 180gr Scirocco seated at 3.660" in a range of 85gr to 97gr in .5gr icrements. Two skyscreens will be used to check BC's with one at the muzzle and one at 300 yards.

At what point have you found a maximum load to be with this powder in a 180?

I will find out soon for sure, but was just curious as to your findings and will check back before I leave, thanks.
 
Well, already back from the range, with great results from the 180 Scirocco too. 6 rounds from 91.0 to 93.5 were all well inside of an inch at 200yds, wow that's a spread. The others above and below this were all over the place and just under 4 inches.

Load, velocity and pressure went like this,

85.0 2996 51,600
85.5 3004 52,300
86.0 2996 51,300
86.5 3012 52,000
87.0 3035 53,300
87.5 3071 54,600
88.0 3052 53,900
88.5 3092 55,900
89.0 3082 55,500
89.5 3107 57,200
90.0 3135 57,500
90.5 3151 58,500
91.0 3166 59,100
91.5 3194 60,400
92.0 3178 59,800
92.5 3217 61,400
93.0 3210 61,100
93.5 3247 63,400
94.0 3275 65,000
94.5 3280 65,000
95.0 3287 66,300
95.5 3302 66,600
96.0 3347 69,600
96.5 3352 70,200
97.0 ---- 70,900 Too dark and foggy for VE reading.

No pressure signs were observed other than primers were getting slightly flatter, I was looking for ejector marks etc but nothing. Recoil was ever more fierce at the end. Extraction was smooth and unchanged in the least.

Factory loaded 180 Sciroccos were about 3200fps and averaged 59,800 psi, factory 180 Partitions were 3250fps and averaged 62,900 psi while both shot just 1.1 MOA with five rounds each.

I'm pretty **** happy with how this thing is shooting to say the least. I'll settle on a load of 92.2 and see how she does for a while. This appears to be the middle of the sweet spot with this load combo.
 
Brent
Good testing. I'm not sure what animals your going after, but you may want to try the 200,220 and 240 gr MK bullets for extended range on anything up to and including moose.
The BC is MUCH better then the 180 gr bullets have. If your shooting within the range you tested, the 180s will be fine.


Later
DC
 
To tell you the truth Darryl, it is a medium range wolf and coyote bullet with the Closer range moose in mind too. I'll probably use the 168XLC because of the even smaller holes it should make. After 500 or 600 yards I'm not too worried about the Matchkings devastating hides as much, but up close the other two may keep sewing up hides to a minimum.

The Matchkings in 220 and 240's I'll have to order, I can't find them anywhere and the main supplier up here only stocks 220's in 100ct boxes too. I'll just order a couple boxes each to test of the 220's and 240's then pick one and go to 500rd boxes.

My father was out with me yesterday shooting his AR-10T, he was spraying 168 A-Maxes all over a 5" group above the bull at 100 yards. He's gave up on them for good now. He loaded the 168 SMK's and fired 3 rounds, the first one drilled the bull, the 2nd in the same hole and the 3rd he held off slightly to verify they were stacking up, it was touching the other two. At 300 yards they are all practically touching each other still. SMK's are his favorite for any of his guns too. All other are judged by the MK.

I don't know if I said but the action had been bedded and barrel floated, likely action trued also but have to call to verify. Are witness marks usually placed on the action, recoil lug and barrel from the factory? I've never seen them before on the others I have or have had. A friend of mine sayed this smith doesn't do work on a rifle unless the whole job is done completely. There appears to be fine sanding (The matte is polished) around the edge of the barrel to recoil lug and recoil lug to action mating surfaces. Another thing, I shot about 40 rounds out of it the other day and went to clean it afterward, 2 patches of Shooters choice and 20-30 strokes had the powder out. I looked to see how bad the copper was in the muzzle and there was not a trace at all. I have NEVER had a rifle that didn't copper foul like that. The bore has to of been lapped surely, what do you guys think about this?
 
Brent

Some barrels clean up MUCH faster then others and I see your point on the smaller holes for the coyote at closer range.

Hard to beat the MK for accuracy and LR hunting though.

Take care and good hunting.
DC
 
The only light bullet I've shot out of mine is the 178 A-Max........With 97gr of RL25.I was getting 3410 (pretty hot load in my gun)with a 26" barrel...My hunting load this year in my 30" barrel is a 240 MK over a stiff load of Retumbo at 3000fps.
 
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