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Group Pattern Question
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<blockquote data-quote="dashender7" data-source="post: 2326266" data-attributes="member: 120345"><p>Alright here is my update:</p><p></p><p>Yesterday (Sunday)( I made it to the range to shoot the Weatherby Vanguard 6.5CM some more. Unfortunately I did not have time beforehand to work up new loads based on the various great suggestions here in this thread before this trip to the range. </p><p></p><p>I already posted noting that I re-mounted my stock to exact factory torque specs, and re-mounted my scope and hardware to their factory specs as well before going to the range. I made a previous trip to the range on Saturday where I took one shot to confirm and rough-adjust zero after re-mounting before working with a different rifle.</p><p></p><p>However I did have 12 rounds in 4 sets of 3 to already loaded up to shoot this weekend based on my study of all of my previous groups. Some characteristics of the loads I had already worked up to test did end up having a lot of overlap with several of the suggestions here in the thread. So I went ahead and shot with those.</p><p></p><p>All 4 groups of 3 had the following in common:</p><p></p><p>Lapua 3x brass trimmed to spec</p><p>CCI #400 small primers </p><p>RL-26 powder</p><p>ELD-X 143gr</p><p>CBTO 2.218 (based on previous seating tests I felt backing off a few thousands put me in a safer spot in the seating depth zone for the zone of powder charges I wanted to try)</p><p></p><p>The only variable was powder charge grains (all RL-26).</p><p></p><p>In addition, I ditched the bipod/rear squeeze bag setup and shot prone off a backpack on the ground with a rear squeeze bag. I haven't done a lot of shooting this way recently and have never done any part of load development this way. I had a few shots to practice from another hunting rifle before getting started with this rifle, but felt I was still getting the feel for it through the session. Shot at 100yds this time. There was a little more wind - very sporadic half-value - than I'd like to have on a day like that but not too bad.</p><p></p><p>I waited at least a minute between shots and 5 between groups and I did switch back and forth working with another rifle off the backpack in between. I single-loaded all. (If you're in the group that says don't wait between shots to let the barrel cool, I do plan to test with more rapid strings later on - just trying to eliminate some variables here). The other rifle I worked with yesterday (A Ruger American 6mm Creed) shot some nice groups too.</p><p></p><p>Below are the results from the 4 groups of 3 (I know 3 shot groups make some cringe but this is a hunting rifle and this was intended to be final confirmation of seating depth and powder charge where I've already seen good groups with 4 to 5 rounds). </p><p></p><p>I do plan to confirm and overlay additional groups as per suggestions of several here including the detailed advice of QuietTexan in order to de-facto produce groups made up of more rounds). I'm a little messed up on overlaying these with previously fired groups due to re-mounting my whole setup and having to re-zero.</p><p></p><p>The original intent here when I loaded these (again, before the suggestions from this post) was to re-confirm both seating depth I thought looked best previously and also re-confirm powder charge for mildly cold circa 40 degree conditions and eliminate charges that weren't as good.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately my chrono missed a reading on every group except the 2nd one (the best one) as it was partly cloudy with some shadows going on.</p><p></p><p>45.5gr: 1.19" group with mostly horizontal. Unfortunately I know I pulled one right a little as I was getting used to shooting from the bag still and flinched it a bit. I think this would have been a better group but no way to know!</p><p> ???</p><p> 2,732</p><p> 2,721</p><p>45.7gr: 0.54" group (pictured below). Overlays / centers perfectly with above group minus the above pulled shot.</p><p> 2,737</p><p> 2,732</p><p> 2,726</p><p>45.9gr: 1.04" group with mostly vertical. Overlays / centers well with above groups</p><p> 2,732</p><p> 2,743</p><p> ???</p><p>46.1gr: 0.92" group I'd describe as diagonal. Overlays well with above groups (as in not much change in POI).</p><p> 2,732</p><p> ???</p><p> 2,732</p><p></p><p>Note the temperature dropped probably 8 to 10 degrees over the course of the shooting session and I did have my ammo box open next to me the whole time so it was probably cooling the sitting rounds throughout and I don't know how else to account for the way velocity stayed so nearly consistent across .6 grains of powder as I went from group to group going up in powder.</p><p></p><p>I feel my groups would have been a little better if I were better at shooting off this backpack position as I didn't feel 100% confident I was doing my part as solidly as I'd like throughout.</p><p></p><p>This correlates well with previous experience that this zone of seating depth with about 45.7gr of RL-26 produced good 1/2" to 3/4" 4 shot groups.</p><p></p><p>Here's that best group - I hope to post some kind of overlay shots in the near future - and I welcome any further comments and thoughts from anyone:</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/uvUOj5ul.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>Below is a 3 shot "confirming" group I fired with my Ruger American Predator 6mm CM the in the same trip, also off the backpack prone (confirming previous best 5 shot group and seating depth which happens to be 41.3gr H4350 at 2.214 CBTO with Hornady 103 ELD-X, Hornady 3x brass, CCI standard large rifle primers and I'm seeing about a 25 ES with this load on the larger groups which is more ES than I'm used to getting with my better loads). </p><p></p><p>In the same spirit as with the Weatherby and the advice from members here to leave no stone unturned, I had also re-mounted my whole setup on this Ruger rifle with my new torque screwdriver and roughed in my zero with 1 shot previously, hence being off from zero on this one too:</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/mZKcejtl.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="dashender7, post: 2326266, member: 120345"] Alright here is my update: Yesterday (Sunday)( I made it to the range to shoot the Weatherby Vanguard 6.5CM some more. Unfortunately I did not have time beforehand to work up new loads based on the various great suggestions here in this thread before this trip to the range. I already posted noting that I re-mounted my stock to exact factory torque specs, and re-mounted my scope and hardware to their factory specs as well before going to the range. I made a previous trip to the range on Saturday where I took one shot to confirm and rough-adjust zero after re-mounting before working with a different rifle. However I did have 12 rounds in 4 sets of 3 to already loaded up to shoot this weekend based on my study of all of my previous groups. Some characteristics of the loads I had already worked up to test did end up having a lot of overlap with several of the suggestions here in the thread. So I went ahead and shot with those. All 4 groups of 3 had the following in common: Lapua 3x brass trimmed to spec CCI #400 small primers RL-26 powder ELD-X 143gr CBTO 2.218 (based on previous seating tests I felt backing off a few thousands put me in a safer spot in the seating depth zone for the zone of powder charges I wanted to try) The only variable was powder charge grains (all RL-26). In addition, I ditched the bipod/rear squeeze bag setup and shot prone off a backpack on the ground with a rear squeeze bag. I haven't done a lot of shooting this way recently and have never done any part of load development this way. I had a few shots to practice from another hunting rifle before getting started with this rifle, but felt I was still getting the feel for it through the session. Shot at 100yds this time. There was a little more wind - very sporadic half-value - than I'd like to have on a day like that but not too bad. I waited at least a minute between shots and 5 between groups and I did switch back and forth working with another rifle off the backpack in between. I single-loaded all. (If you're in the group that says don't wait between shots to let the barrel cool, I do plan to test with more rapid strings later on - just trying to eliminate some variables here). The other rifle I worked with yesterday (A Ruger American 6mm Creed) shot some nice groups too. Below are the results from the 4 groups of 3 (I know 3 shot groups make some cringe but this is a hunting rifle and this was intended to be final confirmation of seating depth and powder charge where I've already seen good groups with 4 to 5 rounds). I do plan to confirm and overlay additional groups as per suggestions of several here including the detailed advice of QuietTexan in order to de-facto produce groups made up of more rounds). I'm a little messed up on overlaying these with previously fired groups due to re-mounting my whole setup and having to re-zero. The original intent here when I loaded these (again, before the suggestions from this post) was to re-confirm both seating depth I thought looked best previously and also re-confirm powder charge for mildly cold circa 40 degree conditions and eliminate charges that weren't as good. Unfortunately my chrono missed a reading on every group except the 2nd one (the best one) as it was partly cloudy with some shadows going on. 45.5gr: 1.19" group with mostly horizontal. Unfortunately I know I pulled one right a little as I was getting used to shooting from the bag still and flinched it a bit. I think this would have been a better group but no way to know! ??? 2,732 2,721 45.7gr: 0.54" group (pictured below). Overlays / centers perfectly with above group minus the above pulled shot. 2,737 2,732 2,726 45.9gr: 1.04" group with mostly vertical. Overlays / centers well with above groups 2,732 2,743 ??? 46.1gr: 0.92" group I'd describe as diagonal. Overlays well with above groups (as in not much change in POI). 2,732 ??? 2,732 Note the temperature dropped probably 8 to 10 degrees over the course of the shooting session and I did have my ammo box open next to me the whole time so it was probably cooling the sitting rounds throughout and I don't know how else to account for the way velocity stayed so nearly consistent across .6 grains of powder as I went from group to group going up in powder. I feel my groups would have been a little better if I were better at shooting off this backpack position as I didn't feel 100% confident I was doing my part as solidly as I'd like throughout. This correlates well with previous experience that this zone of seating depth with about 45.7gr of RL-26 produced good 1/2" to 3/4" 4 shot groups. Here's that best group - I hope to post some kind of overlay shots in the near future - and I welcome any further comments and thoughts from anyone: [img]https://i.imgur.com/uvUOj5ul.jpg[/img] Below is a 3 shot "confirming" group I fired with my Ruger American Predator 6mm CM the in the same trip, also off the backpack prone (confirming previous best 5 shot group and seating depth which happens to be 41.3gr H4350 at 2.214 CBTO with Hornady 103 ELD-X, Hornady 3x brass, CCI standard large rifle primers and I'm seeing about a 25 ES with this load on the larger groups which is more ES than I'm used to getting with my better loads). In the same spirit as with the Weatherby and the advice from members here to leave no stone unturned, I had also re-mounted my whole setup on this Ruger rifle with my new torque screwdriver and roughed in my zero with 1 shot previously, hence being off from zero on this one too: [img]https://i.imgur.com/mZKcejtl.jpg[/img] [/QUOTE]
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