I should have my butt kicked for waiting so long in life to reload. Haven't been reloading for a year yet but it has really been beneficial in too many ways to mention but I want to share one quick victory. Taking a break from reloading and R&D on the .243 I decided to buy some dies for my 20 yr old .300wm ABolt. I have had this rifle since 1992 and haven't shot 2 boxes through it. I had several boxes of ammo (Hornady and Win Black Talons). A few weeks ago I shot 4 5shot groups through it with the factory ammo. The best group I had was approx 2 1/2" @ 100yds. It was all coming back to me why I never shot this particular rifle, along with the violent recoil, the accuracy was awful. I loaded up some Sierra 165 gr HPBT over Varget and IMR4350, thinking this would be a good hunting round for my area. My only purpose was to get this sporter to shoot decent or I was going to sell or trade it for something else since I am now totally ate up with this hobby. Second load shot .604" @ 100yd. For many years I thought this rifle was a *** but now I think there is hope for any rifle whether it is a LRP or just a hunting rifle. I should have started this years ago!
I Should Have My @%# Kicked!
- Thread starter Ghost7
- Start date
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Have an old ABolt 1 in 7 RM and had this same revelation a few years ago. Know where you are coming from! LOL.
I hope I'm not reading this correctly. Are you trying to load 300 winchester magnum with Varget??? If so STOP and buy a reloading manual, stay with 4350 and slower powders.
I own a reloading manual and the varget loads came from published data ie Hogdon. Yes, I had the same concern as well. Not to worry though, the 4350 is the one. I also tried RL22 and 780 and am currently working with those. I can assure all that I would never try a recipe that didn't come from published data.
HNDLDR
Well-Known Member
I've been reloading since my mid to late teens. I'm 39 now. I've had an old Ruger 7mm mag that I started reloading with. On a good day I was very lucky to get 1 1/2" at 100 yards. The rifle has been shot so much that the rifling is severely eroded at the first of the barrel. About 5 years ago I fed it some Nosler accubonds over IMR 7828 and all of the sudden it was shooting 3/4" groups at 100 yards. Sometimes it just takes finding that magic load.
