JohnyRingo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2017
- Messages
- 159
After buying a new 300 H&H Mag with a detachable magazine, I realized all the handloads from my previous rifle were way too long to be used in this new rifle. I then started over with a new load and because I am no expert, I started messing with the COAL and .5 grain powder increases. I began by loading the cartridge as long as I could for it to just fit inside the detachable box magazine because the recoil was messing with the ballistic tips I was shooting. I now know that I should have begun with finding the lands length first, but I didn't.
I then started quite bit lower in powder than my previous loads because the bullet was seated deeper. I did shoot through a chrono and noticed that for every .5 grains I added, there was considerable jump in velocity until I got to around 2950 fps, which is the velocity I was trying to get to. I then noticed that adding a half grain did not increase the velocity much. At the time, I figured I was at the point of diminishing returns and getting close to max load, so I stopped at the powder load that resulted in the last substantial velocity jump.
Now that I have researched this topic a little better, should I have used the next .5 grain powder charge instead because it represented a velocity node and maybe a little better accuracy? I am still messing with the accuracy of this rifle because I feel the cheep stock is the result of the 1 moa that it currently shoots versus 1/2 moa. I have a McMillan stock that should be here in about another 2 months.
When the weather gets a little nicer, I plan on figuring out the distance to the lands and then revisiting the ladder test. After I figure out the velocity and accuracy sweet spot, I plan on messing with the seating depth a little to further improve the accuracy. Does this sound like I am headed in the right direction? I have a buddy who wants me to develop a load for his 300 WinMag when he gets it, not because I am an expert. It's just because I know a little more than he does about the topic. I just don't want to mess up his new gun.
I then started quite bit lower in powder than my previous loads because the bullet was seated deeper. I did shoot through a chrono and noticed that for every .5 grains I added, there was considerable jump in velocity until I got to around 2950 fps, which is the velocity I was trying to get to. I then noticed that adding a half grain did not increase the velocity much. At the time, I figured I was at the point of diminishing returns and getting close to max load, so I stopped at the powder load that resulted in the last substantial velocity jump.
Now that I have researched this topic a little better, should I have used the next .5 grain powder charge instead because it represented a velocity node and maybe a little better accuracy? I am still messing with the accuracy of this rifle because I feel the cheep stock is the result of the 1 moa that it currently shoots versus 1/2 moa. I have a McMillan stock that should be here in about another 2 months.
When the weather gets a little nicer, I plan on figuring out the distance to the lands and then revisiting the ladder test. After I figure out the velocity and accuracy sweet spot, I plan on messing with the seating depth a little to further improve the accuracy. Does this sound like I am headed in the right direction? I have a buddy who wants me to develop a load for his 300 WinMag when he gets it, not because I am an expert. It's just because I know a little more than he does about the topic. I just don't want to mess up his new gun.
