ehryk
Well-Known Member
Howdy all, Just a bit of a rant plus an advisory here lol.
Background: I am 30 days from retiring from the Army. I need to get the house I am renting ready to be turned over back to the property manager, get my retirement clearing completed which includes turning in all gear I have been issued over the last 20 years, close on the house I am buying, get my final physicals completed and much much more. UGH!
Now usually, I find load development and the related shooting very relaxing. I have been known to purposefully look for powder / bullet combinations for which there is no data and see if I can make something work. Sometimes I find something that works but usually I see first hand why nothing is listed.
I just haven't had the focus and concentration to get it done right. I find myself just jumping around changing things in the loads with no real purpose, rushing shots, shooting strings on a warm barrel instead of waiting and other stuff. All of this leads to frustration because I know better and there are no results to show for poor performance.
I have been trying to get a load worked up for my .260 Rem. Initially, I started with RL26 and Berger 130s. I pretty much abandoned this because in spite of the great velocities with no pressure signs, I just couldn't get the accuracy nailed down so, I switched stuff up. Today, I just shot two sets with IMR 4064 and Nosler 129 ABLRs from 39.0 to 40.0 grains in .2 gr steps, 3 rounds each. In every one I had 2 touching and one off. The bad part? I can almost always call the bad shot after it's fired. Either it breaks on a heartbeat, or I hold my breath too long and twitch, or begin squeezing the trigger before I am fully ready... whatever. Just. So. Frustrating. LOL
Ah well. Anyway, that whole series of 39.0 to 40.0 of IMR 4064 has great potential. All the 3 shot groups were in the same general location on the target and all, even with my noobish shooting errors printed about 1" at 100 yards. I don't have velocities for all of them but 39.0 gave me 2846 fps avg with an ES of 12 and SD of 8. I called the Nosler tech (sorry, can't remember his name) and he told me most people get their best accuracy with the ABLR at 40 to 60 thou off the lands. I found 60 to be the best after testing from 10 thou through 115 thou. Oh, he specifically recommended against seating into the lands due to how soft the ogive area is.
Maybe if I got myself ahead of the retirement game, I would have less stress and would do a better job of development a and shooting. LOL
You all have a great day and good shooting, hunting season is right around the corner.
Background: I am 30 days from retiring from the Army. I need to get the house I am renting ready to be turned over back to the property manager, get my retirement clearing completed which includes turning in all gear I have been issued over the last 20 years, close on the house I am buying, get my final physicals completed and much much more. UGH!
Now usually, I find load development and the related shooting very relaxing. I have been known to purposefully look for powder / bullet combinations for which there is no data and see if I can make something work. Sometimes I find something that works but usually I see first hand why nothing is listed.
I just haven't had the focus and concentration to get it done right. I find myself just jumping around changing things in the loads with no real purpose, rushing shots, shooting strings on a warm barrel instead of waiting and other stuff. All of this leads to frustration because I know better and there are no results to show for poor performance.
I have been trying to get a load worked up for my .260 Rem. Initially, I started with RL26 and Berger 130s. I pretty much abandoned this because in spite of the great velocities with no pressure signs, I just couldn't get the accuracy nailed down so, I switched stuff up. Today, I just shot two sets with IMR 4064 and Nosler 129 ABLRs from 39.0 to 40.0 grains in .2 gr steps, 3 rounds each. In every one I had 2 touching and one off. The bad part? I can almost always call the bad shot after it's fired. Either it breaks on a heartbeat, or I hold my breath too long and twitch, or begin squeezing the trigger before I am fully ready... whatever. Just. So. Frustrating. LOL
Ah well. Anyway, that whole series of 39.0 to 40.0 of IMR 4064 has great potential. All the 3 shot groups were in the same general location on the target and all, even with my noobish shooting errors printed about 1" at 100 yards. I don't have velocities for all of them but 39.0 gave me 2846 fps avg with an ES of 12 and SD of 8. I called the Nosler tech (sorry, can't remember his name) and he told me most people get their best accuracy with the ABLR at 40 to 60 thou off the lands. I found 60 to be the best after testing from 10 thou through 115 thou. Oh, he specifically recommended against seating into the lands due to how soft the ogive area is.
Maybe if I got myself ahead of the retirement game, I would have less stress and would do a better job of development a and shooting. LOL
You all have a great day and good shooting, hunting season is right around the corner.
