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Raptor LRSS progress report....
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<blockquote data-quote="Fiftydriver" data-source="post: 366766" data-attributes="member: 10"><p>Had a good friend come up today with a day off and I asked him if he wanted to do some load development for my 338 AX Raptor. He jumped all over it. First up was to give the 250 gr Accubond a try with Retumbo. Here are the results for Retumbo with a Fed-215 seated to 3.670" OAL.</p><p> </p><p>Retumbo</p><p>105.0 gr.....................3223 fps</p><p>106.0 gr.....................3251 fps</p><p>107.0 gr.....................3300 fps</p><p>108.0 gr.....................3342 fps (consider max working load)</p><p>109.0 gr.....................3361 fps</p><p> </p><p>At 108.0 gr the load density was about as high as I like to see, quite a bit of powder kernal crunching. At 109.0 gr it was pretty dramatic. Pressure wise, neither load was overly hot..... I had him shoot a five shot string at 108.0 gr to check velocity spreads. Came up with 16 fps for a five shot string.</p><p> </p><p>Next up, I wanted him to try H-1000 figuring the big faster powder may get up to working pressures sooner and top out before load density got so high. Well, that really did not happen. I started at the same 105.0 gr starting point with same OAL.</p><p> </p><p>H-1000</p><p>105.0 gr........................3245 fps</p><p>106.0 gr........................3273 fps</p><p>107.0 gr........................3297 fps</p><p>108.0 gr........................3325 fps To much case head expansion and to much powder crunching.</p><p> </p><p>I was suprised to see that H-1000 performaned very close to Retumbo. Roughly added 20-23 fps for the same loads with Retumbo. H-1000 did pressure up a bit sooner but not enough to prevent the overly high load density.</p><p> </p><p>I then wanted him to test Ramshot Magnum. You may remember that I tested this bullet with the 300 gr SMK with good velocity results but I was getting vertical stringing in my long range accuracy testing. Looking back this was likely more to do with the double recoil lug then the Magnum powder so I wanted to give it another test. Again, I had him start at 105.0 gr and work up.</p><p> </p><p>Ramshot Magnum</p><p>105.0 gr.........................3186 fps (very low pressure so we made a big jump)</p><p>109.0 gr.........................3298 fps</p><p>110.0 gr.........................3320 fps</p><p>111.0 gr.........................3347 fps</p><p>112.0 gr.........................3373 fps</p><p> </p><p>Load density never got higher then around 98%. At 112.0 gr case head expansion was right at my limits of acceptable. Primer pockets were still virgin tight which they always are with the Lapua case but with the slight head expansion and a faint ejector mark told us this was the place to hold up. A five shot string had an extreme spread of 8 fps. Very promising.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing that Ramshot Magnum offered roughly 30 fps velocity advantage over Retumbo and around 50 fps over H-1000 with much better load densities and pressures I decided to have him load up a few loads with the few remaining 225 gr Accubond bullets I had left from the first test with retumbo that I already reported on. Using same OAL and primer, here are the results with the 225 gr Accubond and Ramshot Magnum.</p><p> </p><p>Magnum</p><p>112.0 gr......................3438 fps</p><p>113.0 gr......................3466 fps</p><p>114.0 gr......................3490 fps</p><p>115.0 gr......................3515 fps</p><p> </p><p>Again, load density was great, right at around 100% with the 115 gr load and case head expansion was less then the top 250 gr Accubond load with Magnum. It was at my max acceptable level but still very workable. Nearly 100 fps over what Retumbo could offer, very impressive and a legit +3500 fps load.</p><p> </p><p>So, this leaves us to which load would be best, well, long range shooting will tell the tale there but I wanted to run sime numbers comparing the 225 gr Accubond at 3515 fps and the 250 gr Accubond at 3373 fps. Drop values are in MOA.</p><p> </p><p>Bullet........1000.............1500.............1750............2000</p><p>225gr........17.0..............35.0...............47.75..........64.0</p><p>250gr........18.25............37.0...............50.25..........67.0</p><p>300grSMK..21.5..............40.5..............52.75..........67.5</p><p> </p><p>Obviously the light fast bullet has the edge on drop but that is not overly important to long range shooting, its drift that makes the real difference. I checked to see how the 225 gr (3515 fps) compares to the 300g gr SMK (2980 fps) with a 10 mph full value drift.</p><p> </p><p>Bullet................1000...................1500...................2000</p><p>225gr...............4.75.....................8.0......................12.75</p><p>300gr...............3.75.....................6.5......................9.75</p><p> </p><p>Again, the SMK tops the light fast bullet by a fair margin but again, these bullets would be used inside 1500 yards and for that, the light bullet is within 1 to 1.5 moa in drift so not all that bad. Again, proof will be in the shooting at long range. I am sure that when the wind picks up, making precise hits will not be as easy as it is with the SMK but I seldom will take a shot past 600 yards with more then a 5 mph wind anyway so that really will not matter much. My goal here again is to find a better bullet for terminal performance on game from 200 lbs and down. More bullet options and load data anyway, that can never be a bad thing!!!</p><p> </p><p>My friend then loaded up some more test ammo with the 250 and 225 gr Accubond for some long range testing. Again, that will be the proof on if these bullets will be up to the challange accuracy wise. More to come.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fiftydriver, post: 366766, member: 10"] Had a good friend come up today with a day off and I asked him if he wanted to do some load development for my 338 AX Raptor. He jumped all over it. First up was to give the 250 gr Accubond a try with Retumbo. Here are the results for Retumbo with a Fed-215 seated to 3.670" OAL. Retumbo 105.0 gr.....................3223 fps 106.0 gr.....................3251 fps 107.0 gr.....................3300 fps 108.0 gr.....................3342 fps (consider max working load) 109.0 gr.....................3361 fps At 108.0 gr the load density was about as high as I like to see, quite a bit of powder kernal crunching. At 109.0 gr it was pretty dramatic. Pressure wise, neither load was overly hot..... I had him shoot a five shot string at 108.0 gr to check velocity spreads. Came up with 16 fps for a five shot string. Next up, I wanted him to try H-1000 figuring the big faster powder may get up to working pressures sooner and top out before load density got so high. Well, that really did not happen. I started at the same 105.0 gr starting point with same OAL. H-1000 105.0 gr........................3245 fps 106.0 gr........................3273 fps 107.0 gr........................3297 fps 108.0 gr........................3325 fps To much case head expansion and to much powder crunching. I was suprised to see that H-1000 performaned very close to Retumbo. Roughly added 20-23 fps for the same loads with Retumbo. H-1000 did pressure up a bit sooner but not enough to prevent the overly high load density. I then wanted him to test Ramshot Magnum. You may remember that I tested this bullet with the 300 gr SMK with good velocity results but I was getting vertical stringing in my long range accuracy testing. Looking back this was likely more to do with the double recoil lug then the Magnum powder so I wanted to give it another test. Again, I had him start at 105.0 gr and work up. Ramshot Magnum 105.0 gr.........................3186 fps (very low pressure so we made a big jump) 109.0 gr.........................3298 fps 110.0 gr.........................3320 fps 111.0 gr.........................3347 fps 112.0 gr.........................3373 fps Load density never got higher then around 98%. At 112.0 gr case head expansion was right at my limits of acceptable. Primer pockets were still virgin tight which they always are with the Lapua case but with the slight head expansion and a faint ejector mark told us this was the place to hold up. A five shot string had an extreme spread of 8 fps. Very promising. Seeing that Ramshot Magnum offered roughly 30 fps velocity advantage over Retumbo and around 50 fps over H-1000 with much better load densities and pressures I decided to have him load up a few loads with the few remaining 225 gr Accubond bullets I had left from the first test with retumbo that I already reported on. Using same OAL and primer, here are the results with the 225 gr Accubond and Ramshot Magnum. Magnum 112.0 gr......................3438 fps 113.0 gr......................3466 fps 114.0 gr......................3490 fps 115.0 gr......................3515 fps Again, load density was great, right at around 100% with the 115 gr load and case head expansion was less then the top 250 gr Accubond load with Magnum. It was at my max acceptable level but still very workable. Nearly 100 fps over what Retumbo could offer, very impressive and a legit +3500 fps load. So, this leaves us to which load would be best, well, long range shooting will tell the tale there but I wanted to run sime numbers comparing the 225 gr Accubond at 3515 fps and the 250 gr Accubond at 3373 fps. Drop values are in MOA. Bullet........1000.............1500.............1750............2000 225gr........17.0..............35.0...............47.75..........64.0 250gr........18.25............37.0...............50.25..........67.0 300grSMK..21.5..............40.5..............52.75..........67.5 Obviously the light fast bullet has the edge on drop but that is not overly important to long range shooting, its drift that makes the real difference. I checked to see how the 225 gr (3515 fps) compares to the 300g gr SMK (2980 fps) with a 10 mph full value drift. Bullet................1000...................1500...................2000 225gr...............4.75.....................8.0......................12.75 300gr...............3.75.....................6.5......................9.75 Again, the SMK tops the light fast bullet by a fair margin but again, these bullets would be used inside 1500 yards and for that, the light bullet is within 1 to 1.5 moa in drift so not all that bad. Again, proof will be in the shooting at long range. I am sure that when the wind picks up, making precise hits will not be as easy as it is with the SMK but I seldom will take a shot past 600 yards with more then a 5 mph wind anyway so that really will not matter much. My goal here again is to find a better bullet for terminal performance on game from 200 lbs and down. More bullet options and load data anyway, that can never be a bad thing!!! My friend then loaded up some more test ammo with the 250 and 225 gr Accubond for some long range testing. Again, that will be the proof on if these bullets will be up to the challange accuracy wise. More to come. [/QUOTE]
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