Reverse engineer .300 Win Mag Berger factory match grade 215 hybrid OTM ammo

Sig ammo factory pumping out 100s of thousands of rounds of it. Sig is making 10 million dollars worth of it. Doubt very much it's custom in any way. Last I checked Sig is a manufacturer making factory ammo.
Shep
 
Hornady used to tell you right on the factory loaded box of ammo that they used h4350 powder in the 6.5 creed. last I checked common canister powder.
Check your facts before you make wide sweeping statements.
Shep
 
Never said they were but they are using common canister powder that anyone can buy. If you reread my post I said they buy it in bulk but it's the same h1000 we use. I only chimed in because in post 11 you were rude and used the word NEVER. You were incorrect and it's hard to put the word never in a statement. Unless you said Democrats will never like Trump. That one I can believe.
Shep
 
If the factory Berger 215 ammo shoots well in your rifle, then you should have two pretty good pieces of information available to help you in your quest. Measuring the CTBO / COAL will give you a reasonable starting point for seating depth testing. You may find tweaking it a little will help improve your groups even more.
If you have a good chronograph then it will also give you a decent velocity starting point to work toward in your rifle. The factory ABM in my 300 WMs shot just a little below 2900 fps. I can fairly easily get around 2850 out of H1000 or RL26 with both my 300 WMs and 215s without showing pressure signs.
For what it is worth, factory ABM ammo doesn't shoot well in my lighter barreled rifle but it does well in my heavier barreled rifle. In the lighter rifle, I had to slow the loads down to around 2800 fps to get the harmonics to work well.

I tend to agree with earlier posts that suggest giving up on trying to match the same powder that Berger used. I asked their tech support a similar question once and was told most powders are blended. In the end you just want similar results and with the factory ammo as a starting point you should be able to get reasonably close even if you struggle to find something that will give you those last few fps.
 
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Chrono the rounds, save at least 5 unfired of the brand with the best group and take them apart, weigh each individual charge.

Get a computer program, I use Quick Load (the only program that would let me do this simple task as written below).

Enter all the pertinent info you recorded about your fired factory rounds, (bullet type weight, brand; primer type, brand; case brand etc.).

Go through the powder list without changing the charge weight until you get a load with the same velocity (or in the ballpark) as you recorded about your factory rounds.

With powder, I pick a powder that is manufactured by the same company as the ammo manufacture.

By example: From a marketing approach, the makers of Remington ammunition would be stupid to not use DuPont powders. But each manufactures policies are going to be different.

The above program will tell you if the load is safe, (I stay away from compressed loads, it will tell you if the load is that)

I've done all this. Saved me trips, travel time etc that I couldn't afford to the range, as it's not in my backyard.

The last time I did this, without adjusting the scope, the reloaded group was at 6 o-clock, -1.6" from the factory group @ 100 yds. I increased the charge, checking it for safety with the computer program, and it walked right on top of the Factory group.
 
Ammunition companies do NOT use the same powers as we do.

We use "Canister" powders, that are blended (like fine whiskey) so each can we buy, this year or next, is the same as the can we bought last year (within tiny limits).

Ammunition companies use "Bulk" powders - they buy 10,000 or 50,000 pounds of a bulk powder within a given burning range - each batch will be close, but not the same - each lot of ammunition will have a different load - one lot might be ball powder, and the next might be stick powder.

So don't chase a non-existent powder.

Start with a good powder (that you can actually buy) and work up a load - you can probably do better.
Buy the Berger reloading manual . Great place to start.
 
Hey Amigo he gave you good advice on the quick load app.
Try h-1000. Good node between 75.0 to 77 grains.
If I knew the powder I would gladly tell you. I use 76.5 grains H-1000 in 3 different 300 wins at the exact same COAL as the Berger ammo. It shoots great. 78 grains of N-570 does awesome too.
As always work up. These are hard to find powders right now so maybe the quick loads method will help using Vihtavouri powders?
Good luck.
 
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OP, I took some apart over a year ago.
Norma cases in the 222.5 -223.9 gr weight range
Suspect Federal 215M primer
2.822"-2.825" BTO
3.600" avg COAL
Powder was about 78.3 gr and appeared very visually similar to Ramshot Magnum.

Curious enough, my Ramshot Magnum load is currently 78.7 gr. For the 215 berger...
 
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