Savage 111 LRH 6.5-284 Loading Questions

[Nimrodmar10]

Went to the range again today. The temperature was 50°. The humidity was 43% and the barometric pressure was 30.06" Hg. The wind was light and the sky was cloudy. The range is 757 feet above sea level.

I wanted to play with the seating depths of my loads some more. I also wanted to shoot the 58 grain Retumbo load some more. I started with the the 140 Berger VLDs touching the lands with a COL of 3.186". Each three shot group after that was .010" shorter than the last,, ending with the last group .050" off the lands.

I cleaned the barrel good then shot two foulers. For some reason the first shot for record was 106 fps faster than the rest of the test loads. Here are the results:

Group_____COL____Velocity____ES____SD____GRP Sz

1_________3.186"____3058 fps___106___61____1.045"
2_________3.176"____3032 fps____35___17_____.627"
3_________3.166"____3044 fps____14____7_____.885"
4_________3.156"____3034 fps____35___17___1.128"
5_________3.146"____3043 fps____28___14____.720"
6_________3.136"____3044 fps____14____5____.907"

The loads were neck sized brass that had been fired in the same rifle so they chambered without any slack in the bolt. All shots had heavier bolt lift than I like so my next test will be between 57 and 58 grains of Retumbo. I believe I can go down to near 57.5 grains and still have my target velocity of 3000 fps.

The gun favored the bullet .010" off the lands by a little, so that's what I'll use for the next series. Things are slowly tightening up. I'll shoot a few more groups then I'm going to call it good and start verifying drop tables. I did make a detour on the way home and shoot a couple of rocks at 550 yards. I fed the data into Shooter and the tables were right so getting my dope shouldn't be much trouble.

There's a couple of 1000 yard shoots this weekend at the AF base I work on that I'd like to go to but the big NWTF Convention is in Nashville this weekend.

Good shooting to all of you.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Sarge
Right now I just have the redding normal FL sizer and the regular seater. I have the neck sizer and. 292 bushing on order that shipped yesterday. I'm short on money right now so the regular seater will have to do. Hopefully I got a good one with low runout. The adjustment or the regular die is no problem for me. I'm used to it with all my other dies.

I am going to load another test group at 57.5 grains .04 off the lans and a group at .01 off. And see how those shoot. I'm confident they'll all shoot sub moa so ill take the best shooting one of the bunch and call it good probably. Otherwise I'm going to run out of loading supplies. All the stupid people are buying up everything, making it extremely hard to get anything. I saw a guy in my LGS the other day with NO loading experience buy 4 cans of various powder ( whatever was on the shelf) and 6 mixed boxes of bullets thinking that he would just magically load AR cartridges. And these people are why us serious reloaders can't find supplies. Kinda rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Greyfox]

1 inch @ 200 is .5 moa. I went out tonight to 800 and shot for confirmation. .5 moa left but my drop was dead on. 15 moa. Fought the wind a little 5 to 7 mph with gusts.View attachment 18206

My LRH with the same load, same range, 5000'/40F, is 14.75 drop with a 200 yard zero. 57.5gr Retumbo, 210M, .075" off lands. My Cooper 520 with a 26" barrel, same load, and conditions is 14.25MOA drop. Pretty **** close to your settings! I haven't measured groups beyond 500 yards, but can smack softball sized rocks consistently at 1000 yards(if I don't screw up my wind dope). Longest game kill was a whitetail at 998 yards. Coyote at just shy of 1100. Both stone dead in their tracks with full penetration and major damage. Both rifles have a single yardage turret, used with a G7 BR2 Rangefinder that automatically adjusts the range settng to conditions. Scopes are Huskemaw 5x20's. The set up is very fast. I really LOVE the 6.5x284!!!

 

[BrentM]

57.5 Retumbo. Berger 140 hunting vld. .075 seating depth. I need to fine tune for sure and see I'd there is a better node somewhere. This load is shooting right at 2965 to 2975 fps. I noticed the new lot of Bergers shot a little higher. Need to re-zero and confirm. For now though this is my hunting load until wolf season is closed.

 

[Greyfox]

57.5 Retumbo. Berger 140 hunting vld. .075 seating depth. I need to fine tune for sure and see I'd there is a better node somewhere. This load is shooting right at 2965 to 2975 fps. I noticed the lot of mergers shot a little higher. Need to re-zero and confirm. For now though this is my hunting load until wolf season is closed.

I tried some fine tuning playing around with seating dept and charge. I was able to get another 60FPS with 59 gr of Retumbo but had occasional flyers. I ended up getting single digit ES and tigher groups by going to neck sizing with a body dye resize every third firing. I pushed the shoulder back .002". this tightened my groups and gave me single digit ES. Also helped keep my zero to withing a click or two adjustment when changing conditions, or location. I was able to get one hole groups at 200 yards if I got a good nights sleep and there was no wind.

 

[BrentM]

That is what I would like to do. I don't think my rifle will handle 59. Even 58.5 was showing pressure signs and the difference in speed was just a tad over 3000. I am neck sized on a 2nd firing. My brass is sorted by weight and all trimmed after initial firing. I use a concentricity guage to straighten the bullets in the neck as well.

When I have a full testing day I will go back out and try different seating depths.

 

[BrentM]

I missed a post. My elevation last night was 3100, 30.32.....or absolute baro of 27.09. I used the absolute and compared both. Numbers were close. It was 45 degrees.

Too bad I can't have one of you good shooters take this rifle out and see what it can do. Previous to the past 30 days the last time I attempted any long range shooting was in the Army 20 plus years ago. It was at a range in Washington where conditions didn't change much, unlike mountain shooting. We had a couple days of instruction, a day of shooting, and that was it. Roll forward to now and for a bow hunter this LR stuff is absurd. LOL. Fun as heck though.

 

[Greyfox]

That is what I would like to do. I don't think my rifle will handle 59. Even 58.5 was showing pressure signs and the difference in speed was just a tad over 3000. I am neck sized on a 2nd firing. My brass is sorted by weight and all trimmed after initial firing. I use a concentricity guage to straighten the bullets in the neck as well.

When I have a full testing day I will go back out and try different seating depths.

My message was probably a little confusing. I did not end up going to 59 gr. I stayed with 57.5 and optimized from there. Just couldn't get consistency at 59. I have found no difference in performance with concentricity as long as I'm under .003. Most are .001" or better right off the dye. I also use the Redding expander plug which doesn't throw off alignment. I might be all wet but my theory is that I would rather be sized from the inside of the neck where the bullet makes contact then the outside of the neck. I don't do this with all my calibers if the plug throws off concentricity.

 

[BrentM]

My bullets need to be corrected. Some are dead on and others can be out as far as .007. I have RCBS dies and I notice the tips of the Bergers are not square. Could be a crappy die. I have the gold series or whatever they are called. Not the high end but the middle of the road. I would imagine the bullet seater is to blunt.

 

[Sargesniper]

My bullets need to be corrected. Some are dead on and others can be out as far as .007. I have RCBS dies and I notice the tips of the Bergers are not square. Could be a crappy die. I have the gold series or whatever they are called. Not the high end but the middle of the road. I would imagine the bullet seater is to blunt.

Hello Brent. Don't fret with OAL to the tip. Base to OGIVE is where it's at when measuring OAL. Doesn't matter If they are longer to tip as this is the case with all bullets. Some are just a bit longer from tip to OGIVE. If you don't already have the tool to measure this way,get one. After loading a few and getting them all the same, check OAL to the tip and you will see the difference. GOOD LUCK and shoot bug holes. ...........SEMPER FI!

 

[Sargesniper]

My bullets need to be corrected. Some are dead on and others can be out as far as .007. I have RCBS dies and I notice the tips of the Bergers are not square. Could be a crappy die. I have the gold series or whatever they are called. Not the high end but the middle of the road. I would imagine the bullet seater is to blunt.

Back again Brent,i take the seating stem out of all new dies i get and polish the inside surface where the tip of the bullet makes contact. This makes a smoother release when the loaded round is pulled from the die. Hope these comments help you. .....SEMPER FI!

 

[Sargesniper]

I tried some fine tuning playing around with seating dept and charge. I was able to get another 60FPS with 59 gr of Retumbo but had occasional flyers. I ended up getting single digit ES and tigher groups by going to neck sizing with a body dye resize every third firing. I pushed the shoulder back .002". this tightened my groups and gave me single digit ES. Also helped keep my zero to withing a click or two adjustment when changing conditions, or location. I was able to get one hole groups at 200 yards if I got a good nights sleep and there was no wind.

Very well done Greyfox, i wonder if Retumbo would work in a .260 as well? Gives me something to think about. Though i can't complain about what i am currently loading. Alwaws looking for a better mouse trap. I am never satisfied with any group i shoot. Always think it could be better. That's just me though. Anyway, keep shooting bug holes.................. SEMPER FI!

 

[BrentM]

I understand what you are getting at it but I am not having seating depth issue's. The comments are related to the angle in which the bullet is seating in the neck. I am thinking I might machine a tip hole in the die plunger and that might help with initial alignment. It's no big deal, I just use the concentricity guage and straighten them out to .001 or less and am good to go for now. It doesn't take much time at all and I know they are dead on after I am done.

 

[Nimrodmar10]

Brent
Don't worry about the tips of the Berger bullets. They are notoriously non-uniform but it doesn't matter. If you are concerned that the tip of the bullet is bottoming out in the seating stem, causing your misalignment, you can drill a clearance hole in the stem or you can buy a seating stem made for the Berger VLD bullets. They contact the bullet on the ogive instead of the tip.