What does this grouping mean?

[Rflshootr]

haha that is true. I may have to try the 4831. Throwing temperature sensitivity into the mix still seems a bit daunting.

I wouldn't worry about the powder being temp sensitive too much right now. Get a load that shoots consistent decent groups first. If it takes you into summer temperatures, then you may have to decrease the load a tiny bit to bring it back in tune......and if you do then you'll have the knowledge of a winter and summer load for your rifle. Personally I don't believe that any powder is temperature insensitive. Maybe less sensitive....but try working a load up in the winter and then let your rifle and ammo cook in the 100 degree summer sun for a while and then shoot a group and tell me it's the same.....or let a round cook in a hot chamber and see if it still goes in the group.......I don't think so.

 

[Tac-O]

Got those same binos, they seem quite nice. Hope their scopes are just as good. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

My ocular dream is to get the RS1 at some point. I've really been wanting to try a FFP reticle and I really like that their turrets are capped with the exposed turrets being an accessory option. I'll let you know how the rs2 is!

 

[Tac-O]

I wouldn't worry about the powder being temp sensitive too much right now. Get a load that shoots consistent decent groups first. If it takes you into summer temperatures, then you may have to decrease the load a tiny bit to bring it back in tune......and if you do then you'll have the knowledge of a winter and summer load for your rifle. Personally I don't believe that any powder is temperature insensitive. Maybe less sensitive....but try working a load up in the winter and then let your rifle and ammo cook in the 100 degree summer sun for a while and then shoot a group and tell me it's the same.....or let a round cook in a hot chamber and see if it still goes in the group.......I don't think so.

I'll give that a shot. I actually did bump up my good load with h4350 that was 57.2gr in the summer to 57.5gr in the winter and was wondering if closer to 57.8gr might be even better for winter, based on some of the groups I had with it.

I looked for the 4831SC at the store yesterday but they were out of the SC version. They did have the 4831 version, which is apparently supposed to be the same as far as shooting properties go. I already have some RL16 from awhile ago that I shot a little bit but didn't finish working with, and it was with another bullet. I'll finish up that can and then get either the 4831 or 4831SC.

I was looking at the burn rates of the powders you suggested. I see that Big Game and 4831 are on opposite sides of the spectrum from 4350 and are pretty far apart from each other. I would think the pressure curve has as much/more to do with accuracy out of a particular barrel than a slight change in burn rate, but I don't like the idea of sending a bunch of unburned powder down my barrel if I get too far onto the slow side of the burn rate chart. People suggesting RL23 and RL26 for the 30 06 makes me wonder, when used with a 22" barrel. I don't know how big a difference the burn rate between Big Game and 4831 really is, but would you suggest one over the other based on my barrel length and bullet weight? 150gr flatbase and 22.4" barrel.

 

[Rflshootr]

I was going by some load data and velocities. The powders other then H4831 give good velocities and should be fine for your barrel length. H4831 will probably not give as much velocity, but I have seen some '06s shoot some phenomenal groups with 150's. The powder will get consumed in a 22" barrel, but like you said, it has to do with the pressure curve. I suggested those powders thinking you may have some on the shelf that you've already paid for. If you need to buy something else, I would also look at IMR-4350 which is very close to H4350. Re-16 or RE-17 are also very close in burn rate. The only real way to know is to try different things until you see what works in your barrel. I don't worry about velocity (with-in reason) as much as I do accuracy. And here is hodgdon's most updated chart...

https://imrpowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2020-burn-rate-chart.pdf

Big Game is in the medium burn rate range and H4831 to the slower end.........something I just notice looking at Sierra's data....H4831 is their accuracy powder with the 150 and big game is the hunting load powder which is their 2nd most accurate from their testing. Go figure.

and to add insult to injury, Nosler lists RE-19 as the most accurate powder with their 150's.......

 

[Rflshootr]

Ryan, I've shot as slow a powder as RE-22 with the 150's and I found it a bit too slow. I don't think I'd personally go any slower then 4831. My rifles happen to like the H4350 the best like you were using. A buddies '06 liked the 4831 better. I've also seen 4895 shoot very well, as well as IMR4350. All with 150's. It's a trial and error thing for your particular barrel. I'd say if you can't get the H4350, my next choice if the RE-16 doesn't pan out, would be IMR4350 or H4831. What other powders do you have on the shelf? Don't discount medium burn rate powders. They can work as well as the others.

 

[Jon Bischof]

I put 3 shots in one small hole,
then one went high and one went low
the reason why I just don't know.

If I knew how or what the sin,
I'd never shoot that way again,
until tomorrow when I try
and end up with one low, one high.

 

[Tac-O]

So I was on a trip last weekend and stopped in a gun shop just to take a look around. They had the new staball 6.5 powder from Winchester... I just couldn't help myself and bought a can because I was curious.

I loaded up 5 sets of 4 rounds, starting at 58.5gr per hodgdon's load data and spread them 0.5gr apart. I wasn't really sure if I needed to do tighter increments than that or not. I've heard that the nodes with ball powder are tighter than extruded, but decided to stick close to my norm for increments.

Here is the other info :

Win1x brass
Cci200
Sierra 150gr apt
Seated to about 0.010 off lands
Barrel previously cleaned to white

I had three sight in/fouler shots, and then did my loads round robin. I marked the foulers with an F.

Which ones should I repeat? I was thinking bottom left and top right.

Added another photo without the group measurements.

 

[KurtB]

I'd load up 10 or 20 at 60 grains and shoot it at distance. Looks like it is sorted out.

 

[Hawkeye Pierce]

If you're concerned about your scope bases also. You can try betting your scope with a little bit of JB Weld and putting a little oil on your scope for releasing agent. There's a lot of good videos online that can help you do this.

 

[DJ Fergus]

Could be scope parallax !

I've saw some terrible paralax on some scopes that took a heap of adjustment to get out. One particular scope I had mounted too close to my eye seem to make the paralax worse.

 

[Canhunter35]

I've saw some terrible paralax on some scopes that took a heap of adjustment to get out. One particular scope I had mounted too close to my eye seem to make the paralax worse.

Having a stock/ scope set up correctly for a shooter is underrated problem in many accuracy issues. I only get lucky sometimes and have to adjust crap until it's better lol

 

[Tac-O]

Having a stock/ scope set up correctly for a shooter is underrated problem in many accuracy issues. I only get lucky sometimes and have to adjust crap until it's better lol

LOP happens to fit me really well and I have my scope adjusted correctly.

 

[Tac-O]

If you're concerned about your scope bases also. You can try betting your scope with a little bit of JB Weld and putting a little oil on your scope for releasing agent. There's a lot of good videos online that can help you do this.

New scope and new rings/bases. Thought about doing that with my other scope.

I've saw some terrible paralax on some scopes that took a heap of adjustment to get out. One particular scope I had mounted too close to my eye seem to make the paralax worse.

New scope. Maven rs2. It doesn't have adjustable parallax. But, I'm not so worried about parallax. That's something I pay very close attention to on each shot.

 

[Jon Bischof]

Ryan: Your rifle is still shooting to one POI for 2 shots and a different POI for one shot. And since this is a completely different load than the first target you posted, this leads me to think that the shift in POI is not caused by inconsistency in your loads, but by something shifting in your barrel to stock contact points as your barrel heats up. In any case, your rifle almost never shoots three shots to the same POI, there is always one that seems to be leaving the barrel with different harmonics than the other two. So something is causing your barrel vibration to change.

Next time you shoot, number your shots 1, 2, 3 so that we can see which shot is straying from the flock.

So I was on a trip last weekend and stopped in a gun shop just to take a look around. They had the new staball 6.5 powder from Winchester... I just couldn't help myself and bought a can because I was curious.

I loaded up 5 sets of 4 rounds, starting at 58.5gr per hodgdon's load data and spread them 0.5gr apart. I wasn't really sure if I needed to do tighter increments than that or not. I've heard that the nodes with ball powder are tighter than extruded, but decided to stick close to my norm for increments.

Here is the other info :

Win1x brass
Cci200
Sierra 150gr apt
Seated to about 0.010 off lands
Barrel previously cleaned to white

I had three sight in/fouler shots, and then did my loads round robin. I marked the foulers with an F.

Which ones should I repeat? I was thinking bottom left and top right.

Added another photo without the group measurements.