First day shooting my reloads
 

Ok headed our to shephard yesterday and shot the 20 rounds I had made up.

Starting charge weight was 42 grains up to 44 in .5 grain increments.

There were no pressure signs at all and as the charge weight increased to 44 the group started to tighten.

I know better groups exist but I think I am tracking ok at 44. Think I'll increase half a grain to 45 then to .2 grains to 46... the max load .... so sayeth the nosler manual.

Need to get my hands on a chrony and the head to Milo for some longer distances in a couple weeks.

Any advice would be appreciated on charge weights or some insight into the below groups.

Cheers Attachment 145819Attachment 145820Attachment 145821Attachment 145822

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seating
 

Are you seating the bullet out just shy of the rifling? They need to fit and feed through the mag but should be seated out there.I seat long and color the bullet with a sharpie[fired or no primer /no powder dummy round]chamber the round and you will feel it bite into the rifling.Seat it a little deeper,re-color and repeat until there are no marks or felt resistance to chambering but should still fit the magazine.The same powder charges you used should tighten up.This is half the fun.

.308 Win
 

What powder and bullet are you using ?

found it in the photo

Play with 43 gr. much less vertical stringing, Horizontal issues may be more to do with you and how you holding your rifle, parallax etc.. then with it being a poorer load then the others.

Just a FYI ... Quickload is showing 60,911 psi with 44.3 gr Varget for 2752 fps . COAL 2.800/ 24 " barrel and 107% load density. That's just an estimate but I would suggest you get a chrony before increasing that charge much more. SAAMI Max average pressure is 62,000 for that cartridge so I don't think you will make it to 46.0 with Varget but again, this is only a prediction.

Using the same criteria, Hodgdon CFE223 powder (47.3 gr) will get you to 2835 @ 61,599 and it won't be compressed (99%density)

Good Luck

Were these groups shot at the 3:00 o'clock position to the dot as posted or shot in the 6:00 o'clock position then the target rotated in the picture ? If turned ,the 44 grain load shows horizontal dispersion but not much vertical stringing ,other than the "coffee shot".

Is the barrel brand new or does it have 100+ down the pipe?

If it is new I would recommend getting 100 ish down the tube and then starting load development after a clean.

Barrels will often speed up, my 6BR picked up about 50FPS with the same load after I got 200 through it.

I was lucky as the load didn't need a a change but if you are wanting a decent velocity you may be at a higher charge than what is necessary to get the speed.

How do your typical groups with factory ammo compare? I would also re-examine how I am setting the rifle in the rest/bags. Might not be a bad idea to try some known “performers” like 168gr SMK’s.

I believe I am but I need to check again. It seemed that when closing the bolt there was the slightest but of resistance (very slight) They feed in the mag (very close to the wall) but these rounds are longer than my normal hornady factory rounds.

I will do that test again to make sure I am not jamming the bullet.

Thx

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Just goes to show a guy can miss the obvious some times.....:scared: good eye.

I'd load 'em all again.

Get more data.
Have more fun.

Pic is rotated :)

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NOW I am just confused.

GJ
 

Good job. Welcome to reloading.