300 Win Mag loads...

stovepipe · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:09 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

Mornin' back atcha!

Done shot uncrimped in Boomer- dont got a chorny but the POI was the same, not counting for a shakey hold, at 100y.

This was single shot shooting only. If the cylinder contains multiple rounds they will have a crimp.

I'll agree that crimp may help a load in "X" ways but, that certainly aint it's primary fucntion, it's a by-product.

Crimp is to keep the bullet from moving under recoil.

44marty · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:12 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

stovepipe wrote:

What if the bullet you are using has no cannelure? Ya just roll crimp it anyways? I don't think so!

That's one of the reasons that I was trying to figure out exactly what was happening here. I would like to have the option of using a larger variety of bullets than just those with a cannelure. Many of the spitzer boattails on the market have no cannelure.

I have found the perfect bullet and load for 95% of what I will be using this rifle for, so I can't complain. There also are some excellent choices of other bullets with cannelure from Hornady. Guess I will make out OK.

44marty · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 10:19 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

slimjim wrote:

44m, I went back and reviewed your posts and have two comments/questions.

First, do you mix your brass or were you using the same manufacturer with each load?

Second, maybe stovy has a good perspective. If you have found the "magic" combination of steps and preceedure that provide accurate results, don't spend time trying to figure out why what didn't work didn't work.

All brass used for the reported tests was once-fired and full-length resized Nosler custom brass, and all from the same lot. Both the crimped and uncrimped rounds were loaded with the same primers and batch of powder, and in the same reloading session.
The bullets were as listed in the previous posts.

Good thought, though. Mixed brass does make a difference.

stovepipe · Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2010 11:31 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

44- again, if it works for you, and it's safe, roll with it! Yer results are great!

44marty · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 1:23 pm Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

This just keeps getting wierder.

I went through some recoil therapy on Saturday. 100 rounds of .300 WBY Mag.

Here's the strange part: Still got poor groups from my rifle with uncrimped loads. With my son-in-laws rifle, groups were about the same regardless of whether ammo was crimped or not.

Both are Weatherby Vangaurds in 300 mag. and both were firing ammo from the same reloading batches.

Unfortunately, too many shadows and clouds to use the chrono.

I've given up worrying about it, though. My rifle shoots the crimped rounds easily within "minute of tennis ball" and I have a couple of hundred rounds of these loaded.

The therapy worked great. No more stress.

slimjim · Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 6:16 pm Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

Each rifle is an individual, even if from the same family they are not identical. Glad you got some therapy and have relieved your stress.

stovepipe · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:12 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

Holy cow, 100rds of 300 Wby Mag? Jeebus. THAT'S a beating. Shocked

*

OK- finally got to the range....
It was pretty warm, almost 100* when I left.
I took a lot of loads, 65-67.5gr with variations of weight and OAL.
I shot a lot. 3 shots max. Took forever for the barrel to cool off. Plinked w/ my 51 year old 7.62 battle rifle between cool downs, standing, NRA style and with the Merrit device I can sort of see the sights- pang! goes the 200y gong. I love that sound. Punching paper aint my bag ,I like gong-bonging.

Sent some 65gr sighters. Was high and left. Didnt mess with the scope. Let them fly and see where they landed and who got closest to POA.
I shot from the bipod only w/ a "monkey-fist" under the butt. I can't shoot this monster off bags and a front rest. I get tangled up and it takes forever to get on target with all the fidgeting, scoothing around, etc. I am sure this is costing me accuracy wise. But I don't use bags or a rest any other time so....I like a fist under the butt and sucking the gun in tight to my shoulder. My 3-point front rest was too high to use alone and the bags I brought were too low to use as a front rest. My bipod has notched legs and they correspond nicely to my intended ranges and with same I can get a good cheek weld.
Tried hard to keep an even corona in the sight pic. I think my eyepiece focus is in conflict with my parallax setting. I'm getting a tiny bit of target movement when I bop my head to make sure there is no parralax when my objective is adjusted to get a sharp focus. So I'm really concious of staying in the center of the focal plane.
Most loads hit pretty much the same distance and place from the POA, groups of 3 were 2-3", with some flyers I did not call, but I won't rule out shooter error.
Light cleaning every 10 rounds, more or less.
No loads had any pressure signs at all.
At 67.5gr the recoil got heavy'ish with the 200gr bullet. I shot it last during the heat of the day. No pressure signs. POI was much higher and to the right vs. the others. The primer was just starting to get some grain on it. Still had all it's radius. But like a hunting load, it would not be fun to shoot all day.
I think it liked the 66.5gr load the best. The recoil is light and the report is doable. I won't know if this is a final recipe untill I test it @ 200y and beyond to check for stability.
I also am going to hit the range next Monday as well with some RE22 loads. Phil @ Sierra has been a big help w/ suggestions and recipe's.
I'm still learning rifle load tuning and such. I did much better than last time and remained patient and consistent.
With the pictured loads I went one mil dot down on the .010" off the lands load to avoid overlaped hits. #1 was standard max OAL and #2 was .010" OTL.

Thanks for all your suggestions and input. And, I'm really enjoying this rifle and have really taken shine to it. It turned out great on the cheap and always gets attention. The trigger gets sweeter each time and as soon as I perfect a load it's gonna be a 1000y gong bonging machine. (p/s- that sad lookin' target @ 50y aint mine....)

stovepipe · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:17 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

lotsa bullets....

stovepipe · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:20 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

best loads @ 100y: 0.7" (edit- bullet was a 200gr Sierra MK, forgot same on my data)

stovepipe · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:25 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

2 favorite rifles/command center for 8 hours....black thingy on the butt of El Kabong is a homemade comblift from a wetsuit bootie and some foam rubber. Stock has an excellent cheek weld but I needed a bit more height. PVC tube w/ spray-can caps on the ends is of for my cleaning rod

chambered221 · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

stovepipe wrote:

I think my eyepiece focus is in conflict with my parallax setting. I'm getting a tiny bit of target movement when I bop my head to make sure there is no parralax when my objective is adjusted to get a sharp focus.

Did you focus your eyepiece adjustment for a crisp view of the crosshairs.......not the entire field of view ???

This is best done by using a solid white target that covers the whole field of view or by pointing the gun to a clear blue sky.
Remember not to stare to long, relax the eye and refocus often.

Hope that helps you !!!

stovepipe · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:29 pm Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

Yes- did per Bushnell instructions.

I'm getting a very small amount, VERY small amount of shift when I bob my head. I can practically eliminate it if I run the sight pic a teensy bit fuzzy using the AO, but that causes strain. Either or. It aint that critical @ 100y, it aint gonna cause a giant flyer etc. if I keep my eye centered in the focal plane. I will play with it some more this week at home.

Only third or fourth time out with this rifle so... still learning what it want's me to do.

slimjim · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

I had my newest scope do this also. Adjusted for a crisp reticle against a blue sky. When I got to the range and adjusted the paralax for 100 yards, the image was a bit fuzzy. I adjusted the eye piece until the image was clear - the reticle still was clear - works fine now.

slimjim · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:24 pm Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

That's lots of bullets to launch down range and keep track up. Did you use the OCW method? Was it useful?

stovepipe · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:00 am Post subject: Re: 300 Win Mag loads...

I didn't shoot them all. Some were sighters. Some were variations of "off the lands" lentghs. Shot them all but 6 or 9 or so. I forget. I had 5 targets. shown is #3.

I took 3 shots of each load and saw which one came closest to POA. Made no scope adjustments. 65 & 66gr loads are almost the same POI. 67 and up went way high and right.

I was going to do the whole OCW thingy, or close to it, as I had the room, just not the time as it took forever for the barrel to cool down and after 3 shots it needed to cool in the near 100* heat. What's the point of smoking the barrel. So I just shot 3 of each load at each target. Then, picked the one that came closest to POA and tried variants of "off the lands". It really liked the 66.5gr load .010" OTL. Maybe since it's hitting the lands and stopping sooner it's getting a better shot start pressure?
Kinda like Marty's crimpped loads!
Also heard the MK don't like big jumps in some cases.

I have more testing planned with RE22 and the rest of my H4831 too. New rings are coming so, maybe new bases too....gotta wait for them first.

It is nice to a little fruit on the tree and I think there's a couple loads I might tinker with more and check for longer pokes. It's a long haul and a big deal just to get the time off and to get to the range so...that's why I came with everything I could carry. (including a footlong turkey sub and a giant cookie. Very Happy

)