Did a little shooting yesterday

remingtonman_25_06 · Oct 28, 2006

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day cleaning my 7 RM barrel and loading up some new loads and going and testing them out. I also got my rifle back from my smith complete with a Holland muzzle brake. I am going elk hunting Nov 4th, so I'm kinda in a hurry to get a new load figured out and the drop chart. Anyways, I am using 175g SGK's under RL-22. I loaded up 3 loads the night before using 61, 62, 63g. 61g shot the best by far. As I went up in charge weight, groups opened up. So I figured I would work around 61 as that gave me a 1" group at 100 yards. Soo, back to the bench. I loaded up 3 more laods, this time 60.4g, 60.7g, and again 61g. The 60.4g shot the best with 4 shots going into .4", and the 5th opened it up. I dont normally do 5 shot groups, I just had 5 of that load, loaded up for 2 barrel foulers. Anyways, the 60.7 and 61g load sucked. From 60.4g, to 60.7g was a big difference. So I think I might try the low end of 60g and hope to be in the middle of the sweet spot, that way if I"m either high or low a tad, I'll still be in there. Velocity is a slow 2800fps, but I was kinda expecting that. I also had about 5 other loads to shoot that I already knew were contenders. I tried 162g amax with 61g RL-22 and it shot a nice .4" cluster at 2875fps. Once again, quite slow, but expected with Rl-22. Seems to shoot accurately at the lower end of the scale So that led me to try 162g amax w/Retumbo. I went 71.5g and 73g. 71.5g shot a .9" group and was going 3075fps. 73g shot a .8" group and was going 3175fps. That load seems a little hot maybe??? Its 300fps faster then the Rl-22 load. I also tried one of my 140g btip loads consisting of 68.5g RL-22. It shot .6", first 2 touching, and at 3250fps. Also tried my 168g Berger VLD load and it shot .9", first two touching at 3000fps. I can say I'm pretty happy with the brakes performance. It dont kick at all, especially since I"m firing off a lead sled as well. I can pretty much see my own impacts at 14x if the range is over 400 yards or so. Not to bad, definately got rid of the muzzle flip, which I hate. I have the target with all the groups shot on it from yesterday, but the camera's out at my parents house. I'm going to go load up some more and test out 400 yards today, so more testing to come.

Sharpsman · Oct 28, 2006

In my opinion....BRAKES SUCK! Put one on a 300 Win Mag once pon a time and took the damn thing off shortly thereafter! I've got 24,000 hours of flying time sitting behind big radial aircraft engines and my hearing is somewhat :roll: :? diminished therefore since I don't hunt with muffs on to be able to hear it thunder....and many times don't have time to put plugs/muffs on....I decided to remove the brake! I hate the damn muffs that you wear all the time with the headclamp atop so....to hell with a brake! Recoil doesn't bother me as I'm about 'half-assed' punch-drunk anyway from so many rounds fired!! :roll: :shock:

Good luck on the hunt!! :lol: :lol:

JD338 · Oct 28, 2006

remingtonman_25_06,

Good report on your load development. Sounds like Rutumbo is the way to go. You might also want to try H1000.

I am also doing some laod work as well for my 280AI. I bought some Nosler brass. This stuff is nice! I also bought Pop's Oehler chronograph.
Started at 59.0 grs of RL22 up to 62.0 grs with no pressure signs.
With the 160 gr AB, 61.0 grs gave me a .207" group and readings of 3000, 3001, 2994.
The 62.0 gr load is 3093 fps, which is smoke'n.
I have settled on 61.0 grs for 3000 fps. That should be plenty for most anything in N.A.

JD338

FOTIS · Oct 28, 2006

Yup that 280 AI rocks!

remingtonman_25_06 · Oct 28, 2006

I have a pound of H1000 to try. Just didn't want to get to many powders going at the same time. I will work on that 162g amax/Retumbo load. If I can get it down to around .5", I"ll stick with that for targets and coyotes and deer. Did a little more shooting today. DIdn't get much done at 400 yards, but I did manage to shoot the 60.4g Rl-22 and 175g SBT at 400. I loaded up 6 more, 2 (3 shot groups). The first group I shot at 100 to verify that indeed I had a decent load. My 3 shot group was 3/8" so it was confirmed. I then shot it at 400 yards and it printed a nice 3" group. Only thing I cant figure out is that it was hitting about 10" left and there was zilch for wind. Elevation was dead on though!! Loaded up 69g and 70g Retumbo with 160g AB's. 69g shot around 1" at 3075fps. 70g put the first 2 shots into 1 hole, then pulled the 3rd to 1", velocity was 3150fps. Got a couple more loads to try just for the hell of it. Never know what your gonna find!

Reguards to the muzzle brake. You must first understand why I needed/wanted it. Long range shooting/hunting you need a spotter or a muzzle brake to see your hits. I dont know about you, but I dont always have someone with me to spot. Recoil dont bother me either, I had a 300 RUM that I put over 1000 rounds in 2 years and it didn't have a break. Just wanted one on this rifle to get rid of muzzle flip and see my own impacts. It really helps you out. Rifles are loud and have to wear ear protection in the first place.