Labor Day at the range

wisconsinteacher · Sep 3, 2012

Well I hit the range this morning. As I walked down to set up my 100 yard targets, a bear stepped out and ran towards the 200 yard targets and then jumped into the woods. He was a 125 pounder.

I had 10 rounds of 22-250 loaded with 35.9 gr of IMR 4064. I just cleaned the rilfe with Sweets 7.62 and I wanted to give the rifle 3-3 shot groups. The first group was going good then I had a called pulled shot so that group ended up at 1.094". Group #2 measured .816" and the last group measured .333" I took all 10 hits and placed them over a new target and ended up with a 1.312" group. I think the rifle settled in after the first 7 shots down the tube after a good cleaning. I don't know if I should try it again or start playing with seating depth for the next time I hit the range.

My 6.5 Grendel fired with no issues so at least I found my problem from before. With 123 Amax over XBR 8082

26.0=.991"
26.3=.568
26.6=1.366

The 26.0 group put 2 in the same hole and the last shot was .991 out. I did finish shooting the rest of my fireforming loads so now I can really clean it up and start focusing on load work.

My .338 hit a 1/2 gallon milk jug that I had on it's side so I could only see the bottom. At 100 on 3x all I could see at the time of the shot was the water fly and the jug go about 15 yards into the weeds.

The last gun was my Savage 17HMR. It shot 1.619" at 100 yards but I had a number of rounds with split necks. They are Winchester 17gr Vmax rounds. I only have a few left then I am going to try a different kind to see if I can get smaller groups.

longwinters · Sep 3, 2012

You hit the range early to get all that shooting in. Northwoods and I got to the range at about 9am. I had my Sako 75 in 7m08 that I wanted to re-sight in for 140 Accubonds. After a few scope adjustments it was giving me .5" groups @ 1.5" high.

Northwoods had a real nice .308 that he recently came into possession of...it liked everything he put down the tube. I imagine he will be posting about it in the next day or so.

Long

CatskillCrawler · Sep 3, 2012

Sounds like things are shaping up nicely. Which bullet are you using in your 22-250?

I would load up five 3-shot loads. One of the same length, and then increase and decrease OAL by .02 & .04"(as long as they can fit in your magazine). Then shoot one from each load at a time till you shoot one from all five loads and then start over.

Or, you groups are fine and you could call it a wrap and go buy another gun and start all over again! :mrgreen:

Guy Miner · Sep 3, 2012

Seems like you had a good, and interesting, day at the range! The bear was pretty cool...

Sometimes a rifle will take a few shots to settle in after a thorough cleaning. I suspect that's what happened with your .22-250. That cartridge has a well deserved reputation for accuracy, as demonstrated by your final group. That's good shooting!

So your .17 HMR was splitting case necks? Weird... I've only used the Hornady stuff, but it hasn't had any problems. Fun little cartridge.