No luck with 150 LRAB's

lefty315

Handloader
Sep 29, 2004
950
500
Every now and then I run into something weird while reloading. I picked up some 7mm 150 grain LRAB's to try in my 280 Rem. I thought I had something one day with a 3/4 inch 4 shot group. Took it out to 200 yards and the group was around 8 inches with no shots closer than about 5 inches from each other. Back to 100 yards and a nice tight group. Back to 200 again and all over the place. I've since loaded up some 140 and 160 Accubonds and 150 BT's. At 200 yards all three bullets were hovering in the 2 to 3 inch mark without any tinkering. All I can say is WEIRD!!!
 
I think that your rifle is not able to stabilize the ABLR's properly, and they fall out of spin balance after 100 yards.
 
I too have had that exact same issue only I was using 250 grain partitions. 100 yard groups were very tight while 200 and beyond looked like a shotgun pattern.
 
That is sorta odd Lefty. I have seen the same thing a few times. Did my load work at 100 and once I started pushing them out, they sorta fell apart. Nowadays, I do most of my load work at 200 yards. I have had a much better experience since then.
 
Yeah, you would think it should be moderately acceptable at 200 with the groups it held at 100. I've played a bit with seating depths but this rifle doesn't have an overly long magazine so I can't go very long on the COL. The last couple of days I've been working up some 160 Accubonds with good 100 yard results. I'll take them to 200 this afternoon to see how they do.
 
lefty315":3tttudjc said:
Yeah, you would think it should be moderately acceptable at 200 with the groups it held at 100. I've played a bit with seating depths but this rifle doesn't have an overly long magazine so I can't go very long on the COL. The last couple of days I've been working up some 160 Accubonds with good 100 yard results. I'll take them to 200 this afternoon to see how they do.

If the 160AB's shoot, you won't be missing out, but then again, you already know that! HA!
 
I get the same thing w/208 amaxes in my 308 rem vtr w/1:12 twist.
3/4" at 100 ......5-6" at 200.
 
I haven't been able to get that bullet to group decently at 100 yards let alone at 200. :( That's in two different 7x57s and a .280 Rem. I might play with seating depth and see if that makes a difference.
Paul B.
 
I like the Accubonds but wanted just a tad more weight than the 140. Don't ask why because I don't know:). I've got my 7x57 shooting the 160's at 2750, so this 280 will basically be the same. I may give the 150 Balistic Tips a go. It's not like I need a tougher bullet, hell I've got bigger stuff for that. I just always thought a 150 seemed to be a good weight for the 7mm's in that velocity window of 2900ish.
 
I think if I owned a 280 Rem, I'd really focus on the 150 PT and BT. Both of those around 2900 would be pretty slick I think.
 
Many bullets are not yet quite stabilized at 100 yards. As some people are finding, you really need to test at least at 200 yards to determine stability.
 
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