Last night I finally had the opportunity to get out to the range with my good friend JD338. He graciously hosted me at his club for 1-, 2-, & 300 yard load testing.
I've very recently traded into a Weatherby Vangard in 257 Roy w/ a factory tupperware stock. I mounted a Bushnell 3200 10x tacticool scope on it in Talley lightweights and while the scope is ok, this experience (my third trip to the range w/ this rifle) proved to me that it'd benefit from a different scope.
I have a 257 AI that performs extraordinarily well with 100 gr & lighter bullets, so when I got this rifle I figured I'd run something heavy. I've had great luck w/ 117 Interlocks but they don't have much better BC than the 100 gr version.
In spite of much resistance on my part, I figured that this was a cartridge made for monometal bullets. Scope not withstanding, my first experience w/ monometal bullets was an exceptional one.
I had 100 gr ETips & TTSXs loaded with RL22 in Norma brass sparked by CCI-250s. After discussing w/ Jim, I realized I'd started high by going w/ 70-72 gr in 1 gr increments, so don't follow my lead and start down around 67-68. I loaded them to a rather strange-looking COAL of 3.12". I didn't get chance to chrono them, unfortunately. The only group I got to run on the latter bullets was 70 gr and here is what I got:
Obviously a great group, but check out how the ETips performed:
I had 5 cartridges loaded w/ 70 gr RL22. I've made a habit of running 2 shots at a time because the barrel heats so fast, and JD338 demonstrated how effective a wet paper towel on the barrel in between groups could be. When I sat down I fired a shot into the center bull which I couldn't see, then another into the lower left bull. I walked up and saw the first two shots while my barrel cooled, then I fired 2 more shots into the center bull and 1 more into the lower right.
100 gr ETips and 70 gr RL22 is obviously my load. The upper right corner is 71 gr, and the lower right is 72. Neither are anything to shake a stick at, but I don't see any need to push it w/ a one-hole group at 70!!
So from an guy who hasn't ever really cared much for magnums, and has always been too broke to justify monometal bullets, here is my conclusion: I do believe that this will be a go-to hunting rifle for quite some time!
Thanks a lot to JD338 for such a fantastic evening. He is a truly gracious host, allowing me the pleasure of firing his 35 Whelen & 6.5 RM, both of which were an absolute hoot!!!!
I've very recently traded into a Weatherby Vangard in 257 Roy w/ a factory tupperware stock. I mounted a Bushnell 3200 10x tacticool scope on it in Talley lightweights and while the scope is ok, this experience (my third trip to the range w/ this rifle) proved to me that it'd benefit from a different scope.
I have a 257 AI that performs extraordinarily well with 100 gr & lighter bullets, so when I got this rifle I figured I'd run something heavy. I've had great luck w/ 117 Interlocks but they don't have much better BC than the 100 gr version.
In spite of much resistance on my part, I figured that this was a cartridge made for monometal bullets. Scope not withstanding, my first experience w/ monometal bullets was an exceptional one.
I had 100 gr ETips & TTSXs loaded with RL22 in Norma brass sparked by CCI-250s. After discussing w/ Jim, I realized I'd started high by going w/ 70-72 gr in 1 gr increments, so don't follow my lead and start down around 67-68. I loaded them to a rather strange-looking COAL of 3.12". I didn't get chance to chrono them, unfortunately. The only group I got to run on the latter bullets was 70 gr and here is what I got:
Obviously a great group, but check out how the ETips performed:
I had 5 cartridges loaded w/ 70 gr RL22. I've made a habit of running 2 shots at a time because the barrel heats so fast, and JD338 demonstrated how effective a wet paper towel on the barrel in between groups could be. When I sat down I fired a shot into the center bull which I couldn't see, then another into the lower left bull. I walked up and saw the first two shots while my barrel cooled, then I fired 2 more shots into the center bull and 1 more into the lower right.
100 gr ETips and 70 gr RL22 is obviously my load. The upper right corner is 71 gr, and the lower right is 72. Neither are anything to shake a stick at, but I don't see any need to push it w/ a one-hole group at 70!!
So from an guy who hasn't ever really cared much for magnums, and has always been too broke to justify monometal bullets, here is my conclusion: I do believe that this will be a go-to hunting rifle for quite some time!
Thanks a lot to JD338 for such a fantastic evening. He is a truly gracious host, allowing me the pleasure of firing his 35 Whelen & 6.5 RM, both of which were an absolute hoot!!!!
