I got my savage 308 with shillen barrel out to the range on sunday to try out some new loads, it was 168 custom competitions with 41.5gr. of H4895, loaded to .005 and .010 off the rifling, had a farily good crosswind from left to right. First shot at 200yrds, had one group at .79" and the ones loaded a little longer just a hair bigger at .89" for 5 shots. Had a guy there with a built 700 and kreiger barrel and suppressor shooting next to me and he let me put some rounds threw his crony, I got 2738, 2734, and one 2750 fps, only got to get 3 rounds downrange on the crony, those 3 shots grouped at 1.5" at 300 with no vertical dispertion. My next 5 shot group at 300 measured 1.8", I think I found a load to work with! Next time Im neck sizing only and gonna see what getting a few thousenth closer to the rifling produces. :twisted:
range report
- Thread starter matts318
- Start date
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
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- 5,645
Sounds like a great shooting rifle, and there is nothing wrong with your handloads, either. Though it was only three shots, that suggests a very good standard deviation. I certainly agree with your assessment--you have found a load to work with.
- Oct 30, 2004
- 24,187
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Stick a fork in her! 8)
- Thread starter
- #4
It made me feel better, I went out there without huge expectations after IMR 4064 shot like crap cuz that was my go to powder for everything before. I was surprisede to see that H4895 was not listed in the new nosler manual especially since IMR 4895 seems to be very popular in the 308, I had to go to hodgdon's web page to find data for it. I started low and it still turned out to be close to max load.
Great shooting matts318, she is a real shooter. While you're playing with col, try seating the bullets into the lands .005 to .020 or so. I'm shooting bergers right now seated .015" into the lands and they shoot terriffic. Also, varget seems to also be a great 308 powder. You're there right now, but there's nothing like playing with loads and learning your rifle and yourself. Great shooting and good luck with load development. :grin: :grin:
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- #6
I will try varget again if my dad feels he wants to try it in another rifle, I have barely any varget left, enough to get maybe ten rounds, enough to see if its worth trying. For now though im gonna see if I can get another .5" out of this H4895 and then I will be happy. Will seating into the rifling like that increase my pressures? My primers were trying to flatten out but not quite there, it was a 101 when I was shooting so I dont think my pressures will get any higher due to outside temp.
matt, it will raise your pressure slightly but start at the lands first then move in from there. I backed down .3 grains for summer temps but you're at 100 now. You should be allright with the loads at the lands or in .005". This usually will give you a more efficient powder burn too. Groups are important, but you need a chronograph to accurately gauge the changes in your loadings. Sometimes groups stay the same but the numbers are much better with one load than with another. This is important for long range shooting. Typically extreme spreads of 25-30 fps are optimal. You can also fine tune your loads just by changing primers. :grin:
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- #8
yeah the guy I was shooting next to was real impressed with the groups and was a regular at ranges with longer distances to and was real excited and he just seen the groups I was shooting and thats when he said put some threw his crony, thats my next investment. I wanna try an get them a little smaller before I drive an hour to get to a 600 yard range, he really felt that my groups were slightly bigger due to wind and I agree, I dont know how to dope wind or anything and was just trying to pick the best time to shoot in between gust. I feel I can get them down to a little over an inch at 300 but we will see, Im not an expert sharp shooter or anything, just a kid who likes little groups at long ranges :grin: I will see what I can work up this week, I have some primed full legth sized brass and Im going to try necksized stuff to see how that works out.
