Just went out and tried my chronograph that I got for Christmas for the first time. Seems to work very well. I tested my 44 Henry rifle, loaded with 23.o grns H10 & a 240 JHP Nosler velocity was 1585fps with maybe +/- 10 fps. Tried some loaded with 23.5grns(slightly compressed) and didn't get any velocity increase. OK, no big deal.
WEnt to my 308 CZ550 w/26inch heavy barrel. Load is 180 NBT, 44.0 grns IMR 4064(serious compressed load). The velocities were very uniform +/- 5 fps @ 2665fpsavg for the first 4 rounds, then suddenly one 80fps lower, 3 more @ 2665 then one at 2718. I believe I've got a few with some crushed powder. The primers o the hotter velocities were quite flat, more than I would accept as a usable load.
I really like this load, it's seriously accurate some of the time. I had initailly attributed the variations to seating depth problems as more compressed loads are more difficult to seat uniformly. Problem is, I've got 100 180 AB's loaded the same way.
I haven't finished the seating yet, I was waiting to test the seating depths since I thought that was the problem. I've got the Accubonds sitting @ 2.865(where the bullet will push itself back to usually)" and the other load is seated @ 2.83". Is there some way to avoid ruining the powder in these rounds, perhaps putting a orbital sander against the seating die to vibrate the powder tighter when seating?? I had found that tapping it with my finger does help settle the powder a bit, but it can also do too much and seat them too deep.
WEnt to my 308 CZ550 w/26inch heavy barrel. Load is 180 NBT, 44.0 grns IMR 4064(serious compressed load). The velocities were very uniform +/- 5 fps @ 2665fpsavg for the first 4 rounds, then suddenly one 80fps lower, 3 more @ 2665 then one at 2718. I believe I've got a few with some crushed powder. The primers o the hotter velocities were quite flat, more than I would accept as a usable load.
I really like this load, it's seriously accurate some of the time. I had initailly attributed the variations to seating depth problems as more compressed loads are more difficult to seat uniformly. Problem is, I've got 100 180 AB's loaded the same way.
I haven't finished the seating yet, I was waiting to test the seating depths since I thought that was the problem. I've got the Accubonds sitting @ 2.865(where the bullet will push itself back to usually)" and the other load is seated @ 2.83". Is there some way to avoid ruining the powder in these rounds, perhaps putting a orbital sander against the seating die to vibrate the powder tighter when seating?? I had found that tapping it with my finger does help settle the powder a bit, but it can also do too much and seat them too deep.