300 WSM, 165 BT & Re16

I decided to try to load some 165 BT's for deer hunting this year. So, yesterday I loaded and shot eight rounds to get a feel for the burn rate of the Re16 and the case capacity of the Norma brass I bought to reload. I fired 4 rounds with Federal 210M primers and 4 rounds with Federal 215M primers. Based on just those eight rounds I found:

- The burning rate for the Re16 was faster than the default in QuickLoad.
- The overflow case capacity was less than the default in QuickLoad.
- The Federal 215M primers grouped better than the 210M primers.
- Possible nodes at about 64.0 - 64.5 grains and another one at about 65.0 - 65.5 grains.

So I made up a ladder test and shot it today. The target and data are shown below.



I did find a good node (shots 1-3) at 64.0 grains and another one (shots 7-10) at 65.2 grains.

I am going to load up some at 65.2 grains for this year's deer hunting.

These are new cases that have NOT been fired yet so I think it will only get better when I started loading once fired cases.

Dan

You'll be golden with that load. That will work for any deer encountered. Some fine workmanship, Dan.

When I recalibrated the QuickLOAD burning rate based on the velocity results shown above I found that the load at 65.2 gr. is just over the Max Pressure limit based on the QuickLOAD projections. I have no interest in pushing the pressure envelope so I am going to load at the 64.0 gr. node instead of the 65.2 gr. node.

The Alliant reloading guide lists max loads for 165 gr. bullets ranging from 64.8 gr. to 66.7 gr. depending on the bullet tested. So, between the Alliant reloading info and the QuickLOAD info I think I should be good at 64.0 grains. I have other targets that show similar .6" groups at 64.0 gr. so I think it is a good place to be.

Dan

A friend of mine was happy with that combo (different powder) on plains-game beyond 600 yards - so I think the deer won't complain (since they have no time to do so).

NP

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I loaded up 20 new Norma cases with 64.0 gr. of Re16 and 165 BT's to use for sighting in at 200 yards and for deer hunting. The bullet had a .030" jump.

I resisted the urge to adjust the scope up based the last target I shot since I have found that the 100 yd. POI is often lower than what the ballistic tables show.

Below are the two targets. The first shot was through a clean, dry barrel. After three shots I adjusted the scope 1 click to the right and shot the second target.

I was very surprised at the consistency of the velocities. Five of the the six shots measured 3072 FPS. The third shot measured 3079 FPS.

This load will be good enough for this year's deer hunting.

Nice shooting Dan! That’ll be a ripper of a deer load! Very nice, always cool to see your load work posts!

That'll do the trick! I keep eyeballing a Montana, especially that X3 model.

A 165BT at 3100ish will do for just about anything walking on this continent.