Post by bluedot on Mar 17, 2017 10:47:55 GMT -5
I didn't know where the best fit for this would be, but since it's about a rifle cartridge I threw it here.
Big Joe was kind enough to sell me a take off .223 barrel to replace a trashed barrel on my Savage bolt action .223. Installation was a breeze like usual, and after talking to Picklehead about a load I went with IMR-4198, Nosler 55g Ballistic Tip bullets and CCI BR primers.
I had purchased 1,000 pieces of Lake City brass from Midway USA a number of years ago, and had some of them loaded with 35g Varmint Grenades for the other barrel. I grabbed 20, shot them to get them to conform to the new chamber, FL sized them, trimmed to min length, chamfered, deburred etc., etc. all the usual brass prep I do for first time use.
I then waited for a calm day and loaded 1 each with the NBT's and did a ladder load test from 19.9g to 20.0g, and saw that 20.3g, 20.4g, and 20.5g all shot in the same node. So I cleaned the brass, barely bumped the shoulder in the FL sizer, and loaded 4 at 20.3g (one to condition the barrel as I had cleaned it) and 3 more each at the other powder charges.
It was relatively calm yesterday evening, with the wind only at 5-8 mph from right to left, so I hurried up and shot 3 groups, waiting less than a minute between shots. I shot one from each powder charge, and shot the rest that way, so that each group would have approximately the same barrel temp spread and amount of fouling.
Here are the groups. They were shot at 100 yds.
Now I felt that I pulled the first shot of the 2nd group (20.4g powder charge) i.e. the high shot.... But I thought the other groups should have been tighter than what they showed, since the ladder load showed them all to be close to the same POI. I used the same brass that I used during the ladder load test. I was testing with some other reloading friends and sent them this picture of the brass to talk about primer strike and minimal primer brass flow:
The brass in the picture is how the groups were shot, top row first shot, middle row 2nd shot, etc. 20.3g powder charge on the left. THEN one buddy asked why I used different brass for the test. WTF?? What the heck are you talking about? I used all LC brass..............
Nope, take a close look at the headstamps.... It looks like 2 different lots of LC brass, one piece of winchester brass and one piece of PMC brass in the mix......
So, this just goes to show you that while you may ASSUME you are using or buying the same thing, trust but verify and double check EVERYTHING.....................................
Now I have to go re-shoot those 3 powder charges, and if groups don't shrink I will go back and re-shoot the whole ladder load test, making dang sure that all the brass is from the same mfg. I'm going to not even try using that brass if the 2nd test doesn't improve a lot, and will go buy some new Lapua brass for the 3rd test if it comes to that........
I told Picklehead that he had my permission to give me a swift kick in the ass the next time he saw me for making such a rookie mistake and I'm still mentally kicking myself today.
I know there isn't any size reference on the targets, FWIW the center group is roughly 0.350" C-C in any direction.
Big Joe, I think this barrel is a huge step in the right direction over the POS that was on there before, since I couldn't get groups less than 1 MOA with the other barrel....... Thank You!!!!!
Big Joe was kind enough to sell me a take off .223 barrel to replace a trashed barrel on my Savage bolt action .223. Installation was a breeze like usual, and after talking to Picklehead about a load I went with IMR-4198, Nosler 55g Ballistic Tip bullets and CCI BR primers.
I had purchased 1,000 pieces of Lake City brass from Midway USA a number of years ago, and had some of them loaded with 35g Varmint Grenades for the other barrel. I grabbed 20, shot them to get them to conform to the new chamber, FL sized them, trimmed to min length, chamfered, deburred etc., etc. all the usual brass prep I do for first time use.
I then waited for a calm day and loaded 1 each with the NBT's and did a ladder load test from 19.9g to 20.0g, and saw that 20.3g, 20.4g, and 20.5g all shot in the same node. So I cleaned the brass, barely bumped the shoulder in the FL sizer, and loaded 4 at 20.3g (one to condition the barrel as I had cleaned it) and 3 more each at the other powder charges.
It was relatively calm yesterday evening, with the wind only at 5-8 mph from right to left, so I hurried up and shot 3 groups, waiting less than a minute between shots. I shot one from each powder charge, and shot the rest that way, so that each group would have approximately the same barrel temp spread and amount of fouling.
Here are the groups. They were shot at 100 yds.
Now I felt that I pulled the first shot of the 2nd group (20.4g powder charge) i.e. the high shot.... But I thought the other groups should have been tighter than what they showed, since the ladder load showed them all to be close to the same POI. I used the same brass that I used during the ladder load test. I was testing with some other reloading friends and sent them this picture of the brass to talk about primer strike and minimal primer brass flow:
The brass in the picture is how the groups were shot, top row first shot, middle row 2nd shot, etc. 20.3g powder charge on the left. THEN one buddy asked why I used different brass for the test. WTF?? What the heck are you talking about? I used all LC brass..............
Nope, take a close look at the headstamps.... It looks like 2 different lots of LC brass, one piece of winchester brass and one piece of PMC brass in the mix......
So, this just goes to show you that while you may ASSUME you are using or buying the same thing, trust but verify and double check EVERYTHING.....................................
Now I have to go re-shoot those 3 powder charges, and if groups don't shrink I will go back and re-shoot the whole ladder load test, making dang sure that all the brass is from the same mfg. I'm going to not even try using that brass if the 2nd test doesn't improve a lot, and will go buy some new Lapua brass for the 3rd test if it comes to that........
I told Picklehead that he had my permission to give me a swift kick in the ass the next time he saw me for making such a rookie mistake and I'm still mentally kicking myself today.
I know there isn't any size reference on the targets, FWIW the center group is roughly 0.350" C-C in any direction.
Big Joe, I think this barrel is a huge step in the right direction over the POS that was on there before, since I couldn't get groups less than 1 MOA with the other barrel....... Thank You!!!!!