Load development in the mountains
 

Had a fun day in the mountains today doing some 100 yards load development with the Nosler 175gr RDF . Looks like I may find a decent load between 43.7 gr and 44 gr . All 5 shot groups and factory Remington barrel .


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some nice shooting there

👍 find it strange I’m only getting 2464 FPS with 44gr of reloader 15 . Afterall it was a cold day .

I see you have them loaded pretty long... I wonder if the bit of extra boiler room is lowering pressure?

But the bullet would grind the lands that much sooner increasing pressure. Longer coal usually increases velocity.

With 44 grains you should be seeing about 2560 with 24 inch barrel. How long is your jump? What is your barrel length

I think a “close to lands” or jamb can result in a peak/spike in pressure but not necessarily an overall higher pressure curve?
Maybe try seating further into the case and see what happens? Also, some barrels are slower than others.

He’s got a stubby looking tube on that rig....

What’s your bbl length OP?

If it is 20" then 2460 fps would be just about right on for 44 grains of Reloder15

Reloder 15 isnt the most efficient powder choice for 175 gr. Almost too fast of a burn for 165 gr.

Checkout Hodgdon CFE223

I tried another row at magazine length at around 2.855” the groups were opening up quiet bad but at that point I was starting to get some mirage so that test was inconclusive or inaccurate I guess .

Barrel length is 20” I was .020” off the lands . I believe it’s about 20 FPS per every inch you add or decrease to the barrel .

The ones that were coal of 3.00” were sitting out in about -3 degree weather and was getting 2464 FPS for 44gr . When I grabbed the ones from inside the warm truck that are at 2.855” where shooting about 100 FPS faster with a smaller charge then 44gr . So it’s either the seating dept or temperature change.

I’ve never had a rifle that didn’t do well at .020” or .025” of the lands. And I’ve seen .1 grain of powder difference take a group from .5” to .1” . Your getting close :)

You think varget would do better for 175gr ?

Yeah 👍 I will try and find something between 43.7 and 44 .

Very cool.
I like the that set up you have.

👍

it would definately be less temperature sensative and probably a touch better muzzle velocities.

take it or leave it, but i'd keep 0.025" off the lands and incrementally test for pressure up to full load with varget

Hodgdon website says 175 gr bullet max load Varget is 45.0 grains will give you 2690 fps -100 fps for 4 inches of barrel = about 2590 fps. Varget


Alliant website data for 180 grain bullet is 45 grains reloder 15 will give a 24 inch barrel 2613 fps, -100 fps for 4 inches of barrel = 2513 fps.

2513 fps / 45 grain max load data = 55.84444 fps per grain of load x 44 grain load = 2457 fps, which is exact match to your results.

You have some nice gear there for sure...beauty country too!

Imr 4895 is a magic elixer for the 308

Out scouting for some so long range shooting with my best bud . Lots of cougars in these areas , to bad we can’t carry a side arm . Ah well the gerber LMF2 will have to do for now .

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Nice Shooting !

I agree with Nykstra.. CFE223 seems to be the powder. I ran it thru Quickload at 70 deg .. 51. gr (max) shows 2720 At -1 deg 2628

Varget: 48.8 (Max) at 70 deg .. 2651
at -1 deg .. 2567

👍

Have you found that app/program to be fairly accurate ?

Yes, it is very accurate and very powerful. The program requires some tweaking of the default values i.e powder burn rates, H2o case capacities etc. Individual powder burn rates have to be calibrated to match actual chrony readings with each cartridge.

Once a load has been developed, that data can be transferred to the included "Quick Target" software for all the external data . Also very good.

IMO it's by far the best ballistic program out there.

Try lighter bullets. Paper won't know the dif.
Nice photos, BTW.

Yes i tend to shoot the 155 gr scenars as well witch I already have a load developed for them , tought I’d try and see how the new Nosler RDF’s perform .
Thanks .