Developing a new load for a new rifle

[kevinbear]

Grasshopper your getting very close to treading into Kb's super top secret notebook of accuracy secrets.....back off!

[bugabob]

Thanks again, everyone. Evelio, I'll give your method a try and will report my results.

Bob

[lone ringer]

I am with Bob Mc Alice on what he said in regards to having a load that shoots in all of his rifles.
When I started shooting back in 1978 I hanged around the best shooters the Mexican Federation sent to the Nationals and they all shot 39 gr of IMR 3031 with 168 Sierra MK on their 308's. If there was load development before that some body found that particular load and they all used it. I tried that load on my rifles and it worked fine.

I have also noticed that calibers like the 308, 7-08, 260 have a number that if you use medium burning rate powders like 3031, 4895, 4064, Varget, etc. and if the rifle is put together correctly chances are the load will be accurate on it.
Example 6.5 BR, TKS or Viking 30 to 32 gr of Varget with any bullet, I use it in three different 6.5 Viking rifles and I have several friends that also use the same load.
6.5X47 Lapua 34gr
260 Rem 36 gr
7-08 38gr
308 40gr
There is no need to wear out barrels developing a load that will shoot 1/4" MOA because if the shooter can only shoot 3 MOA or worse it will not make a bit of difference in their scores. It has been proved time and time again in Schuetzen matches where quite a few of our rifle silhouette shooting brothers made a name for themselves by winning their National matches because of their superior off hand technique.

[kevinbear]

Haveing a thirst for knowledge in all aspects of the shooting sports has kept me interested for 30 years, the boys from northern colorado benchrest shooters gave me lessons in hunter br for 5 years, now Wigger is giving me summer lessons in br-50! Bonner gives us a silhouette lessons twice a month, each one has something different to contribute to my mental library of shooting knowledge, I never get bored or quit because school is always in. Simply being content with a particular load or method of shooting is not in my DNA.

[Trent]

It's nice to see some life in the High Power forum. It's honestly been a little dry 'round here lately.

[kevinbear]

might as well bs, can't shoot with one arm!
kb

[Bob Mc Alice]

Tony, I had this past Friday off from work as a snow day. What to do. I decided to change out the 1600 round count Remington barrel I put on one of my long actions recently. It was not shooting very well, the bore scope showed some erosion, but this one was a bad blank to begin with. Lots of pitting and what looked like gouges, porosity and inclusions all down the bore right to the muzzle. This condition was not visible 6 months ago, but this barrel copper fouled easily. JB paste usually brought back the accuracy. The copper deposits in this mess now will not scrub out with JB paste. The steel bar was a crappy blend possibly from some foreign country. I installed my last new take off barrel on the action. The head space was nice at about .002 over "go" with out any fitting needed.

While at CRC two days later I brought it along for some break in. Moving the coarse screws on the base it took only 5 shots to center the Leupold 12x on the 200M gong. I was using the 37.0 Varget /130 MK load right from the start. I settled in on the gong and fired five more shots. The silver splash was a little bigger than the size of a half dollar, maybe 2 inches diameter. From a factory barrel with only a few shots through it. I was pleased but not surprised as my other factory barrels perform much the same with this load. I fired 35 more shots through out the day getting zeros on the pig and turkey gongs and returning to the chicken gong. There was no wind at all. The groups were amazing for a factory tube. It also says something about this load. It has to be a good recipe for most 7-08 rifles.

[Trent]

Tony, I had this past Friday off from work as a snow day. What to do. I decided to change out the 1600 round count Remington barrel I put on one of my long actions recently. It was not shooting very well, the bore scope showed some erosion, but this one was a bad blank to begin with. Lots of pitting and what looked like gouges, porosity and inclusions all down the bore right to the muzzle. This condition was not visible 6 months ago, but this barrel copper fouled easily. JB paste usually brought back the accuracy. The copper deposits in this mess now will not scrub out with JB paste. The steel bar was a crappy blend possibly from some foreign country. I installed my last new take off barrel on the action. The head space was nice at about .002 over "go" with out any fitting needed.

While at CRC two days later I brought it along for some break in. Moving the coarse screws on the base it took only 5 shots to center the Leupold 12x on the 200M gong. I was using the 37.0 Varget /130 MK load right from the start. I settled in on the gong and fired five more shots. The silver splash was a little bigger than the size of a half dollar, maybe 2 inches diameter. From a factory barrel with only a few shots through it. I was pleased but not surprised as my other factory barrels perform much the same with this load. I fired 35 more shots through out the day getting zeros on the pig and turkey gongs and returning to the chicken gong. There was no wind at all. The groups were amazing for a factory tube. It also says something about this load. It has to be a good recipe for most 7-08 rifles.

I knew you and Beckley were close, but I had no idea you were that CLOSE! I'm not sure what is worse, the fact that you have some "JB paste" or the fact that you are rubbing it on your guns! Sick bastard.

[Jerry G]

Damn, at first I thought he said BJ paste.

[Bob Mc Alice]

I was able to get the little Sony up to the eye piece of the Hawkeye bore scope to take a few shots of how bad that bore is. It was kind of a pain to do, you get a much bigger view with your eye. This was a new Remington 700 CDL 7-08 satin finish carbon barrel rifle that I bought seven years ago. I pulled the barrel and stored it at 1200 rounds before I put it on a long action to play with again. It was never a great shooter and steadily went down hill no matter what load I used. It has exactly 1627 rounds through it now and is pretty much junk. The good 130 MK load prints about four inches at 200M, barely good enough for close in hunting rifle. It now is in the bone pile of other shot out barrels I have been collecting. This had to be a bad run of steel from the mill and not machine processing errors. My opinion. The Hawkeye will focus very sharp, the pictures are a little fuzzy...best I could do.

Trent, I will make you a good deal on it. Some pictures:

http://s766.photobucket.com/albums/xx302/seveno8/

[kevinbear]

rough, one of these days i want you to take look down my swift barrel,it looks worse than yours with the naked eye but still shoots great, still has good speed but i can barely touch the lands in the eroded throat. kb

[Trent]

still has good speed but i can barely touch the lands in the eroded throat. kb

Sounds like that shot out barrel you sold me! Jerkface! ;)

Trent, I will make you a good deal on it.

Only if you give me the same sweet deal that Keven gave me.

[kevinbear]

geez trent, are you going to ever let me forget that? I would say the ledger is still in your favor! you would still be wandering around some out of the way range by yourself if i hadn't found you and brought you into the fold!

[Trent]

geez trent, are you going to ever let me forget that? I would say the ledger is still in your favor! you would still be wandering around some out of the way range by yourself if i hadn't found you and brought you into the fold!

This is true. At least now I can wander around at out of the way ranges with other people like me.

[Another Dang 9]

Bob that is one very fugly barrel. I'm surprised the bullets made it out of the barrel at all. I need to get one of those bore scopes to check some of my guns. Have you ever used any of the less pricey scopes like the ones made by phase II from china? There about 200 bucks cheeper but I'm wondering if they are "as good".