What did you do in the reloading room today?

[magna19]

Cold and windy today at the Range, but I had it all to myself. After a 6 round barrel break in with a 7th fouler, I started a Satterlee Test on my Tikka. .020" Jump Alpha Virgin Brass H4350 from 39.7 to 41.5. This test produced some really decent results in my .300 PRC, so went with it again. Found what I think are two good nodes.

Going to load up 5 rounds at 40.6 grains and 5 rounds at 41.4. I'll also load up 5 of each and shoot them at 300 yards. I'm very close to the factory loading of this bullet with the same barrel length.

That nice clover leaf on dot #4 was my first 3 round group during barrel break in. It was shots 4, 5 and 6. The 4th round in that group was after I cleaned the barrel and fouled it before I started my load test. That ammo was made for another 6.5 Creedmoor that shot lights out. I loaded 120 rounds of it to use a hunting ammo.
View attachment 356894Is the clover group the first dot or 5th dot. Im not quite understanding what your getting out of this test. From what ive read The Satterlee guy abandoned this test.

 

[diggler1833]

Loaded the final 22 pieces of "virgin" Lapua brass for my second 6.5x47 today.

Followed that up with 25 rounds of .308 for my M24R. It is a 7.62x51, but you can adjust your .308 sizing die to keep from bumping the shoulder .010 .

^ Tested the H2O capacity of just 10 cases of Lake City LR brass. I had bought it thinking it would be more "clone correct", and would also be pretty consistent...nope. I had a .9gr ES in just those 10 cases, and the SD is close to a half-grain.

^ Then I measured 10 cases of Federal brass that is non-commercial, military stuff (came with the 7.62x51 FGMM ammo with a FC 14 headstamp). ES was .5gr, and SD was under .2.

Heck, I was happy-is with the SDs around 10 using the LC LR stuff...now I'm a lot more excited because I'm going to try reloading the FC 14 brass next.

 

[undeg01]

After plenty of testing, I settled on my 10mm load for the 6” bull barrel Springfield TRP Operator and loaded up 100 rds tonight.

200 gr Hornady XTP
9.6 gr 800X
= 1,370 fps

I have full intention of putting a deer down with this load next fall.

 

[dennishoddy]

Feel like a slacker. Nothing going on in the reloading man cave. Ammo piled up everywhere.
Time to get to the range and blast some.
I'm one that finds the load that works for me, load up 500-1000 and never needs to do more reloading for awhile.
Binge reloader I guess would be the proper pronoun.
Couple of safe queens that need to come out and get some work. The .22-250 hasn't seen the daylight in a couple of years and maybe the .300 Savage which is a rebarreled and sporterized Arisaka 7.7.

 

[Steve Taylor]

Deprimed, tumbled, sized and flaired 300 9mm brass. Should have time next week to finish.

 

[rockchalk06]

Loaded up 150 rounds of SMK's for my SPR. Can't duplicate my Berger OTM load, but these are close. Just a tad over 2700 FPS with a sorta decent SD. Group under an inch, so I'll call it good.

 

[diggler1833]

After plenty of testing, I settled on my 10mm load for the 6” bull barrel Springfield TRP Operator and loaded up 100 rds tonight.

200 gr Hornady XTP
9.6 gr 800X
= 1,370 fps

I have full intention of putting a deer down with this load next fall.

View attachment 358927

I had the same intentions last year for my 10mm. I used the 180gr XTP with a Hodgdon listed max charge of 8.7gr 800-X. I'm sure one can load hotter, but I kind of have a lot of money tied up in that pistol.

Sadly (or happily), I ended up tagging out in the first half of October with my crossbow.

Best of luck to you this next season.

 

[undeg01]

I had the same intentions last year for my 10mm. I used the 180gr XTP with a Hodgdon listed max charge of 8.7gr 800-X. I'm sure one can load hotter, but I kind of have a lot of money tied up in that pistol.

Sadly (or happily), I ended up tagging out in the first half of October with my crossbow.

Best of luck to you this next season.

Reading various forums, people have run 800X loads up to around 10.3 - 10.4 gr with no problems. I tried a couple shots up that high and got speeds of 1470 but it scared me a bit. No split cases but the primers were so flat you couldn’t even see the firing pin strike. I don’t see that at 9.6.

Keep in mind this is in my bull barrel Springfield. No doubt it can handle hotter loads. My Glock 40 doesn’t like that hot of a load. I get the best accuracy in it at around 7.8 gr and that still gets me 1200 - 1250 fps.

 

[diggler1833]

Reading various forums, people have run 800X loads up to around 10.3 - 10.4 gr with no problems. I tried a couple shots up that high and got speeds of 1470 but it scared me a bit. No split cases but the primers were so flat you couldn’t even see the firing pin strike. I don’t see that at 9.6.

Keep in mind this is in my bull barrel Springfield. No doubt it can handle hotter loads. My Glock 40 doesn’t like that hot of a load. I get the best accuracy in it at around 7.8 gr and that still gets me 1200 - 1250 fps.

Yep,

At one point (still might) Hornady had 10.1gr of 800-X listed as their max for the 180gr XTP. I tied 10.0gr for 10 rounds, and couldn't shoot it offhand any better (actually worse) than 8.7gr.

Since my pistol is a 5" Wilson with standard barrel and bushing (and cost me way more than I ever intended to spend on a pistol), I've always just played it safe with that one. I did buy dad an original 610 no dash. Maybe I'll experiment with hotter loads in that gun one day when I get it back.

FWIW I do know that for some reason Hodgdon actually stopped short of the max SAAMI pressure when they were publishing max load data for that particular combo. I actually got almost identical velocities though at 1,208 FPS average for five shots, vs. the 1,210 or whatever they listed.

True handgun hunters would probably cringe at my "light" 10mm loads. But I have a few handfuls of .44 mags and a Freedom Arms .454 if I really want to test my flinch.

 

[rockchalk06]

Good way to almost kill off an entire pound of powder