Range session with 95's and 70's

[mikebin]

Went out today and worked with RL15 with the Hornady 95 grain SST's and H322 with some Speer 70 grain TNT's.  I continued my use of CCI BR4 primers.

Since I had been working up a load with the RL15 and was getting some decent velocity and no pressure signs, I decide to push the envelope a bit.  I started with 28.1 grains which is .1 over Hornady's recommended maximum and got nice, consistent 1 inch groups.  At 28.4 and 2673 I began to see faint scoring on the case head.  And then at 28.7 and 2696, the scoring was more pronounced and although the primers weren't pancaked and shells were ejecting with no problem, I decided I'd had enough fun with that powder/bullet combination and I had myself a good node to work with.

Next up was the work with the Speer 70 grain TNT's because I do quite a bit of varmint hunting and I've used those bullets in my 6PPC and my .243 Winchester bolt gun.  First load was 28.3 which gave me 2989fps and 1 inch groups.  28.7 gave me 3034 and a 7/8th inch group.

Then the rain began and my chronograph doesn't like to play in the rain, so I called it a day, bundled my stuff up and headed for the house.  I continue to be impressed with this cartridge.  Every combination of bullets/powder/primer that I've thrown at it has worked quite well

[Trashy]

Were you seating the SST’s at the cannelure?

[mikebin]

No, trashy; well below the cannelure; to the published Hornady spec for that bullet. I have not yet had a chance to vary the COL, but it's on my list of to-do's, because it seems to have good potential.
I just checked my reloading log and I had the SST's COAL at 2.180. I've just loaded a small batch of them at 2.180 and another batch at 2.20 and will shoot them to compare any difference in accuracy the first chance I get. I'll report back.

[mikebin]

I got out to the range this morning,  but conditions were quite poor, with blustery north winds.  Tried to set my chrony up but it kept blowing over.  I was testing to see if there was a difference in accuracy between the COAL's of 2.180 and 2.20, using the Nosler 95 grain BT's and the Hornady SST's.  I shot 5 of each bullet type at each COAL, and from the results I have concluded that for this load in this rifle there is no difference.  The BT's grouped at 1 1/2 inches and 1 1/4 inches; the SST's both grouped at 3/4 inch.  I have rifles that are extremely sensitive to COAL, but this one does not appear to be.  I've tried changing the seating depth with Berger Elite Hunters and the Hornady ELS Match bullets, but have seen no statistically significant difference in accuracy.

[Trashy]

I couldn’t seat at the cannelure either. Haven’t measured COAL but CBTO is 1.678”. They shoot good though, just killed its first hog today.

[Trashy]

Those 95 gr SST’s are clobbering the hogs. Got 1 yesterday and one this morning both of them were “bang flop”.

[mikebin]

Good for you! Still have a couple million to go, but they do make good test subjects! Both my ARC and my 300 HAM'R have taken the feral hogs down, and done it with authority!