Reloading long C.O.A.L

[stevemiller]

What bullet are you shooting? its common for VLD bullets to jump .020" to .100" in order to get bughole groups. My 7mm happens to like a .030" jump. The close I get to the rifling, the bigger the groups.

This info is in my first post.Jack: im trying to tighten my groups the lands are over .150 from the book C.O.A.L measurements,my groups are 2-3 inches @ 100 yards.I want better.will putting my loads closer to the lanfds do this?Ive been told yes and no in this thread.

[xXLojackXx]

A .150" jump is pretty big. Try seating between .010" and .050" off the lands. I'm sure you'll find something you like.

[jasnt]

A .150" jump is pretty big. Try seating between .010" and .050" off the lands. I'm sure you'll find something you like.

my weatherby like .181" of jump. Your rifle will tell you whàt it likes

[stevemiller]

A .150" jump is pretty big. Try seating between .010" and .050" off the lands. I'm sure you'll find something you like.

my weatherby like .181" of jump. Your rifle will tell you whàt it likes

Ran 10 rounds thru today,I am very happy.My first 3 shot group was over (I was a little nervous)1.75 @ 100 yards my fallowing (4) 3 shot  groups at 100 yards can be covered with a nickel.My 5th 3 shot group could be covered with about 3/4 of a dime.Now with chronograph I measured every shot,I averaged 2845 fps. should i even worry about bringing that up to 3100 fps?Thanks for all the insight to this venture from everyone.

[Curly]

You should at least see if you can get some more velocity and still maintain acceptable accuracy. Otherwise you might as well have a 30-06.

[stevemiller]

Ok so I will go up 1 grain at a time and see where it goes.No pressure signs at all at this time.Thanks Curly.

[Curly]

Congratulations on the accuracy. That is always a good feeling when the groups come out like that.

[Stein]

The deer (elk, bear, moose, whatever) will not care if it is 100 fps faster or slower.  For my rifle, I ended up going with a slightly lighter bullet than I wanted just to get the best shooting round.  It is what it is, load it up and be glad when you have the cross hairs on an animal that you have full confidence knowing exactly where the bullet is going.

Going in, many people think they are going to have the bullet they want going the max speed and have under 1/2 moa.  It doesn't work like that.  Good news is that it doesn't matter if your bullet is 20 grains heavier or lighter or your velocity is +-100 fps as long as you shoot it well.

[stevemiller]

The deer (elk, bear, moose, whatever) will not care if it is 100 fps faster or slower.  For my rifle, I ended up going with a slightly lighter bullet than I wanted just to get the best shooting round.  It is what it is, load it up and be glad when you have the cross hairs on an animal that you have full confidence knowing exactly where the bullet is going.

Going in, many people think they are going to have the bullet they want going the max speed and have under 1/2 moa.  It doesn't work like that.  Good news is that it doesn't matter if your bullet is 20 grains heavier or lighter or your velocity is +-100 fps as long as you shoot it well.

I agree they would not care but 400 fps Makes quite a bit of diff. on trajectory and energy.I loaded up 10 rounds adding 1 grain to the load (71 grains now)and now get an average velocity of 2873 (didnt come up much did it) lol.No change in accuracy.

[bobcat]

The deer (elk, bear, moose, whatever) will not care if it is 100 fps faster or slower.  For my rifle, I ended up going with a slightly lighter bullet than I wanted just to get the best shooting round.  It is what it is, load it up and be glad when you have the cross hairs on an animal that you have full confidence knowing exactly where the bullet is going.

Going in, many people think they are going to have the bullet they want going the max speed and have under 1/2 moa.  It doesn't work like that.  Good news is that it doesn't matter if your bullet is 20 grains heavier or lighter or your velocity is +-100 fps as long as you shoot it well.

I agree they would not care but 400 fps Makes quite a bit of diff. on trajectory and energy.I loaded up 10 rounds adding 1 grain to the load (71 grains now)and now get an average velocity of 2873 (didnt come up much did it) lol.No change in accuracy.

Try bumping it up a couple more grains, you're still barely above 30/06 velocity. Hodgdon online shows 72.6 grains IMR 4350 as max with a 180 grain bullet. You should be able to easily reach 3,000 fps.

[stevemiller]

  yeah Im gonna go to 72 grains next 10 rounds,Still no signs of pressure.Ive seen loads as high as 77 grains with the IMR 4350 to get to the 3000 fps range so Ill just keep creeping up and watching for pressure signs.

[birddogdad]

  yeah Im gonna go to 72 grains next 10 rounds,Still no signs of pressure.Ive seen loads as high as 77 grains with the IMR 4350 to get to the 3000 fps range so Ill just keep creeping up and watching for pressure signs.

not messing with COAL, here is some insight if you consider other bullets...
http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/berger-load-data-300-weatherby-71897/
.. as long as you aren't dropping primers after the shot...

[stevemiller]

I see in that forum that this Nieko basically is doing the same as me,just diff. powder and Im out another .05 on the coal.Thanks for the link.
I didnt realize some were and some were not free bore.Mine is free bore more than when it was new I might add,I never really had good groupings with it before now,but now, wow,I am so glad I got into reloading.If your not getting what you think you should be getting out of any firearm you own,You owe it to yourself to learn it or have someone you know and trust do it for you. 

[JackOfAllTrades]

I agree that you're headed in the right direction to get some more velocity with acceptable accuracy. I would bump up 1gn then go .5gn increments until you experience pressure signs or accuracy changes, (I doubt you're even close with that 30-06 load), and I wouldn't change OACL at this point, Be happy with 3,000fps, but there's more in that gun. I don't recall, what is barrel length? Longer tube generally = slower powder.

"Mine is free bore more than when it was new I might add"  And how are you determining this?

The only shot that really matters is the first cold bore shot. Know where that hits at various ranges. But also know where the second/third warm bore shots strike. These would be rapid right after the cold bore shot. These would be the follow up shots on big game that you don't want to lose if you didn't place the first one in the boiler. (animals do move...)

-Steve

-Edit

I looked back and see that you have a 26" barrel.  I highly suggest you try Reloader 22.  (There are lot of people with Weatherby mags that use Reloader 22 with great success.)  But you'll have to work up your loads just the same as you're doing with the 4350.

[Caseknife]

I don't know if my reloading procedure is right, but it works for me.  When working up loads, I use two or three different powders that with max loads will make compressed loads, while using one bullet, ie: Barnes 150gr TTSX.  With each powder I will load five loads of four rounds each at .5 gr increments from the max load listed back down.  They are put in a numbered box, 1-5, with 5 being the max load.  I will measure the COAL of the cartridge with the specific bullet for the rifle I am loading for and load about .050" off the lands.  I then go to the range and shoot for groups, .5gr can make a big difference in group size.  I pick the best group and then load with that powder amount and vary the seating depth for the next shooting session.  It does get a bit expensive if you are working up loads with bullets that cost a buck a piece, but once you get your load that works with your rifle, you are good to go.  If I see signs of over pressure before I get to the maximum loads, I stop and pull the bullets from the cases.  Usually the best accuracy is less than the max load.