Load developed 181 gr hammer hunters, reloader 23 .300 WSM

[Wetwoodshunter]

Pleasantly surprised I had a box of 181 grain hammer hunters that I had intended to hunt with this year and just started to work up a load on a Christensen Ridgeline .300 WSM (new to me), scoped with a VX5hd 3-18x40.

I started by working up a load with 180 gr. accubonds and sighting in zero at 100. The gun shot the accubonds at about .8 MOA at 100 yards with 67 grains reloader 23, new Winchester brass, and fed large rifle magnum primers. COAL was 2.86" (same load specs but with 66.3 gr IMR4831 (best group with that powder) shot at 1.2" MOA)

Day 1 - with hammers I went to the range with some rounds loaded with 181 hammer hunters, 67 gr reloader 23, new winchester brass, fed large rifle magnum primers. COAL was 2.86". I shot two groups of 4, POI shift was about 2" low and 2" left from POI of the accubonds with the same COAL and powder load. (Did not adjust reticle, 4 shot MOA for group 1 was 1.2" and group 2 was .9")

Day 2 - I reloaded some more rounds and stepped up the powder by .5 gr for (67, 67.5, 68, 68.5, 69 and 69.5) everything else was kept consistent. I shot the following groups.
67 - 1.3"
67.5 - 1.1"
68 - .8"
68.5 - .6"
69 - .9"
69.5 - (did not shoot this charge, decon)
POI shift from AB180s 67 gr. RL23 to 181 Hammer Hunters 68.5 gr RL 23 was 1.5" left dead on vertical. I did not write the other POI shifts in my reloading book.

Day 2.5 - I went back home and reloaded 6 more rounds at COAL 2.86" with 68.5 gr reloader 23.
Group 1 - .8"
Group 2 - .5"

In summary I am done tinkering with rounds for now for my .300 WSM Ridgeline. 68.5 gr reloader 23, new winchester brass, federal magnum primers at COAL 2.86" yielded me 3 groups at sub MOA (.5), (.6), ( .8 ). Originally I thought that I was going to then tinker with seating depth but as a shooter I think this round already surpasses my ability in this rifle.

Sunday I will go out and shoot another group at 400 to make sure that it is on and I can calculate a dope chart. Hopefully the next range report will be on how well it does on a mule deer and elk.

[Taco280AI]

I'm a recent fan of RL23, what I'll be using from now on for my rifle.

[Wetwoodshunter]

The rain stopped and I went up the hill. I took 6 shots total. Originally the gun was zeroed with this load at 100 yards. I took it out to shoot some longer shots to calculate a dope chart and move the zero to 250 yards. Lots of swirling wind today probably in the 15-20 mph range.

#1. 250 yards at the bottom target. (cold bore)
#2. 250 yards at the bottom target.

Moved crosshairs vertical 1.75 MOA.

Shot at the bottom target.
#3 250 yards
#4 250 yards

Moved back to 400 yards.
Shot at the top target without dialing for drop to measure drop from 250 - 400 yards to calculate dope chart.
#5 - 400 yards
#6 - 400 yards (shot 5 & 6 were 2.5" apart at 400 yards.)

By my calculation without a chronograph this load with reloader 23 is pushing the 181 gr. hammer hunter at about 2850 fps.

[h20hunter]

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[Wetwoodshunter]

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Thanks H2O

[h20hunter]

 

[Wetwoodshunter]

I went up the hill again yesterday. Last time actually before I go hunting. I only took one shot. This was at 650 after I dialed the scope. Shot was taken from the upper bend in the road in the second picture.

[Crunchy]

I have always used my chrono to calculate my dope charts.  Can you fill me in on how you do it?

[Wetwoodshunter]

I have always used my chrono to calculate my dope charts.  Can you fill me in on how you do it?

Sure, sight the gun in dead on at a known range. Fire a shot, should be dead on.

Move back 200 or so yards, you must know the distance from shot 1 to shot 2. Take a shot aiming at the first target without making any adjustments.  Now you can measure your drop from shot 1 to shot 2.

You can see I drew it above in a picture. I had dead on at 250 yards and 16" drop from 250 - 400 yards.

Then I plug my BC (G7 .271, 181 gr hammer hunter) into a ballistic calculator and plot a few different muzzel velocities until the chart matches your actual drop.

Probably not the best way to do it for match shooting but my poor man method gets me to 650 no problem, you do want to verify that it is correct. If your bullet shoots high when you dial its going faster than you anticipated, low slower easy to make the adjustment in your next plots. My longest animal taken was an elk at 550.

[92xj]

Nice shooting.
I run rl23 with 181 hammers in my 300wm.
I just checked zero at 200 yesterday and had 1.25" group.

Chrono average of 5 shots was 3096.
Plenty enough speed, copper, energy, heaven bound velocity for anything I'll hunt.

[Wetwoodshunter]

Field test! This is the exit holes from the petals on a bull elk that I shot at 350. I shot the elk 3 times, 2 of them were complete pass throughs, the third was under the offside hide. I recovered 1 main bullet shank and 2 petals from the three shots. I will weigh them when I get home. The bull only moved about 4 steps from shot 1 to dead.

My mule deer was missed at 50 feet and then smoked at 130 yards with one shot. He was in thick timber and missed with a follow up. I got buck fever bad, when I post a picture or story you will understand. Bullet went through both lungs and did massive damage, somehow he survived about 10 mins with no lungs. One petal strayed and shattered his front shoulder and lodged in it. No other bullet parts were recovered.

[Wetwoodshunter]

I weighed the bullet that was recovered from the elk today. The core weighed in at 101 grains. Petal #1 weighed in at 15.1 grains and petal #2 weighed in at 21.5 grains.

I am very happy with the performance on animals with this bullet.

(Just found the petal from my deer and it weighed 7 grains)

[Dan-o]

 

[kentrek]

Killed half a dozen animals with the hammers and your findings mirror my own...they perform very consistent and are in my opinion a happy medium in bullet design

You might even consider dropping to the 160s as realistically the loss in weight will be greatly offset by the speed youl gain

E=m(C)^2

[Wetwoodshunter]

Killed half a dozen animals with the hammers and your findings mirror my own...they perform very consistent and are in my opinion a happy medium in bullet design

You might even consider dropping to the 160s as realistically the loss in weight will be greatly offset by the speed youl gain

E=m(C)^2

I thought about that but I wanted a bullet that would work superb on elk and also work well on deer. I may order some 160s now that I have a long time to work up a load.

[TVHunts]

Great read and information.  Congrats on your deer and elk!

[kentrek]

Killed half a dozen animals with the hammers and your findings mirror my own...they perform very consistent and are in my opinion a happy medium in bullet design

You might even consider dropping to the 160s as realistically the loss in weight will be greatly offset by the speed youl gain

E=m(C)^2

I thought about that but I wanted a bullet that would work superb on elk and also work well on deer. I may order some 160s now that I have a long time to work up a load.

I was nervous about the light bullet too but after my 3rd elk,shooting at all angles, I can say with absolute certainty that you can shoot at any angle...the damage and penetration is impressive