2 weeks ago I loaded 5 cartridges of two types:
Neck sized, no crimp. N135 34.4gr, CCP primer, Lapua 155gr Scenar.
Neck sized, no crimp. N135 35.8gr, CCP primer, Hornady 155gr A-max.
These were my first ever rifle reloads
The first part of my range time was zeroing my scope using the Norma 155gr Jatkamatch cartridges.
That seemed to work well as I managed two decent groups.
One was of about 1 MAO at 100m, the other 1.5 MOA.
Not great by most people's standards, but my best so far, especially seeing as I've shot less and 100 rounds so far...
I chrono'ed two of each of my reloads and a handful of the Normas. The Jatkamatch were about 2570 ft/s , the Lapuas came to 2150ft/s (2126, 2171) and the Hornadys also 2150ft/s (2233, 2073: big difference
)
Anyway, after the chrono shots, I had 3 shots left of each to shoot at my target.
I use those sighting targets with a central circle to aim at, but also 4 sets of little squares for tracking tests, so I chose some of the untouched corner targets.
I fired but saw no fresh holes: none.
Seemingly, the shots never even touched the target.
I decided to then aim in the adjacent lane (I had the range to myself!!
) where the churned out hollow behind the target holder was covered in snow. I fired in the centre so that wherever my shot landed, I'd have some idea where the shot went due to the snow cover. The plume of snow and dirt appeared right where I'd aimed!!
When I finally decided to go home, I got my target and noticed a handful of holes that looked .308 sized (compared to the 5.56 sized holes that had peppered the plywood).
They looked to be high, but I cannot be sure that these were mine.
So, what could have caused these shots to go high or at least off target when all others (factory cartridges and my single "snow-hole" shot) went where they were supposed to?