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Old May 23, 2013, 07:05 PM   #39
603Country
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 6, 2011
Location: Thornton, Texas
Posts: 3,995
Happily, my internet got me to Dan Newberry's site very quickly, and I read it with great interest. One thing he says is that when working up loads it often doesn't matter how far off the lands you are till you find your sweet spot loads. And, he said that he likes to load the bullet at least one caliber deep into the brass. Hmmmm. I just happened to be struggling with some 40 gr Sierra Varminter bullets in my 223, and I loaded them out close to the lands and shot many groups and had little luck finding a great load (BL-C(2) powder is what I was using, since I'm low on H335). So...I decided to load them about a caliber deep and loaded up 5 of the load that had been most promising so far. Shot pretty darn well, even though they were far off the lands. So I tinkered with the OAL for a while and burned a good bit more powder and did indeed find a good shooting OAL, which is still a good ways from the lands.

I had been using the Redding FL bushing die for resizing and was setting the brass shoulder back slightly, as suggested on the forum. The rounds were grouping pretty good, but not as good as I had hoped. The reason for the use of that die was specifically to push the shoulder back just the right amount. Otherwise I'd have used the Lee Collet Die. So...I thought that maybe I should give the Lee Die a try on these loads, since it had worked great for me in the past. So I did. Groups tightened up noticeably. I'm gonna quit using that darn Redding bushing die and stay with the Lee Collet Die until shoulders need bumping.

And, after sending many 40 gr Sierra Varminters downrange in the last 3 days, I do believe that the bullet just isn't going to shoot as well as the 40 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip does. No surprise there. But being maybe 1/2 further away from where I'd hit with the Nosler will still turn a coyote inside out.
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