2 new builds to try

[stagpanther]

Things just sorta came together at the same time; McGowen sent me a new SS barrel in 270 wby mag (it looks great on the inside too), and I have a spare MDT chassis looking for a howa 1500/weatherby vanguard action, so I decided to take a chance on one of Brownell's Howa barreled actions (for which they are the exclusive distributers for) in 300 wm.

[taylorce1]

Originally Posted by stagpanther

I decided to take a chance on one of Brownell's Howa barreled actions (for which they are the exclusive distributers for) in 300 wm.

I mean why not! . I bought a Brownell's Howa 1500 barreled action in 6mm Creedmoor when they were $250 with free shipping. The way that rifle shoots, I'd not hesitate to try another. Nice rifles!

[stagpanther]

The finishing on their metalwork is simply beautiful, the accuracy I think is still a notch below say a Mark 5's (Howa makes Weatherby's vanguards); but still very good for a production barrel, comparable I think to E A Brown's Shaw barrels.

[stagpanther]

Right now I'm using Tubb's finishing bullets to smooth/polish the bores powered by IMR's enduron powders, first time I've used them on brand spanking new bores.

[stagpanther]

I finished running the Tubbs finishing bullets through both rifles--but the 270 wby mag needs a replacement scope base before I can start shooting groups for development, so that is sidelined temporarily.

The howa 1500 300 win mag I finished bore polishing with the Tubbs finishing bullets yesterday, and I went out today and shot a quick two test groups with a combination I've never used in a 300 wm before, Berger's 200.2 gr hybrid target driven by H 4350. Unfortunately, by virtue of the 300 wm throat design and the bullet's sharp secant design I couldn't get close to getting the ogive near the lands--the cartridge would be so long it would fit neither the AICS magazine (which is actually very generous in COL length) or even the dimensions of the receiver. So I settled for a COL of 3.361.

Here is the very first group shot at 214 yds:



Other than checking the headspace and chamfering the case mouth, I didn't do any other equalizing/accurizing of the cases, and this turned out to be a big mistake. Upon chambering the 3rd cartridge there was notable resistance to closing the bolt, though not requiring all that much force to close it. I knew from past experience, though, the chances were good something was possibly applying a camming force on the bullet by the case neck/mouth. I called the shot as I took it a good one which I held pretty steady--it's the one that impacted far higher and to the right. The other shot outside the target orange circle with the 1 next to it I knew I pulled a bit as the shot broke and the impact with the #2 was from the second group. I mention all this because there's a very informative discussion going on in the Handloading portion of the forum in regards to bullet seating, OAL and effects on case dimensions.

The bullet seems pretty awesome, I like the idea that Berger using a portion of the sales from each box to support the US F-Tr team.