Great, successful day!

Antihero47 · December 14, 2008, 09:14 PM

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who gave me information to get this far. I had a few problems and everyone was nice to help me out. So... lets get to the meat of the story.

I have a Mossberg 100 ATR that I purchased for general shooting around, lending it to my friends and family when they are over while I shoot my 700 BDL.

I started reloading a few days ago and after countless weeks of research and putting things into action I finally made a batch of workups for the ATR.

I worked up from 47g to 50g in .5 grain increments.

After shooting about 30 rounds of Winchester Super X2 165 grain bullets all round the target, I started firing the loads. After I got to 49g I could tell that this stuff was getting a lot more consistent then the factory stuff. I put in the 49.5 grains and shot a 5 shot group at 100 yards... this is what I got...

150g Sierra Matchking HPBT
MFS Headstamped Brass
49.5g Hodgdon Varget
CCI 200 LR Primers
100 yards - 45*F - 12:35am - Wind 5mph from right to left
.90" CTC

**Unclenick** · December 14, 2008, 09:28 PM

Well now you've gone and hooked yourself on reloading. Congratulations to you, condolences to your wallet and to your wife, who will now be a reloading room widow.

I'll mention for readers who haven't seen your other posts, that this rifle is a .30-06. It has a 22" barrel, IIRC.

Would you mind posting the the loaded cartridge COL you used?

I would also recommend, now that you have a roughly established nominal load, that you try going plus and minus in 0.3 grains of charge to see if you spot an improvement? If it improves in one direction or the other, go another 0.3 grains in the improved direction and look again. Once you find the range over which the groups are small, load to the middle of that range and try moving your bullet seating depth in and out (if you are not near to touching the lands) in 0.010" increments to see if that tunes the load any further? If it does, use that new seating depth and retry tuning the charge by 0.3 grains either side of the previous best load to see if it has changed any?

An ideal load will let you move up and down 0.3 grains without seeing the group change significantly. That gives you slop for the powder measure, changes in temperature, and so on. More forgiving without losing accuracy.

There is more information on this concept here.

Antihero47 · December 14, 2008, 09:44 PM

Quite certainly,

150g Sierra Matchking HPBT
MFS Headstamped Brass
49.5g Hodgdon Varget
CCI 200 LR Primers

2.494" Cartridge Length
3.25" C.O.L.

Ah yes, this is a .30-06 with 21" barrel.

Already have the .3 increments -/+ loaded up.

December 14, 2008, 09:28 PM	#2
Unclenick Staff Join Date: March 4, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 21,060	Well now you've gone and hooked yourself on reloading. Congratulations to you, condolences to your wallet and to your wife, who will now be a reloading room widow. I'll mention for readers who haven't seen your other posts, that this rifle is a .30-06. It has a 22" barrel, IIRC. Would you mind posting the the loaded cartridge COL you used? I would also recommend, now that you have a roughly established nominal load, that you try going plus and minus in 0.3 grains of charge to see if you spot an improvement? If it improves in one direction or the other, go another 0.3 grains in the improved direction and look again. Once you find the range over which the groups are small, load to the middle of that range and try moving your bullet seating depth in and out (if you are not near to touching the lands) in 0.010" increments to see if that tunes the load any further? If it does, use that new seating depth and retry tuning the charge by 0.3 grains either side of the previous best load to see if it has changed any? An ideal load will let you move up and down 0.3 grains without seeing the group change significantly. That gives you slop for the powder measure, changes in temperature, and so on. More forgiving without losing accuracy. There is more information on this concept here. __________________ Gunsite Orange Hat Family Member CMP Certified GSM Master Instructor NRA Certified Rifle Instructor NRA Benefactor Member and Golden Eagle Last edited by Unclenick; December 14, 2008 at 09:39 PM.

December 14, 2008, 09:44 PM	#3
Antihero47 Senior Member Join Date: October 2, 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 111	Quite certainly, 150g Sierra Matchking HPBT MFS Headstamped Brass 49.5g Hodgdon Varget CCI 200 LR Primers 2.494" Cartridge Length 3.25" C.O.L. Ah yes, this is a .30-06 with 21" barrel. Already have the .3 increments -/+ loaded up.