So I decided it was time to work up a load for a rifle that I've never reloaded for. It shoots decently with factory ammo, but nothing special. 1"-1.5" groups. For my load I was using Hornady bullets, so I decided to use all of the specs in the Hornady manual to start with and work from there, with the exception of the OAL listed in the manual as it had me seating the bullet so deep the cannelure wasn't visible. I played around with my rifle and backed the bullet right off of the lands. To my surprise my first load I worked up shot a .553" group. This load just kept stacking one bullet on top of another. Knowing the Hornady book usually is on the low side as far as recommend powder charges I started with the middle recommendation and worked up from there. The problem here is the accuracy was more than I could have hoped for here, but the cases were coming out looking filthy especially the the necks. This lead me to believe they may not have been loaded hot enough and may not have been sealing in the chamber all of the way.
As I tried the hotter loads, the cases became cleaner, but the accuracy started dropping off. The second load I tried was averaging .75" groups, but the cases were still looking dirty. As I got to the max load in the Hornady book, the cases were coming out look pretty clean, but I was also getting 1.5" groups. I also tried a grain over the max in the Hornady manual which was still well below the max in all of the other manuals I have including the load data from Hodgdon. The cases came out looking extremely clean here, but I was getting consistent 2" groups. So it seems like this rifle likes light loads. Is there any issue with having the casing not full seal in the chamber upon firing? Should I stick with the most accurate load and just get used to the dirty cases which don't bother me too much since they clean up easily when tumbling? Or should I bump the load up to get a compromise between clean cases and accuracy?
On the plus side, I don't have much brass for this rifle and was thinking about buying some, but to my surprise someone left 80 pieces of Remington brass laying on the ground at the range before I got there. I was the only one there upon arrival, so I got to pick it up. I really lucked out there.
As I tried the hotter loads, the cases became cleaner, but the accuracy started dropping off. The second load I tried was averaging .75" groups, but the cases were still looking dirty. As I got to the max load in the Hornady book, the cases were coming out look pretty clean, but I was also getting 1.5" groups. I also tried a grain over the max in the Hornady manual which was still well below the max in all of the other manuals I have including the load data from Hodgdon. The cases came out looking extremely clean here, but I was getting consistent 2" groups. So it seems like this rifle likes light loads. Is there any issue with having the casing not full seal in the chamber upon firing? Should I stick with the most accurate load and just get used to the dirty cases which don't bother me too much since they clean up easily when tumbling? Or should I bump the load up to get a compromise between clean cases and accuracy?
On the plus side, I don't have much brass for this rifle and was thinking about buying some, but to my surprise someone left 80 pieces of Remington brass laying on the ground at the range before I got there. I was the only one there upon arrival, so I got to pick it up. I really lucked out there.