Lucky On The First Try

[PCCUSNRET]

I've been reloading for about 15 years now and yesterday I had something happen that has never happened since I started reloading. I actually got lucky and found a load that works great in my Remington 22-250 on the first try. I did a Google search for "Favorite 22-250 reloads" and must have found a hundred different ones that folks felt work great in their guns. Several mentioned H380 but in different weights, so I decided to load 10 rounds each of 38.0, 38.5, 39.0 and 39.5 (39.5 is the max shown on the bottle). I started off by shooting 2 groups of 5 @ 100 yds and had planned to shoot all 40 hoping for a decent group. The first group measured a little over 1 1/4" and the second group measured 3/4". I believe the 1st group may have been a bit better had a shot a round to foul the barrel as the first bullet caused the group to expand past 1". I didn't bother to shoot the other 30 rounds as I wanted to spend some time at the 300 yd range with a couple of Swiss rifles.

 

[BruceB]

A few years ago (2005), something similar happened to me.

I bought an almost-new Savage 116 left-hand .338 (he gave me 12 unfired rounds from the FIRST box he'd bought!)

My first load(s) used the 225-grain Barnes TSX and RE19 powder. I loaded 3 rounds each at 70, 71, and 72 grains, and fired them separately for group at 100 yards. If all three groups had been superimposed, the TOTAL group size would have been under 3/4"!!!

Load development OVER....let's go hunting!

It was a fine (and unusual) experience.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I had a similar experiance when developing a .223 round. The first powder (H335) delivered 1" groups and a little better on a good day. When I checked the Lyman 49th Edition and used their "possibly most accurate" load which was made using Varget I hit upon a sub 1/2MOA load @100 yards in my rifle. (a used Howa 1500)

It's great when a plan comes together!! LOL