J-Bar
Member
BACKGROUND:
Last fall I asked for advice on downloading my .270 Winchester Ruger #1 to reduce recoil. I chose H4895 powder because it can be downloaded to 60 % of the maximum for a given bullet weight, and I chose 110 grain bullets to reduce recoil momentum. I took two whitetails with the 110 grain Hornady VMax over 29.5 grains of H4895. They were DRT. So I should be satisfied with success, right?
Well, some folks recommended Barnes bullets for through and through penetration, and it was fun shooting groups, so I bought some 110 grain Barnes TSX .277 projectiles to experiment some more.
THE PROBLEM:
I loaded a few test rounds with the Barnes bullets. The beauty of using H4895 is its tremendous range of powder charge weights for a given bullet. The problem of using H4895 is its tremendous range of powder charge weights for a given bullet. Today I shot groups using 30.0, 38.0, and 46.0 grain charges of H4895, hoping that there would be some indication that the rifle likes powder charges at some point in that range. Alas... The 38.0 grain powder charge was about 2", the other two were about 4" at 100 yards. So for practical hunting purposes out to 200/250 yards anything in that range would work on a whitetail, but I really want to find the powder charge that gives the tightest group. Another bit of good news is that I found the recoil from the largest powder charge tolerable.
THE QUESTION:
In order to find the smallest group that H4895 and the Barnes 110 TSX can produce in my Ruger #1, should I start around 38 grains of powder, since it gave me a slightly smaller group today, or should I go back to the minimum of 30 grains, and do increments from there? Another way to state the question...in your experience, do rifles respond dramatically to 0.10 grain powder charge increments, or can one draw conclusions from 0.3 or 0.5 grain increments?
Thanks for your experience and insights.
Last fall I asked for advice on downloading my .270 Winchester Ruger #1 to reduce recoil. I chose H4895 powder because it can be downloaded to 60 % of the maximum for a given bullet weight, and I chose 110 grain bullets to reduce recoil momentum. I took two whitetails with the 110 grain Hornady VMax over 29.5 grains of H4895. They were DRT. So I should be satisfied with success, right?
Well, some folks recommended Barnes bullets for through and through penetration, and it was fun shooting groups, so I bought some 110 grain Barnes TSX .277 projectiles to experiment some more.
THE PROBLEM:
I loaded a few test rounds with the Barnes bullets. The beauty of using H4895 is its tremendous range of powder charge weights for a given bullet. The problem of using H4895 is its tremendous range of powder charge weights for a given bullet. Today I shot groups using 30.0, 38.0, and 46.0 grain charges of H4895, hoping that there would be some indication that the rifle likes powder charges at some point in that range. Alas... The 38.0 grain powder charge was about 2", the other two were about 4" at 100 yards. So for practical hunting purposes out to 200/250 yards anything in that range would work on a whitetail, but I really want to find the powder charge that gives the tightest group. Another bit of good news is that I found the recoil from the largest powder charge tolerable.
THE QUESTION:
In order to find the smallest group that H4895 and the Barnes 110 TSX can produce in my Ruger #1, should I start around 38 grains of powder, since it gave me a slightly smaller group today, or should I go back to the minimum of 30 grains, and do increments from there? Another way to state the question...in your experience, do rifles respond dramatically to 0.10 grain powder charge increments, or can one draw conclusions from 0.3 or 0.5 grain increments?
Thanks for your experience and insights.