Legionnaire
Contributing Member
Finally got to the range yesterday after what feels like months. Goals for the outing were to sight in and run some test loads through two relatively new-to-me rifles: a Cooper 52 Classic in 280 Ackley and a Ruger Hawkeye African in 375 Ruger. Temp was mid-70s, with a 10-12 mph wind from 7 o'clock. Not the best of conditions, but fine for what I wanted to accomplish.
The Cooper wears a Vortex Viper HST 4-16x44 in Talley rings. Test loads were 150 grain Nosler Partitions over a spread of Reloder 16. Starting load was 54.1 grains; average velocity across four sighters with that charge was 2,930 fps. Single shots from there at .3 grain increments up to my max load of 58.0 grains, which topped out at 3,102. No signs of pressure. Comparing velocity differences across shots suggests 55.0 and 56.5 as promising plateaus, with another at 57.4; just don’t think I need to drive that hard as 56.5 was already at 3,036. Sweet shooting rifle across the spectrum. Next will be a modified OCW test.
The Ruger Hawkeye wears a Leupold VX-R 2-7x33 in low Leupold rings. Two sets of test loads using 235 grain Speer Hot-Core bullets. First, just to get a feel for the rifle, I ran a spread of Trail Boss … 23.0 to 27.5 grains. Unfortunately, it took me a couple of shots to get on paper at 50 yards, and I didn’t set my Labradar up on the 50 yard range, so I didn’t get velocities for my first four shots. Then I observed an anomaly: velocity went DOWN as the charges went UP over the remaining five shots! 25.0 grains of TB gave 2,231 fps; 25.5 gave 2,109; 26.0 gave 2035; read error on 26.5; forgot to rearm for 27.0; 27.5 gave 2,015 fps. Basically, those data are useless. But the 375 is a pussycat with Trail Boss. I might try again, but maybe not. Don’t really have a need to shoot super light loads in the Ruger. If I do decide to try for a reduced load, I might try H4895.
Second test with the 375 was a spread of 73.0 to 80.5 grains of Varget, with a velocity range of 2,735 to 3,034; again, no signs of pressure. I’m not particularly fond of recoil, and the last few rounds were starting to hit pretty hard. My results seem pretty comparable to Hodgdon’s data, and there seemed to be a plateau around 78.0 grains at 2,900 fps, so that looked promising. I shot the Varget after the Trail Boss, and the first two shots impacted a full 14 inches above the TB loads at 100 yards. The picture shows the remaining 14 shots, velocity and impact climbing with the increasing charges. In addition to loading up a modified OCW for next outing, I plan to load up the 260 grain Accubonds @LoonWulf was kind enough to send me. Gotta say, I like the 375 Ruger!
Hope it isn’t as long before my next trip as it was between my last two!
The Cooper wears a Vortex Viper HST 4-16x44 in Talley rings. Test loads were 150 grain Nosler Partitions over a spread of Reloder 16. Starting load was 54.1 grains; average velocity across four sighters with that charge was 2,930 fps. Single shots from there at .3 grain increments up to my max load of 58.0 grains, which topped out at 3,102. No signs of pressure. Comparing velocity differences across shots suggests 55.0 and 56.5 as promising plateaus, with another at 57.4; just don’t think I need to drive that hard as 56.5 was already at 3,036. Sweet shooting rifle across the spectrum. Next will be a modified OCW test.
The Ruger Hawkeye wears a Leupold VX-R 2-7x33 in low Leupold rings. Two sets of test loads using 235 grain Speer Hot-Core bullets. First, just to get a feel for the rifle, I ran a spread of Trail Boss … 23.0 to 27.5 grains. Unfortunately, it took me a couple of shots to get on paper at 50 yards, and I didn’t set my Labradar up on the 50 yard range, so I didn’t get velocities for my first four shots. Then I observed an anomaly: velocity went DOWN as the charges went UP over the remaining five shots! 25.0 grains of TB gave 2,231 fps; 25.5 gave 2,109; 26.0 gave 2035; read error on 26.5; forgot to rearm for 27.0; 27.5 gave 2,015 fps. Basically, those data are useless. But the 375 is a pussycat with Trail Boss. I might try again, but maybe not. Don’t really have a need to shoot super light loads in the Ruger. If I do decide to try for a reduced load, I might try H4895.
Second test with the 375 was a spread of 73.0 to 80.5 grains of Varget, with a velocity range of 2,735 to 3,034; again, no signs of pressure. I’m not particularly fond of recoil, and the last few rounds were starting to hit pretty hard. My results seem pretty comparable to Hodgdon’s data, and there seemed to be a plateau around 78.0 grains at 2,900 fps, so that looked promising. I shot the Varget after the Trail Boss, and the first two shots impacted a full 14 inches above the TB loads at 100 yards. The picture shows the remaining 14 shots, velocity and impact climbing with the increasing charges. In addition to loading up a modified OCW for next outing, I plan to load up the 260 grain Accubonds @LoonWulf was kind enough to send me. Gotta say, I like the 375 Ruger!
Hope it isn’t as long before my next trip as it was between my last two!
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