Dateline August 23rd, 2010...
Shane tested his second batch of loads for the project and the details are below. As his Chrony was not up to the task, I will not post data until Shane processes his and is happy with the Chrony reliability. In a word, some really excellent accuracy, here it is in Shane's own words:
Hey Guys,
I got some more time this weekend to do some load development...I can tell you, some of my observations.
(1) BRASS FORMING:
I tried making some more brass, since I only had 22 pieces to use (18 Lake City, 3 221 FB, and 1 Win. 223). So I broke out the Full Length (FL) die, and sized nine pieces of 221 FB, with no failures, and three new Win. 223 (with one failure). The first Win. 223 full length cartridge cracked when I sized it. I used the Lee resizing lubricant, but it cracked in the shoulder area anyway. So, I tried cutting the brass down before sizing. I tried two more cases that way without a failure, but it did leave some very deep groves (or maybe tiny wrinkles) in the shoulders.
(2) FIRE FORMING:
With the newly formed cases, I began fire forming, and working up the load at the same time. I used CCI 500 small pistol primers, and started with 9gr. of Lil’ Gun, under a 55gr Hornady V-Max bullet. Upon stepping up to 10gr., I discovered primer cratering. It seems that 9.5gr. is max with the pistol primers. I have read that the pistol primers are softer, so that would make since.
(3) LOAD WOKUP:
Once I had the brass fire formed, I began working up the load with CCI BR-4 small rifle primers. I started with the 9.5gr and worked up to 12.5gr. I had primer cratering at 12.5gr, so I backed down, and settled on 12gr. for my max. The chrony didn’t like the shade I was under (my first early morning testing), and didn’t give me consistent readings...I also worked a load with Varget and the 55gr V-max bullets prior to this one. The velocity wasn’t good, but the accuracy at 50 yards was promising. I’m going to look into that further, at a later date.
(4) ACCURACY TESTING:
I didn’t get to shoot across the chrony later on Sat, but I did get to shoot down the range. Friday, I noticed that my scope looked crooked, and set about to determine why. Saturday afternoon, with the scope adjusted, checked and rechecked, I zeroed it in at 175 yards. I then shot out to 250, and on to 300. Three shot “sighting” groups have been consistently sub MOA. Everything I know about Savage/Stevens bolt rifles, tells me all the credit belongs to Larry for that part. As Jerry Teo says, (paraphrase) if the action is in good shape, the accuracy is in the barrel. So, congratulations Larry, you have produced what is proving to be a finely smithed barrel.
(5) MORE ACCURACY TESTING:
Just to give you a picture of the accuracy that I’ve been seeing. I was shooting a 6” round steel spinner at 300 yards. I had to guess at the drops because the chrony wasn’t working right. I fired two shoots and didn’t have a hit or even so much as a puff of dirt. I determined that I must have been shooting high, so I dialed down what I thought it needed, and bam I hit the spinner. The next shot connected with the spinner again and knocked it over (these are more like 22 LR spinners). When I got down there, the spinner had two heavy dents in the top right of the round steel. I set it up, and made a half MOA down adjustment. I fired my last two rounds and watched in the scope (since this things just shakes a little when you fire) as the bullets hit. When I got down there this time, I found two more dents slightly to the right of dead center, and only ¾” apart. The two previous shots were about 1-¾” apart. I don’t want to be overly optimistic, but it’s getting hard not to. I’m very excited about the capabilities of this round. Thank you guys for letting me be apart of this project. I will get everything typed up and ready as soon as I can.
