My Nonsensical Rambling

[gaveuponadulthood]

Experiments in reloading(1)- continued

So since my last post, I drastically changed the loads I was shooting. I decided there were too many inconsistent variables with my loads to properly gauge whether the powder load was consistent to Federal Gold Medal Match loads.

Therefore, at the 11th hour, I decided to redo the test rounds using all of the components of Federal gold medal match ammo(bullet, primer, brass) except for the powder.

I had two boxes on hand of FGMM. Using a bullet puller, I removed the powder in each load and replaced it with a load of IMR 4065. The load sizes ranged in 42gr to 45 grain in half grain increments.

I am fortunate enough to have an indoor range in driving distance that has a 100 yard lane. This allows me to keep temperature and wind(0) consistent when I am testing different loads no matter which day of the week I happen to be there.

I started off with a five round group of factory FGMM ammo as a control group to measure my hand loads against.

With this grouping established, I proceeded to fire off my hand loads in five shots groups. The results are as follows.

42 grain

42.5 grain

43 grain

43.5 grain

44 grain

At this point I tried to patch up my targets using more stickers. However, the stickers fell off before I fired of my groups and so loads 44.5 and 45 were inconclusive due to target saturation. It is my intention to redo those loads and test them again at a later date.

As for the other loads, the load with 42 grains of IMR 4065 gave me the best five shot group of the day at just over half an inch wide. However, that load was also about an inch lower than the control group. This leads me to believe that it has less power behind it and I’ll really need to boost that powder load up to 45 grains.

I plan to keep experimenting with different loads and trying to dial in my results. I’ll post my experiments as I perform them.

[gaveuponadulthood]

Experiments in reloading(1)

So I am in no way turning this into a gun blog. I have decided to try my hand at reloading .308win ammunition and have decided to post my experimentation and results. The ultimate goal of this testing will be to create a very accurate handload. Hopefully anyone who is trying to do the same thing might find this helpful or interesting.

My first batch of 50 cartridges is to establish a baseline for powder loads. As such, all casings, primers and projectiles across all 50 cartridges are uniform. I am using once fired Winchester brass, CCI200 primers, 168gr Sierra BTHP projectiles and IMR4064 smokeless powder.

Since the purpose of this test is to establish a baseline powder charge, none of the brass has in any way been altered. The brass has been cleaned but not polished and has not been trimmed. This will be part of a future test.

The 50 cartridges are divided into 10 groups of five. The powder loads range from 41.5 grains to 45.5 grains in half grain increments. As such, the powder loads are as follows:

1. 41.5

2. 42

3. 42.5

4. 43

5. 43.5

6. 44

7. 44.5

8. 45

9. 45.5

10. 43.2

I had room for one last batch of five so decided to try the load that I hypothesize will give me the results closest to what I’m aiming for.

I will post results of my testing(with pics) hopefully sometime in the following week.

All rounds will be fired through my Remington 700. It is built as an accurate target rifle with free float barrel, timney trigger and uses a Nikon P-308 scope.

[gotinstarblog-deactivated201512]

[gaveuponadulthood]

Sure, why not

[existential-celestial]

“[…] I burn’d And ached for wings,”

— Jonh Keats, from “Ode on Indolence,” in Selected Poems (Bloomsbury Poetry Classics).

[gaveuponadulthood]

Word

[gaveuponadulthood]

My different selfs

The amount of disparity and lack of overlap between my different social media profiles is strange. Facebook is like the public face I put on, Twitter is where I can be comfy with friends and Tumblr is exclusively when I never want to run into anyone who knows me.