300RUM 230 Berger ladder test

[MontanaRifleman]

I'll mention too that the 230 berger seems to eat more powder to get to cruising speed than some of the other 220-230 grain offerings. I'm netting 3,000 fps in my bdllh 300rum with 95 rl33 and the 225 hdy hpbt. I am NOT at max working load but 3,000 fps is a nice round # and I'm already up to speed so why push?

True, but 3200 is even rounder .... cause I like to push it gun)

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

True, but 3200 is even rounder .... cause I like to push it gun)

I might step on its toes this year to see where it goes, but I don't like torching bbl's to squeeze a few fps. I did push I 5010 in the rifle some years back... 180's at 3320 fps 7 grains down from top working load. Never did chrono top working load but it was fun telling people that the load was mild then watching them tear up. After a box or three I backed her down. No sense beating your equipment to hell.

 

[MontanaRifleman]

I might step on its toes this year to see where it goes, but I don't like torching bbl's to squeeze a few fps. I did push I 5010 in the rifle some years back... 180's at 3320 fps 7 grains down from top working load. Never did chrono top working load but it was fun telling people that the load was mild then watching them tear up. After a box or three I backed her down. No sense beating your equipment to hell.

I'll develop my max load as always to get reasonable life out of the brass. For me, that's about 5 firings in the 300 RUM with Rem brass which is usually about 1 1/2 gr below a sticky bolt. I'm guessing that will put around 3150 or so.

First, I gotta figure out my current pressure issue with it.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

First, I gotta figure out my current pressure issue with it.

what's up???

 

[MontanaRifleman]

what's up???

I think I need to do some more post ntiride bore scrubbing... which I am currently doing

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/need-help-troubleshooting-300-rum-pressure-issue-127930/

 

[gaps]

Went and shot a refined ladder test with retumbo starting at 86.7gr and going to 90.0gr in .3gr increments. I wanted to accomplish 2 things with this finer test. One was to see where max pressure was and two was to see if there was a node at higher charges. The only primer that was cratered was #14 and I am not the best at this but the bolt may have been a little stiff at 16.

The vertical displacement on shots 10-15 look really good, especially shots 10,11,12. All of my trigger pulls felt great but I wonder if I pulled 13 just because its the only one thats off!

I think I will load 3 shots of 10, 11, 12, and see which one groups best and that will be my winner. I may do 3 of 14 and 15 too just to see.....

What do you guys think I do next???? Thanks for any input!

Berger max load is 88.2

1. 86.7
2. 87.0
3. 87.3
4. 87.5
5. 87.6
6 87.9
7 88.2 no go. failed primer, ***!
8. 88.5
9. 88.8
10. 89.1
11. 89.4
12. 89.7
13. 90.0
14. 90.3
15. 90.6
16. 90.9

 

[gaps]

I also started a ladder test with H-1000 but ran out of light so I couldn't finish it....
Here are the charges. Berger Max load is 84.8.

1. 80.0
2. 80.5
3. 81.0
4. 81.5
5. 82.0
6. 82.5
7. 83.0
8. 83.5

Had to stop here but will go back asap and shoot all the way to 88.0gr. in .5gr increments.

 

[oldno7]

Gaps
Are these shot at 300yds, again?

In my mind, you would benefit greatly with a chronograph........

Lots more information would be available.

If you had pressure signs on #14, I would go back and work up loads around 10,11,12.(very little vertical spread)

The big jump up on #16--to me, may indicate increased pressure as well.

But I'm quite new to this(ladder testing) and my opinion is not yet worth a cup of coffee

 

[upacreek]

This is very interesting to me. Seems like a good method. The question I have is how much cross wind did you have? Verticle seems like a no brained, but if there was no wind then what does the horizontal mean?

 

[gaps]

All shots have been at 300 due to not finding a place with more room. From what I've read the horizontal doesn't mean anything at this point. All we care about is vertical. And there were little gusts of wind on yesterday compared to zero wind on the very first ladder test I did.

 

[gaps]

Here are the final results of the Retumbo ladder test. I loaded 4 shots of 5 different charges and shot them for groups at 200 yards to see which one grouped the best....

 

[gaps]

I was also able to finish the first portion of the ladder test with H-1000. This was shot at 300 yards.

***84.8gr of H-1000 is Bergers Max Load***

1. 80.0
2. 80.5
3. 81.0
4. 81.5
5. 82.0
6. 82.5
7. 83.0
8. 83.5
9. 84.0
10. 84.5
11. 85.0
12. 85.5
13. 86.0
14. 86.5
15. 87.0
16. 87.5
17. 88.0

 

[AKGuide]

With H-1000 shots number 12, 13, and 14 look pretty good. I would load up a few at 86 and step back and let them fly might group better than the retumbo, but that group is pretty sweet.

Reuben

 

[MontanaRifleman]

86 grains leaves a lot of empty space in a 300 RUM case. More than I like.