Almost done!

yeah, no problem. I'd like to contribute any way I can. I love this site and you guys that have posted a bunch have helped me out a bunch in the past. Say, is your action painted in the pictures?

No, its the original stainless. I was considering doing a krecote, but need to find someone that will do it.

Tank
 
Update:

Well I have a Stockade bolt handle and lift kit on the way. Thank you to one of you guys for suggesting it. Because of that, Kevin talked me through how to check my firing pin protrusion from the bolt face, and making sure the cocking pin was not contacting the bolt body during firing. So all that stuff squared away, I was able to get to the range. No Chrony data as of yet, but was very pleased with the results today.

Temp: 24 Deg, Slight breeze from my 6, Very bright and sunny, 100yds

Group 1
Comparator OAL 2.286" just touches the lands.
RWS Brass
Primer: F210M
Bullet 178 BTHP
RL15 43.3 grns
Group excluding the fouling shot .577", w/ fouling shot .640

Group 2
Comparator OAL 2.286"
RWS Brass
Primer: F210M
Bullet 178 BTHP
RL15 43.5 grns
Group
w/ fouling shot .660, If I didn't pull my second shot, I would of had a 4 shot group of .292"


Group 3
Comparator OAL 2.286"
RWS Brass
Primer: F210M
Bullet 178 BTHP
RL15 44.0 grns
w/o fouling shot appox 1" low, measures .377"

All these groups will be re-verified at 200yds to see what they are really going to do. At that point I will be doing some chronographing to see what the results are for velocity and how consistent. I have high hopes for the 44.0 and 43.5. I also have some Varget and Ramshot TAC to shoot yet. Will follow up when I get these new loads fired.

Tank
 
Congrats! Got yourself a shooter there!

So far, just waiting for the weather to break so I can get to the range and shoot farther out. Looking at the other loads, they aren't that bad. I bet if I were to play with the seating depth, they would pull in, but right now going to focus on the loads posted. See if I can refine them a little.

Tank
 
Jonathan went to the range not yesterday but last saturday and shot at 1k and did ok with 49g R17 under 208s and shot decent. I had a paintball tournament in Tucson so I wasn't there but I saw the target today at church and it did well. 1st group only had a vertical dispersion of about 2" but was about 7" wide. Second group opened up a bit to about 7" vert and 12" or so wide.

I think you'll like the load.
 
Jonathan went to the range not yesterday but last saturday and shot at 1k and did ok with 49g R17 under 208s and shot decent. I had a paintball tournament in Tucson so I wasn't there but I saw the target today at church and it did well. 1st group only had a vertical dispersion of about 2" but was about 7" wide. Second group opened up a bit to about 7" vert and 12" or so wide.

I think you'll like the load.


Well that sounds promising. Do you know how he is seating the bullets? Are they tight in the lands, or jumping? I'm seriously considering the JLK 180LBT's. I found the above groups with 178 Hor. BTHP, but they are hard to get a hold of now. Waiting to see what they do on the chronograph.

Tank
 
Finally got some more info! I guess he has a long throat. To the lands with the 208s, the COA length is 3.131". That doesn't leave enough bullet in the case though, so even at .2xx seated in the cartridge he is reaching out to 3.050" COAL for case capacity. This means he is jumping the 208 AMAX at a distance of ~81 thou. This is probably not normal, but the freebore on Jonathan's rifle is considerable. He's really lucky it shoots so good.gun)

Something else worth mentioning is he ruined a bunch of Win brass at 49g of R17. The load shot well at 1k, but the primer pockets opened up on most of the 49g loads. The primers are too loose for safe use now. I think he's going back to 48.4g as that load shot well also, and will keep an eye out for pressure as the ambient temps increase. It's already in the low to mid 70s here, for now.:D
 
Finally got some more info! I guess he has a long throat. To the lands with the 208s, the COA length is 3.131". That doesn't leave enough bullet in the case though, so even at .2xx seated in the cartridge he is reaching out to 3.050" COAL for case capacity. This means he is jumping the 208 AMAX at a distance of ~81 thou. This is probably not normal, but the freebore on Jonathan's rifle is considerable. He's really lucky it shoots so good.gun)

Something else worth mentioning is he ruined a bunch of Win brass at 49g of R17. The load shot well at 1k, but the primer pockets opened up on most of the 49g loads. The primers are too loose for safe use now. I think he's going back to 48.4g as that load shot well also, and will keep an eye out for pressure as the ambient temps increase. It's already in the low to mid 70s here, for now.:D


Sweet, good info. Thanks for the heads up. Haven't had a chance to shoot the 208's yet for pressure testing. I have some loaded up waiting to be fired. Any velocity numbers by chance?

Tank
 
Great looking stick!!!! Congrats In your original post you said the rifle was 300WSM but you switched back to a 308 because of brass problems. Kirby is currently finishing up a 300 WSM for me and I was curious to know what problems you experienced.
 
Sweet, good info. Thanks for the heads up. Haven't had a chance to shoot the 208's yet for pressure testing. I have some loaded up waiting to be fired. Any velocity numbers by chance?

Tank
Not yet sir. We would've chronod it the other day when I took the '06 out but Johnny sent his scope back to IOR, great customer service by the way, as well as Scott at Liberty Optics- they went out of their way to replace a damaged scope that was damaged by the person using it and was in no way the manufacturer's fault, the customer service was awesome- but as soon as the new scope gets here we'll get it done for sure.
 
Great looking stick!!!! Congrats In your original post you said the rifle was 300WSM but you switched back to a 308 because of brass problems. Kirby is currently finishing up a 300 WSM for me and I was curious to know what problems you experienced.


Don't know if it was my loads or what, but initial tests with Win brass would show little to no pressure. I would reload to do a final test and would end up with good load. I would load a third time and the spread would come a part a little. I would do an annealing and the fourth loading would be tight to eject. Fifth loading would stick really bad and accuracy was nonexistent. At that point I would be pulling my hair out (what little I have left:rolleyes:) wondering what was going on. I would use 62.0 grains of H4350 and first test proved okay. But gradually I would get pressure and flattened primers with the exact same load. I came across an article somewhere, where guys were going away from Winchester brass and using Rem and Norma brass exclusively because it offered better brass life. I wish I would have thought of that before I gave it up. But I do still have my 300WSM barrel I can through on should I decide to go back to it. The beauty of the Savage is that it is a quick swap and I am back in business with the WSM. Thinking I might get some Rem brass to test this theory. QC on the Win brass is lacking also.

Tank
 
I wish I had read your post yesterday. I just order 200 win brass and it's too late to cancel. I'll give it a go anyway but atleast I won't have to pull any hairs when they start to fail. I don't have much left either.
 
I wish I had read your post yesterday. I just order 200 win brass and it's too late to cancel. I'll give it a go anyway but atleast I won't have to pull any hairs when they start to fail. I don't have much left either.


Who did you order from? If you ordered from Midway USA or Cabela's you can send it back for an exchange. Depending on how heavy a bullet you want to shoot, you may not have that issue. If you are going to shoot heavies, I would suggest a light load of RL17, or try some IMR 7828, or Retumbo. H1000 is too slow from what I gather. Which really doesn't make sense because the other two are slower. That was my next try on powders. I was going to go with IMR 7828 and see what that did for me.

Tank
 
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I bought the brass from a private seller and already sent payment. I'll just have to deal with it. I plan on shoot 180g Barnes or 180g Nosler Accubonds on a trip to Africa this June. I may go heavier but I really like the performance of these bullets. I hope my new rifle agrees
 
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