Savage 12 FTR ???

[Swoop]

Thats the bullet that was recommended to me...the 155.5 BT.

I was also told I would likely find my best load around 2950, but I was told that I should be able to get there under 46g of Varget with my 30 inch barrel? I guess I'll have to buy a chrono...**** this is getting expensive.

Funny, I contacted Berger for their load recommendations and Walt Berger said their max load was 44.6g for the 155.5BT. My shooting insructor said that was likely written by his lawyer. Anything over 46g...wouldn't that be a compressed load?

Sorry, the ORA is the Ontario Rifle Association. I'm up in Canada, so I likely won't be making it down for those shoots. There are a lot of practices/competitions up at Mons range on Base borden. Its a nice 1000 yard military range.

Anyway, thanks for the info.
Cheers.

 

[milanuk]

Ah. The other 'ORA'

The funny thing about the charge weight... most loading manuals say somewhere in the 44gn range is 'max. The one exception may be Nosler. I think I have one of their books around here that says '48gn', which is a bunch, even with Winchester brass. Keep in mind that most of these load manuals are written for the lowest common denominator - a 24" barrel, possibly with a 10" twist. With the longer barrels and slower twists of target rifles like the 12 F/TR, you are already operating somewhat outside the domain of the traditional load manual.

I've had exactly one barrel that made over 2900fps with less than 46.5gn Varget... that was a custom Broughton 5C 31" tube that did 2930-2940 with 45.2gn Varget. Then again, it had such a short throat that even *that* was a compressed load with the (old) S155MK.

Yes, 46+ gn can be a compressed load, especially with Lapua brass and Varget. Thats what they make drop-tubes for

It's also what they make bushings for to tweak the neck tension so as to maintain seating depth 0.002-0.003 usually works well.

I've been working with some Winchester brass again lately (long story) and with the (very) short bearing surface of the newer generation bullets like the (new) S155MK Palma and B155.5BT Fullbore, even 48gn Varget is a) not compressed and b) not showing much in the way of pressure signs. 46+ gn is a fairly common load even with custom lapped barrels.

If it worries you, start @ 45gn and work up slowly. I still think you're going to find desired accuracy and speed at 46.5-46.8gn

YMMV,

Monte