New build is broken in and so the load development starts. Gun is built by Arrowhead Rifles. Defiance Anti-X action, 20" brux barrel carbon wrapped by preffered 1/8 twist, triggertech diamond trigger, dropped in an XLR Element 4.0 magnesium chassis and topped with a Kahles K328i in ARC rings.
For starters this gun shoots the hornady factory ammo as such:
175 ELD-X: 2730 fps and about 1 moa
180 ELD-M: 2765 fps and .6 moa
Decided with the short barrel and wanting to maintain a speed around 2900 and realistically 90% of my shots are 600 yards and in I'd start with the 162gr eldm.
Decided to play with reloader 26 first as we have plenty of it in the shop and it seems to be magic in a lot of other guys 7 PRCs.
I loaded up 2 rounds each at 65.8, 66.2, 66.6, 67, 67.4, 67.8 and 68.2. Started 20 thou off which came out to 2.619 BTO.
Conducted a ladder test at 450 yards as that is what I had available for distance and will attach a picture of the target below. For reference the height span from the top 67gr shot to the bottom 67.8gr shot is about 2.5". There was a steady breeze that was on and off about 5-7mph
Temperature was 75 degrees and velocities are as follows via a Garmin Xero C1 chrono.
65.8: 2817.4, 2806.8
66.2: 2838.7, 2828.5
66.6: 2857.1, 2867.5
67: 2897.6, 2890.7
67.4: 2906.5, 2916.7
67.8: 2956.7, 2929.3
68.2: 2966.5, 2963.7
I never found pressure even at the 68.2 load.
Going to explore that 66.6-67.8 some more to finalize things but looks like it is going to shoot!
For starters this gun shoots the hornady factory ammo as such:
175 ELD-X: 2730 fps and about 1 moa
180 ELD-M: 2765 fps and .6 moa
Decided with the short barrel and wanting to maintain a speed around 2900 and realistically 90% of my shots are 600 yards and in I'd start with the 162gr eldm.
Decided to play with reloader 26 first as we have plenty of it in the shop and it seems to be magic in a lot of other guys 7 PRCs.
I loaded up 2 rounds each at 65.8, 66.2, 66.6, 67, 67.4, 67.8 and 68.2. Started 20 thou off which came out to 2.619 BTO.
Conducted a ladder test at 450 yards as that is what I had available for distance and will attach a picture of the target below. For reference the height span from the top 67gr shot to the bottom 67.8gr shot is about 2.5". There was a steady breeze that was on and off about 5-7mph
Temperature was 75 degrees and velocities are as follows via a Garmin Xero C1 chrono.
65.8: 2817.4, 2806.8
66.2: 2838.7, 2828.5
66.6: 2857.1, 2867.5
67: 2897.6, 2890.7
67.4: 2906.5, 2916.7
67.8: 2956.7, 2929.3
68.2: 2966.5, 2963.7
I never found pressure even at the 68.2 load.
Going to explore that 66.6-67.8 some more to finalize things but looks like it is going to shoot!
