Stratton Custom Rifles 7SS

[Phil Rizzo]

Getting some fire cracking already, raising pressure?
Seems awfully soon for that, though.

 

[Justice1327]

Getting some fire cracking already, raising pressure?
Seems awfully soon for that, though.

I am gonna deep clean it and check. I went through my initial break-in where I shot one shot clean two shots clean three shots clean five shots clean and considered that broken in . it cleaned really well which is one of the reasons why I like benchmark barrels.

 

[Justice1327]

That is pretty exciting on an 18" barrel. I would have thought R26 was too slow for a barrel that short. Nice work

GRT shows % burn… I've been saving my RL 26 for this cartridge and one other so I'm glad to know that this is working out.

 

[Citified]

Like you, I have R26 I have been saving for a special occasion. Glad it is working in such a short barrel. Is your rifle suppressed ? That cartridge performance is worth looking into.

 

[RegionRat]

I thought I found a flat spot but when I went to verify it, I had an increase of ~ 20 ft./s.

Your doing fine, but don't look for "velocity flat spots".... those don't exist.

Focus on your targets and test at distance when you start to focus on finalizing your load.

The stability of the cold bore shots at the max distance are far more important than chrono numbers.

All those theories about "flat spots" are internet lore. It takes way too much space on here to explain why those don't exist and why it was a giant mistake for folks to chase chrono flat spots.

That is not the same as saying the velocity stats don't matter, but I am saying that if you shot enough samples of each powder step, your average line will smooth and flatten, while the ES/SD value is fluctuating around it a little. Use the chrono as a quality control measure on your loading, not as a pivot point on selecting the load.

After all, by definition, if your POI is steady and the groups are good at distance, then the velocity stats are "good enough". Clearly a poor ES won't hold a good waterline, but it can be very misleading to chase chronograph values over the target. Follow the target and let the chrono tag along. Far too often, the folks who chase "flat spots" get a let down. It is also true that often as not, the best tune does not have the best velocity stats.

Beautiful rig and I'm looking forward to seeing the field report from your hunts. It has been very difficult with tags in Colorado the last several years, and that '21 winter kill is still having lasting effects. Good Luck!

 

[Justice1327]

Like you, I have R26 I have been saving for a special occasion. Glad it is working in such a short barrel. Is your rifle suppressed ? That cartridge performance is worth looking into.

No it isn't suppressed. Hunt from a blind with my wife. Much easier when we both use 18" barrels

 

[Justice1327]

Your doing fine, but don't look for "velocity flat spots".... those don't exist.

Focus on your targets and test at distance when you start to focus on finalizing your load.

The stability of the cold bore shots at the max distance are far more important than chrono numbers.

All those theories about "flat spots" are internet lore. It takes way too much space on here to explain why those don't exist and why it was a giant mistake for folks to chase chrono flat spots.

That is not the same as saying the velocity stats don't matter, but I am saying that if you shot enough samples of each powder step, your average line will smooth and flatten, while the ES/SD value is fluctuating around it a little. Use the chrono as a quality control measure on your loading, not as a pivot point on selecting the load.

After all, by definition, if your POI is steady and the groups are good at distance, then the velocity stats are "good enough". Clearly a poor ES won't hold a good waterline, but it can be very misleading to chase chronograph values over the target. Follow the target and let the chrono tag along. Far too often, the folks who chase "flat spots" get a let down. It is also true that often as not, the best tune does not have the best velocity stats.

Beautiful rig and I'm looking forward to seeing the field report from your hunts. It has been very difficult with tags in Colorado the last several years, and that '21 winter kill is still having lasting effects. Good Luck!

Thanks. Mostly agree but if you dont have a stable velocity node…it wont hold at distance. Much of my rifles that are the most accurate at distance all have a velocity node over a few charges. But in the end I like a roundish group with same POI over several loads.
After some more looking into it with GRT, I think I'm going to change primers from Federal mag to CCI mag. The velocity average doesn't lineup with a stable load.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

In an SS I wouldn't hesitate to try a 210m.

 

[QuietTexan]

I wonder if the SAUM guys can match this

Not a chance, but there's still no way I'm selling my SCR 7 SAUM

I have a 7SS/B die sitting on my desk for some reason though. Not sure why, I don't recall every buying a reamer for this one. But I have the die already, so I might have to get the reamer

 

[Phil Rizzo]

Get a 7 Max reamer QT, it will clean that SAUM hole out nicely.

I'm kidding, no need to change a great gun up too much. But the brass will form out for you….

 

[QuietTexan]

I'm picking up a 375 Yukon next week, so no need to mess with the masterpiece just to try out a new toy!

 

[Phil Rizzo]

Big time.
Thunder in lieu of lightning