question for Savage 12 F T/R owners .308 30in

[NoahbodyImportant]

I am working up some loads for 1,000 yards. Testing today at 600 yards using 42.5g Varget and 175SMK gave me a 2 inch group. I do not have access to a chronograph at this time. I am using LC brass trimmed to 2.0 and OAL of 2.800.

I have read that shooters loading 44.5g (or slightly more) of Varget and working well.

What are your experiences (and grains) loads using 175SMK for 1,000 yards?

Would I be good to go using 42.5 or should I continue to slowly increase my loads?

Much Appreciated

[DanSavage]

What you want to do since you don't have a crono at this moment is zero at 100 yards then back up to 200 at least the further the better, then record how many inches the bullet dropped. Then go to the Hornady site online and go under the ballistics calculator, the ballistic coeficiancy for the 175 smk is about .505, just guestimate the velocity at first, I would say 2500 and see if the drop in inches matches your results at the longest range you can shoot. If it does not match increase or decrease the velocity until it is close. this will get you pretty close on your actual velocity. I would guess though that you will have to work up higher to make sure your not going transonic at 1000.

[frank1947]

That is what i do when im to lazy to take my chrono out and set it up

[jsthntn247]

My load with the 175 mtchking is 42.8 gr target in lapua cases. It's running 2640 avg velocity out of a 23" obermeyer barrel on my savage model 12. Lapua and lc have the same case capacity, I ran into pressure at 44 grains. My gun also grouped well at 44.9 grains but resulted in loose primer pockets.

[frank1947]

what is your oal are you to close to lands causing high pressure ?? when putting those loads in chamber and closing bolt were they some what tight??

[DanSavage]

Good point Frank, I don't own a 12 FT/R but on my 10fp the oal of 2.800 with a 175 smk would put me in the lands a little. I'm running 44 grain's Varget BUT with a winchester case which has more case capacity than LC.

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af240/243Wilson/F-Class016.jpg

Oal 2.780ish

[frank1947]

winchester brass is not the best for sure I have blown many primers with win brass and with same load no problem with rem or lapua.

[DanSavage]

I agree Frank I don't recommend using Win. brass for long case life, I was just mentioning it because it has a lot of case capacity and using LC brass you might not have to use that much powder to get in the 2700 fps ballpark. The only reason I use Win. case's now is I have many mouth's to feed here at home and my buddy gave me 100 case's for free, and he just gave me 130 Nosler custom cases, but I'm not very impressed with those either so far but we'll see. I have 12 firing's with federal match brass with no issues's with 42.5 Varget and 168 SMK's and A-maxes. Next year I will get a bunch of Lapua to settle down to for a while.

[darkker]

I left Varget in the dirt when chasing my 1,000 yard dreams with the 175 SMK's in my FP.
Barrel heating was excessive, leading to large ES problems. Win 748, especially when run hard, is MUCH more stable. Following Sierra's load data(vol 5) I can achieve 2600 fps easily(even switching between commercial and LC brass) without pressures. Shooting LC brass, Win 748, BR2 primers I have an ES of 8 fps in my 1K loads.
IIRC I am 0.02" off the lands in my gun.

[frank1947]

Dansavage

by the way good shooting .45 inch =.429 MOA, sub 1/2 moa is good stuff , assumeing that was 100 yards if 200 then were looking at .214 moa under 1/4 moa is what it takes to possibly win some competitions.

[DanSavage]

Thank you Frank, it was only 100 yards but is one of my best 5 shot group's which was shot round robin from 44gr to 45.5gr, and I don't waist any time sending them down range. For me, I only shoot local match's Springwater 200 yards, and Odessa 250 yards FT-R. If the loose nut behind the trigger could be tightened up, I could definitely win some match's. I'm 35 and last year was my first year shooting match's, but there is some older guy's that are retired with what seems like unlimited amounts of money and time that are gonna be really hard to beat. My best score last year was a 187-16x which I'm proud of that's 16 shot's out of 40 which is almost half of them in the 1 inch x ring at 200 yards. Everyone say a prayer for me on my first match of the year this Saturday at Odessa 200FV :). I'll be shooting the 175 SMK, 44gr 4064, ccibr2 primer's, and Nosler case, with the 10fp with the new bell&carlson varmint tactical stock. Last year everything was done with the flexible tupperware.

Regards,
Dan

[frank1947]

most all the records are held by old guys , with money for toys that go bang, and they shoot good.

good luck, and relax when shooting.

[Dennis]

Win 748, especially when run hard, is MUCH more stable.

I guess the above is also good for 600 yds?

[darkker]

I use it for my hunting & 1,000 yard shooting.
Personally think pressures come on more linearly than with Varget. YMMV

[Luckus]

I have good results with H4895 and 175 SMK's.

[jsthntn247]

I am working up some loads for 1,000 yards. Testing today at 600 yards using 42.5g Varget and 175SMK gave me a 2 inch group. I do not have access to a chronograph at this time. I am using LC brass trimmed to 2.0 and OAL of 2.800.

I have read that shooters loading 44.5g (or slightly more) of Varget and working well.

What are your experiences (and grains) loads using 175SMK for 1,000 yards?

Would I be good to go using 42.5 or should I continue to slowly increase my loads?

Much Appreciated


With that 30" barrel, you should be in the 2650-2700 range. That's enough to get you to a 1000 with the smk. You said you are getting 2" groups at 600 which is .25 moa, I would leave it alone

[NoahbodyImportant]

Thank you for the replies.