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I have a Savage 12 FCV in a .22-250 (12" twist). I cannot get the kind of groups that I think I should with a .52 gr. bullet.
I am getting at least 1+" 100 yard groups. I know some of the instability is the shooter (me) but I feel the rifle is capable of at least .75" or less at 100 yards.
Am I better off with a 55 or 60 gr. bullet or keep changing powders, which is starting to get expensive. I've used Varget, 760 Win, H380.
Thanks for any help
buggybuilder
How fast are you sending them?
Dean
I use 55 gr bullets over varget with the set up and it will do .50 most of the time I haven't found a 55 gr bullet it doesn't like.
Handi204
My best loads in both of my 22-250s both 12 twists is 35.5 grains of reloader 17 under a 69 grain match king. 5 shot groups in the .3s and one of them is an axis.
BuggyBuilder, I have the same rifle, and I also had your problem. I had on hand, 52smks, 40vmax, and a boat load of 53vmax. being a 1-12 the 53vmax's published BC is far superior to the rest of the afformentioned bullets. I wanted to burn them up so i started the loading. I tried at first with Varget, WLR primers in WLR brass all FL sized flash holes deburred ect. the results are as you have listed very unexciting. So on a whim i switched over to H4895 my go to powder for my 223's (shooting heavy bullets) none of my savage rifles like Varget thank goodness. "may just be my loading"? anyway heres what i found average group sizes with 53vmax and varget best i could get was .796" 5shot group outside to outside not subtracting the bullet diam. switched over to H4895 and at .010, .020, .030, .040 off my rifling everything else the same i got .679", .644", .523,.447" the .447" group was with subtracted bullet diam. the rest were not. just to be clear. groups outside to outside. BUT using 3 shot groups instead of 5. I am not the best shooter here nor will i every be. these groups were shot out of a sav-12 in a B/C stock with a bushnell 6x24-40 with much promise. i loaded up 3 rounds to test at the 300 yard line as well. and got a group of .578" outside to outside. if you do a search you will find i asked this very question a while back with little interest i hope that this helps out a little with your load delevopement. as always start low and work up.
my load.
H4895-35.5 grains
53vmax
WLR primer
WLR brass
3.035" COAL. which is .040" off my rifling
my suggestion start .010" and work out from there in .005" increments. these 53's are VERY PICKY about how they are seated at what depth. i believe it was scope eye and myself that went playing with them in our 223's last year lol. good stuff hope this helps.
Mine likes 39.8 H380 under a 53 VMAX. Winchester cases and primers seated to 2.800". It routinely shoots 1/2 inch with that load.
Why do you not like Varget?
After testing quite a few bullets and powders in my 12BVSS seems to like the Hornady 55gr Vmax over 32gr of Varget (yep it's a light load)
Never really had any luck with Hornady bullets so I started off with Noslers and Sierras but it showed me it wanted the Hornadys and was shooting about .75
The big surprise to me was, I was having trouble getting what I thought the rifle was capable of with whatever load I tried until my local gun shop ran out of CCI BR2 Match and Federal FGGM match primers.
I bought some Winchester WLR primers because that's what was available and WOW the load came alive. Now it's shooting .2s most of the time.
Something very similar happened with a 25-06 simply by changing primers on a load. A lot of guys spend lots of money changing powders and bullets but primers are much less expensive and the difference they can make has been shocking to me. Surely I cant be the only one this has happened to?
I now include testing different primers as part of my load development.
I have tried it in my rifles and it just doesn't shoot as well as other powders. Now I do have a R-700 that loves it. But I already new with it being a Remington it was going to be weird. The varget shortage has been around here (where I live) for a while a lot of guys are running it in their 223&308 I use H4895,benchmark&H4350 instead just personal preference.
My dad loves Varget. It doesn't shoot as well as benchmark 4895 or h380 in my guns. So I do think it depends on the gun weather it'll shoot.
Agreed 250, everything has its place at the table and I apologize I misspoke earlier I believe it was Dennis and I that played with the 53's in our sav-223's it's all about what your gun likes and no ones secrete accurate load data will confirm what someone else's gun may or may not shoot. When you load 1k+ at a time for a gun how it flows through a powder measure has a lot to do with that also lol
iMR4064
I agree with keeki, I tried W760,3031,H380,4350,varget and probably another one or two before I found some 4064 and it is hands down the best so far. I am not the best shooter but can keep 4 shots around .75 almost all the time. 200-300 yds are also less than moa which means they are less than 2-3 inches respectively. Usually a lot less than 2-3 inches. I shot 33 grs of 4064 which is a light load and am off the lands. I forget how much. It's wrote down at home. I had read an article from Berger bullets about seating off the lands for VLD bullets and it helped my a lot also. I agree with Quick above. I'd start at the lands and back off in .005 increments and see what happens. I was amazed how far out I got to find a sweet spot.
Good luck...remember it is highly unlikely you have the only savage that won't shoot well but it could happen. Kept telling myself that when I was having problems.....
Floyd
I shot Sunday using h380 with 55gr v- max .100" of the lands and shot a .500 five shot group without the flyer it was .359 I find that a little more bullet jump works best in my model 10.
52 gr. SMK with the Varget starting load was the most accurate for me.