Working Load for 7mm RM not working for me...

[Nandy]

I am having a terrible time working a load for this rifle. I am over 50 rounds (50 were done with a loose scope, not counting those) and I am not close to consistently shooting sub moa. The primary use for this rifle is hunting and for that purpose up to 200 yads is ok but I expect more of this gun. I reloaded in the past for a 30-06 with an A&B sporter barrel and I would shoot sub moa all day so why not with this custom barrel... Here is the gear I am using:
The gun:
110 Action- SSS Timed and Trued
SAV-2
Choate Varmint Stock - Skim bedded, tang and barrel floated.
Aftermarket Recoil lug (similar to SSS)
Brux (SSS) 7MM RM, 1-9, 26", Varmint Barrel, SSS Brake (installed into action by SSS)
Warne 1-Piece Tactical Picatinny-Style Steel Scope Base
Leupold 30mm QRW Quick-Release Weaver-Style Rings
VX III 50 MM 4.5x10 Leupold Scope
Base screws are not touching the barrel. I measured in 2 different ways and it is not possible. Torque to 25 in/lbs.
Ring screws are torque to 28 in/lbs.
Action screws are torque to 30 in/lbs.
All above screws were double checked to day and would not turned when I tried the above torques.

All above hardware was in use and assembled in similar fashion while the rifle had the 30-06 barrel, for except of the new barrel (of course) and the skim bedding work.
Gun has been cleaned always using a Possum Hollow Bore Guide and a Nylon Coated Dewey 1-Piece Cleaning Rod 27 to 34 Caliber. Even thought it is a hand lapped barrel I still shot and cleaned it once after every shot for the first 10 shots.

Shooting gear:
Shooting of Sturdy wood bench.
ProChrono
Caldwell Rock Front Shooting Rest
Rear shooting bag similar to "Hyskore Front Shooting Rest Bag"


reloading gear:
Lee Neck Collect Die
Forster Ultra Micrometer Seater Die
140 grain Accubond
winchester brass
cci-250 primer
rl-22 powder
RCBS RangeMaster 750 Electronic Powder Scale

Reloading method:
Im reloading the same way as I do for the 30-06. One thing I notice is that I used to have a lot of duplicate speeds. I dont recall the sd and es exactly but they were under 20. Not so much on for this 7mm and there is where I think my problem is but allow me to continue.
All Brass is now fire-formed. Primer pocket and hole gets cleaned.
Max OAL is 2.756 and I am loading .01 shorter at 2.746. The OAL was measured with the Hornady Lock-N-Load Overall Length Gage and using my caliper with the Hornady Lock-N-Load Bullet Comparator. all my loads are .001+- from the 2.746. Bullets are sorted by weight and I use the same weight for all bullet to test groups.


All shots at 200 yds:

First attempt:
Brass were not fire-formed at this time.
Ignore the center target. It was there just for me to make sure I was in paper. The lower 2 shots on that target where shot at target 7.



Date: 9/11/2012
Caliber: 7mm RM
Bullet: Accubond
Grains: 140
200 Yds

String-----Gr.----Grp Size----Std Dev---Ext Spread-----Hi Vel-----Low Vel---Ave Vel----Sht 1------Sht 2------Sht 3
1---------66.5---1.343----------24-------47----------3003------2956------2976------3003------2969------2956
2---------66.8---3.213----------21-------40----------2989------2949------2973------2949------2989------2982
3---------67.1---2.817----------20-------34----------3030------2996------3019------2996------3030------3030
4---------67.4---2.245----------35-------49----------3065------3016------3041------3016------****-----3065
5---------67.7---2.746----------12-------21----------3065------3044------3051------3065------3044------3044
6---------68-----0.547----------20-------35----------3058------3023------3046------3023------3058------3058
7---------68.3---3.556----------25-------49----------3093------3044------3072------3044------3093------3079
8---------68.6---4.137----------17-------29----------3122------3093------3112 ------3093------3122------3122

I would shoot the first cartridge for each load at the pertaining target. Meaning I shot all the loads in the column "shot 1" then the next column and so on.
My best 2 groups are 6 and 4 (if I ignore that high shot). I did have a problem were I forgot to change the string number for the last set of shots and to make it worst the chrono missed one shot. I know my the "shot 1" column is correct so I looked at the numbers and determined that shot 4 on column "shot 2" is probably the one that was missing.





Second Attempt:

Brass fire-formed.
All shot at 200 yds.
String-----Gr.----Grp Size----Std Dev---Ext Spread-----Hi Vel-----Low Vel---Ave Vel----Sht 1------Sht 2------Sht 3
1---------67.9---1.39----------07-------14----------2996------2982------2989------2989------2982------2996
2---------68.0---2.66----------26-------50----------3108------3058------3086------3093------3058------3108
3---------68.1---2.03----------13-------23----------3197------3174------3189------3197------3197------3174

So in my second attempt I was trying to duplicate the loads and hopefully the results... Not quite so... Not sure if it is because the brass was fire-formed but this was the way I developed the load for the 06 with no much difference. I can see looking at my mean velocity (ave vel) where the speed is all over the place.



What makes it worst is that I ran out of rl-22 for that lot and the 2 pounds I have now are not the same lot as the 1 lbs bottle I finished. but these 2 1lbs bottles are from the same lot. So I am expecting this numbers to change once again...

Let me know what y'all think. I have 25 loads with 160 accubonds that I have not tried but I am running out of time for deer season and not sure if I want to invest more time on the 160 gr...
Thanks!