Newberry Test Reloaded

[ShowMeShooter]

I started the Newberry test in my new Stevens. I got through the test on what I thought was excellent results with H322. But that powder turned out to be way too temp. sensitive for me. Here in MO the weather changes hourly at times, and this load I WAS so proud of was all over the place in warmer weather. SO on to the next powder. This time I'll try Win 748. One of my buddies just raves about it in his Savage .223. We shall see. Here is the pressure sign stage pic. I'll post more pics this weekend after the next step. I think I'll work with a charge right around 26gn. Even the charge of 26.8 hasn't started showing pressure signs yet.

[fgw_in_fla]

Try Hodgdon Extreme series of powders. They work well here in Fla during the 102* summer days of the occasional 45* winter day.

H4831 is a staple here for the .270

Good luck with it.

[quickkillaught6]

fgw H322 is an extreme powder if hes talking about the H322 i know and use .... I myself havent used anything but Hodgdon Extreme H322 H4895 H4350 and Benchmark and its been my experience that from -20* in Indiana coyote hunting to 107* in South Dakota on the prairie it shoots the same for me... Or has So far.. Maybe i Dont test as much as everyone else Ive seen this Come up more than once here recently but IMHO and experience I wont use a powder thats not Extreme. I load all winter to shoot prairie dogs in the summer so its gotta be right for me but my R-700 loved H322 and 52smks all day

[fgw_in_fla]

You're right.
I skimmed thru his info & only saw the 748....

Maybe its time for another eye exam.

[thermaler]

You shooting at 100? Harder to get a feel for the harmonics/stringing of your shots that close in--I know because that's what I'm forced to do. Temp variations--even timing between barrel cool-downs can also affect a flier. But looking at your group, I'd guess your sweet spot is somewhere in the 23 to 25 gr range.



CBTO and COL looks a bit odd : )

[coldmaker]

in your title you are referring to newberry. but it looks like you did the audette ladder test at 100 yard.
i prefer using the newberry OCW method.
http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspa...ons/4529817134
first reason i have a easier access to 100y range. and second. the ladder method using only 1 shot with each charge may cheat the result. especially at 100 yard. so far i always had excellent result wih the ocw method.
i just got a new ( for me) model 12 in 223 a month ago.
here's the target of my ocw test.

bullet: 55 ballistic tip

powder: H335

col. 2.300

brass: new win.

primer: fed 205



note: 25.3 gr. has 2 shots in the left side hole



2 groups (24.1 and 25 gr )had center of group to same poi as the center of group from next higher and lower loads.
since 25 gr. was tighter horizontally
i chose this as my powder charge.
next i tried a few different c.o.l.
but it turned out that the max magazine lenght of 2.300" i used first was the best. here's pictures of the 2 five shot groups at 2.300" from the col test i made. i used once fired brass from the ocw test and neck sized them with a lee collet die.







looks promising so far. i also tried 2.290'' for a group in the .7
2.280'' for one in the .8 and 2.260 gave a 1.1'' group.
so i guess i'm in a sweet spot
yesterday i loaded 25 more of the same, but this time i weight sorted brass. and trimed the cases and paid more attention to charge weight. can't wait to see if it will stay that way.

[squirrelsniper]

Coldmaker's right, the pic shows an Audette Ladder test. Newberry's OCW is on the same basic principal but involves shooting "groups" of each charge weight onto separate targets and looking for a common impact point.

Now for my recommendations, I really can't tell anything by looking at that pic. In my opinion, ladder and OCW tests need to be conducted at ranges of no less than 200yds, and the farther the better if both the rifle and shooter are up to it. At shorter ranges there's just so much overlap in impact points it's had to decifer much of anything, which is exactly the problem I ran into when I looked at the picture. If by some chance that target happens to have been shot at 200yds or more, then the rifle is certainly accurate, you just need to go farther out before you can diagnose which load is best.

As for temp stable powders, very few ball powders are temp stable. They flow well in powder measures, but temp stability is a typical problem. Ramshot's ball powders could be considered one exception to this generality. Extruded (stick) powders are generally more temp stable even though some of them aren't very good either. Personally, I like Hodgdon's Extreme series any time they're applicable, but Alliant's ReLoder series isn't bad either.

[kelbro]

W748 is very temp sensitive.