Savage 110BA 300 WM, Hornady 208 ELD Match bullets and Hodgdon H1000 powder

[Retired MKC]

The following is my ladder test results for 110BA 300Win Magnum, Hornady 208 ELD Match bullets and Hodgdon H1000 powder. Cases: Remington, flash holes de-burred & uniformed, primer pockets uniformed, necks reamed, full length sized to fit rifle chamber, trimmed to 2.609 inches, necks turned to 0.016 inches wall thickness and chamferred. Average unprimed case weight, 236.8 grains. Primers: CCI #34. All 20 Hornady 208 ELD-M bullets weighed 208.0 grains, Ogive averaged 0.7997 inches. Seated to 0.020 inches off lands as recommended by Hornady. Hornady does not list H1000 for ELD Match bullets. Hornady recommended using their charges for 212 ELD-X bullets, 65.3 grains @ 2400 FPS to 77.6 grains @ 2800 FPS. Hodgdon’s website, for 208 AMAX, lists 71.7 grains @ 2650 FPS to 78.0 grains compressed @ 2869 FPS. Starting at Hodgdon’s minimum 71.7 grains and stopping at Hornady maximum 77.6 grains for 212 ELD-X bullets. Increments of 0.3 grains. Target was at 200 yards, 19 degrees and sunny across a flat bean field. Labradar used to collect velocities. OF COURSE after getting all the equipment set up a terrible varying cross wind picked up and showed no sign of slowing down. Anyway, here are the results:

Cartridge	Grains	FPS	Notes
21	71.70	2653
22	72.00	2758
23	72.30	2764
24	72.60	2790
25	72.90	2821
26	73.30	2814
27	73.60	2822
28	73.90	2847
29	74.20	2857
30	74.50	2862
31	74.80	2878
32	75.10	2898
33	75.40	2898	Primer pushed out .0035
34	75.70	2909	Primer pushed out .0015
35	76.10	2948	Primer pushed out .0015
36	76.40	2949	Primer pushed out .002
37	76.70	2968	Primer pushed out .0025
38	77.00	2985	Primer pushed out .003
39	77.30	2987	Primer pushed out .002
40	77.60	3003	Primer pushed out .002

Grid lines are 1/4 inch. I used colored permanent markers on each 5 round group for identification between groups. Primers did not show signs of flattening, yet pushed out as above. I was surprised at the higher velocities. I was very impressed how clean the fired cartridges were. I plan to perform the test again starting at 72.3 grains and stopping at 75.0 grains and calmer conditions. Any other recommendations?