Reply With Quote75.4 and 73.3 look like winners. I need a local shooting range with a labradar in the lanes.
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?
Last edited by Retired MKC; 01-08-2018 at 09:28 PM. Reason: did know how to insert photo
75.4 and 73.3 look like winners. I need a local shooting range with a labradar in the lanes.
76.1 - 76.4
I personally don't like R.P. brass for my 300winmag because I've broken a few decapping pins due to flash holes being off center. After you narrow it down try 215m primers.
215m primers shrank my groups in half compared to CCI-250 ! But I was able to get a lil more velocity with the cci-250 before having very slight pressure signs.
Thank you for the information. Which brass do you prefer, I have access to Federal, Hornady and Winchester. Good info on the primers. I did not see any pressure signs other than slight push out, no flattening at all with the CCI #34's.
Id be eliminating one thing at a time and see if the gun still shoots lol.
I've been using F.C. (Federal) brass because I have more than 500 once fired pieces of it from Federal Gold Medal Match ammo I fired over the last several years. It's been good so far and no complaints. If I didn't have all this FGMM brass I would buy Peterson brass or Norma.Originally Posted by Retired MKC
CCI primers are great but when I tried 215m the groups got much smaller.
Load was with 79 gr of RETUMBO under the 208 ELD-M.
UPDATE: The following is my second ladder test results for Savage 110BA 300 Winchester Magnum, Hornady 208 ELD Match bullets and Hodgdon H1000 powder. Cases: Federal, flash holes de-burred & uniformed, primer pockets uniformed, necks reamed, full length sized to fit rifle chamber, trimmed to 2.610 inches, necks turned to 0.016 inches wall thickness and chamferred. Average unprimed case weight, 246.8 grains. Primers: CCI #34. All 20 Hornady 208 ELD-M bullets weighed 208.0 grains, Ogive averaged 0.780 inches. Seated to 0.020 inches off lands as recommended by Hornady. Based on last test, starting at 72.3 grains and stopping at 73.9 grains. Increments of 0.1 grains. Target was at 200 yards, 41 degrees, 7 mph left to right breeze and overcast. Labradar used to collect velocities. Anyway, here are the results:
Cartridge Grains FPS 41 72.30 2761 42 72.30 2836 43 72.30 2830 44 72.30 2820 45 72.40 2856 46 72.50 2831 47 72.60 2833 48 72.70 2831 49 72.80 2822 50 72.90 2837 51 73.00 2801 52 73.10 2863 53 73.20 2845 54 73.30 2855 55 73.40 2859 56 73.50 2856 57 73.60 2869 58 73.70 2874 59 73.80 2873 60 73.90 2889
Only change, using Federal brass instead of Remington and narrowing powder charges. Primers did not show signs of flattening. Target grid lines are ¼ inch. Bullet tips coated with different colored permanent marker for target identification. Four groups of five fired. Red rounds all first fired of each group, cold fired, flyers. Again, I was very impressed how clean the fired cartridges were. Any recommendations from you guys with more knowledge and experience than me?
I don't know what your goal is, but i would assume it's getting the most velocity along with good accuracy.
Otherwise why bother with a magnum cartridge.
Fed 215s are the hottest primer available, so id be using those unless others shoot better groups.
No real need to shoot that many rounds if your looking for max load performance.
Rather than start low and work up slowly, start at the upper end of the recommended load range for a particular powder.
Lets say for a particular bullet weight/powder combination, max load is 60 gr.
I would start at 56 gr, with just one bullet, then load 1 each at 57,58, 59 and so on till i noticed the bolt getting stickey.
Don't even need to shoot at a target at a range, just into a dirt pile will work just as well.
AT THAT POINT STOP. You now know the max load with that combination for (that gun), and you've only fired a few rounds in order to find out.
Now you can proceed (BACKWARDS) from the now known max load, and tune the charge and seating depth for accuracy.
And do the same thing for other load combinations you plan on trying.
I would start at 56 gr, with just one bullet, then load 1 each at 57,58, 59 and so on till i noticed the bolt getting stickey.
Don't even need to shoot at a target at a range, just into a dirt pile will work just as well.
AT THAT POINT STOP. You now know the max load with that combination for (that gun), and you've only fired a few rounds in order to find out.
I'm telling Darrker!
Somewhere between #55 to # 60 AKA..... 73.4 to 73.9 gr So I think judging by the target alone.
Load up 4 of each at 73.4 - 73.5 - 73.6 - 73.7 - 73.8 - 73.9 gr and shoot them for groups to compare. That's 24 shots to narrow it down.
I say 4-shot groups because that's what I do with cartridges that have shorter barrel life. 3-shot groups would be ok too.
Well see he dosent use magnums. He just pulls harder on his 308 trigger to shoot waaaay out there with it. lol
Well at this rate the cream is skimmed off the top of the barrel before we even have a load for it.
Especially with long range time sessions with high capacity cartridges.
I would after finding the max load, drop back to whatever charge you might feel good about using closest to the max.
Then fool around with several seating depths in an attempt to make that load work before dropping down in charge weight and starting over.
Id be doing that in 1/2 gr increments till your happy with the results your seeing, and 2 shots per is enough to at least get your attention.
You can play around and tweek the load up or down slightly, (after you've found the load).
And you would be much better off if possible, to be testing at 3 or 400 yds as opposed to 100 with magnums.
You did ask for opinions, and you just got mine. As for those opinions, they didn't originate with me.
They came from very experienced long range target shooters/hunters, and some very good gun builders who specialize in building those type guns.
Also, the 300 win mag has been around a long time, and there are well known good loads available for it. So they would at least be a good place to start. The ultimate U S sniper had several guns issued to him, but the 300 win mag was his favorite, and the one he used most.
He never tested loads for his particular guns, he simply used the ammo he was issued, which was Black Hills match.
Great information from everyone, Thank you. You are correct, I did not state my goals which are accuracy, consistency followed by velocity. Knowing it's a 300 win mag and not a bench rest rifle, I still want to get the best out of it. Currently shooting at 200 yards, later to 400 yards and further. Maximum range I have available at this time is 1375 yards and I know it will take sometime to get to that distance. With the information received so far it helps greatly, Thanks.
If you are giving us the right numbers in the second test your standard deviation for that powder/primer choice is 29.85 fps!
So any of the other shots could be +/-14 fps
41 72.30 2761 42 72.30 2836 43 72.30 2830 44 72.30 2820
That ought to help you narrow down any plateaus.
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Last words of Gen. Sedgwik
Did you start the test with a clean bore?
It's a good idea to be doing your testing over a chronagraph, assuming you have one, as even close velocity information is helpful later in establishing an elevation chart for the gun. But i wouldn't be treating the chronagraph as if it were a big factor for other than that.
Most important in dealing with max or close to max loads, is to be paying close attention to what the gun is telling you.
Bolt lift especially, but also ejector swipes on the case are signs to look for.
After that be paying attention to what the target is telling you, and not be concerned much about things like spread deviation, which might be different tomorrow anyway.
Know where max is and get right to it, or as close as you can asap. You need to be there anyway in order for owning that gun to be of any benefit.
Don't be wasting much time going for the longer distances with it either. You will no doubt do better than you now think you will, and theres really no need to be using that gun at distances where you might just as well be using a 308.
Yes I did and the chamber also. Somewhat surprised at the amount of build up in the neck/lead area. The first four rounds were to foul up the barrel again.
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