Let the beatings begin......

[Fuj']

Same basic setup as the 2023 rifle, and with my SA284 wildcat. Changes to start this year
is, a shorter throat for the bullets being used, and my redesign of a barrel tuner.....I do not
normally shoot the winter matches but this weekend we are having extreme unseasonable
warmth in my region of Pa., and the 200 yard "Kill Phil" match is this Saturday. Going to the
range this morning to finish the tuner test. I have 4 settings to re-test and will shoot them at
300 yards. The match itself will be shot at 200 yards.

[charlie b]

Good luck on the match.

So what is the design change of the tuner? Do you use a straight or slight taper for your barrels? Is it still the Lilja barrel?

[PhilC]

Shoot their lights out Fuj!

I'm working on all new 7BR loads for this year as well. A long session with QL revealed some "judgement error" in my prior load which probably explains why it was so touchy. Also trying 2 new moulds in the 155gr range vs the 168SP that drops at 170gr. Weather conditions look decent tomorrow.

[Fuj']

Good luck on the match.

So what is the design change of the tuner? Do you use a straight or slight taper for your barrels? Is it still the Lilja barrel?

The original tuner comes with a large spring on the inside to supposedly keep things in tension.
Arguably, springs don't belong in tuners. Spring was shipped to the landfill, then I added four
more ounces and a larger diameter, for my personal test purposes.....The Lilja, I set back and
pushed in a different reamer. Barrel itself is a Max Varmint contour. It has 5 inches of straight
then tapers to .915" at the muzzle, to 26". It's shouldered.

I Identified several areas of the tuner at the 100 yard test yesterday, and took them to 300 yards
this morning. #'s 48 and 47 were shooting the tightest with 39 an 38 close at 100. Going to 300
yards the results flipped. 48 and 47 threw a larger horizontal, and 39 and 38 tightened up. If not for
that vertical flier on 38 it would have been in the one's for 300 yards. Such is fate, and it was dead
calm. Saturday will be a different story. I'll start the match with it set on 39. If it looks good I'll keep
it for the next target. If bad, I'll take a look with 38.....There will be a sighter period early, so may have
time to figure it then.

Note....I had a brain fart and wrote SA248 on the target, should say SA284. I have the 150's going at
2945 fps

[charlie b]

Thanks for the barrel info.

I'm kinda glad to see that kind of stuff happens to other people too :)

I've gotten in the see-saw battle with just loads and seating depth. I'd thought to add a tuner but having to balance all three gives me a headache. :)

[Fuj']

Thanks for the barrel info.

I'd thought to add a tuner but having to balance all three gives me a headache. :)

I had misgivings about adding a tuner. Since I'm mainly shooting short range BR as of late,
it's been a good tool. I feel it's biggest advantage is in shaping a group. Shoot a group in the
3's that's all vertical, then a slight move put's you in the 2's that's nice an round, then another
move strings it horizontally. It's not absolute though. What I shoot at my home range won't
be the same at another range and changed conditions. But at least I'll have a window to play
with during the sighter period......

This is from a couple of weeks ago doing my first tests with the new tuner at 100 yards. I was
moving two marks at a time. Running low on ammo and groups were not getting any better,
I looked for the tightest ones, and shot the number in between 40 and 38. And why I took these
out to 300 yards. 39 shot nice and round and repeated it's shape at 300.

[charlie b]

Nice.

I was just getting desperate for kind of the same reason. The 6BR was showing small round group (0.3) at one load, but, the es was close to 20 and sd close to 10. Another load was es of 11 and sd 5.5 but the group was long in vertical (0,5). If I changed seating depth a little the situation reversed.

Will go out to 300 for the next session and see if things fall apart or I get a consistent load. At least I'm closer.

[Fuj']

Changing things up after a "WTF" !! It's been unusually warm and sunny in Erie Pa. The one
barrel i have on one of my match rifle is the same one giving me the same grief. Instead
of pulling it......Well I had this fist full of 7mm 130 SMK's that were sorted out of spec, along
with a batch of sorted out primers. Since I did not give a sh!t about this barrel. I decided to
see how far up in velocity I could get with them in my SA284 wildcat. With a 9 twist barrel, it
was either hard bolt lift or blowing up bullets.....Shockingly, neither occurred. Actually, I started
to get groups in the 3's and over 3100 fps with the junk.....I decided to use some better stuff
and see what upper limit I could hit. At 95% case fill with Varget, and using a bolt closer jam,
I hit 3228 fps and a .163" 3 shot group !!.....I did an anal bullet sort last night and will head
to the range today for a repeat, and see what is on either side of it. If it's a winner, I will stop
the speed chase, then play with the tuner.....Stay tuned.....

[PhilC]

Nice!!!

[charlie b]

That's one of those great moments in shooting. When what you think is so-so turns out really good. Good job Fuj and looking forward to the finals :)

[Fuj']

100 yard range was a bit crowded, so I went to the upper ranges and shoot the
repeats at 200 yards. I just went 1/10th of a grain of Varget for this test. The
50 grain load did repeat as the smallest group although horizontal. After that, the
next two opened up but stayed round. The 50.2 gr load is just starting on the
heavy lift, with primers still in good shape with no hint of cratering. I'm stopping
with the velocity chase at this point.....Note how the shape of the groups are
changing with just 1/10th of grain of powder change.....Looks like I'll be now doing
some tuner tests at the 50 grain mark. Probably won't happen for some time though.
Going to have a stretch of bad weather.....All groups were hanging around the !/2" +
area at 200yards with that 50 grainer at .490".

[Fuj']

Another nice day yesterday but had to pick my way thru the wind. Started another work up on the
SA284 but with the Berger 140gr Hunter. Had a snafu with these VLD bullets being they are only
1/8" into the case neck at hard jam. I'll see how far I can push them. I'll either get a hard lift or
blow them up. They are supposed to be a thin jacket. First 3 powder charges of Varget at jam shows
some promise.....

[charlie b]

Fuj,

Since I am newer to this, do you compensate for temperature differences after your load choices?

I've notice how much a change in 25-50fps makes in a load performance and I've seen 25-50fps change in vel due to temp changes.

[Fuj']

Fuj,

Since I am newer to this, do you compensate for temperature differences after your load choices?

I've notice how much a change in 25-50fps makes in a load performance and I've seen 25-50fps change in vel due to temp changes.

Charlie......This is one of the reasons I started to use tuners after my load development.
A good load can go out of whack, and I may be able to bring it back with just a very slight
move of the tuner. Just one move of a hash mark, then going to your sighter target can
save the day as long if it was not the wind screwing with ya' !!......I'm going out maybe
today and pursue that above target. Pressure is low enough that I may find two more
upper nodes.

[charlie b]

Thanks. I've never used a tuner but may have to try one on the current build