Fired my first rounds - need suggestions please.

[homefront]

It took nearly two years, but I finally loaded up some rounds and gave my CZ 527 Varmint a try.
I bought two bullets: the Berger 35 grain Varmint, and the Sierra 39 grain Blitz King.
For my first outing, I chose the 39 grain bullet and 24.4 grains of Reloder 10, with a Remington 7-1/2 primer, all in Hornady brass to a COL of 2.270.
The first thing I noticed was some difficulty in closing the bolt. After a trial chambering I re-checked the COL, which hadn't changed so I went ahead with the firing.
After getting the NIkon 4.5-14x40 zeroed at 50 yards, I went ahead and shot this group at 200 yards:

I'd like to know; are tighter groups a reasonable expectation? What changes should I make to my loads to try to shrink the groups? Is it worth trying one of my other powders, such as 4895, 2230, 2520 or H322? Any suggested loads for the Berger 35 grain?
Thanks.

[Jim White]

By the looks of the target, that looks like a 2" center. To me it looks like:

HOR: 1.375"
VERT: 0.500"

For 200 yards thats looks pretty good. I'd chronograph it and see what the velocity is in order to determine bullet drop over distance.

I'm not familar woth the powder you tried but, if your load is near max I'd check it out in warm weather. Hogdon carries a line of powders that are called "EXTREME" and suposedly its not effected by temp changes. Ball powder has (2520 & 2230) have a bad reputation for being temperature sensitive. For sure 2520 is, I'm not familiar with 2230. I like H4895 (Its one of the EXTREME powders), I've never tried IMR4895 nor H322.

I just bought my 1st box of Berger bullets (35gr) today. My CZ likes 39 gr but only tolerates the 40's.

Jim

HTH

[Dr Pepper]

H F

Were you using the set trigger function on your 527? DP

[Gube]

For the bergers, "Benchmark" will be your friend.

[homefront]

As to the "set trigger", I've heard of it, but have no idea how it works.
I have one on my Hawken, and it is a help. I should find out how this one works.

[cracker]

all you do is push the trigger forward untill you hear and feel the click. but before you use it try it first with an empty gun, it may need to be adjusted. you can dry fire the set trigger for adjustment and be careful not to have it to light. its explained well in the manual.

[homefront]

Thanks!
I don't have the manual as I bought this rifle used. I'll see if I can find it online.

[fattrav10]

home front if your hawkens is older like mine with two triggers the rear is pulled to"SET" the front to fire hope this helps

[Savage250]

My gun likes 28gr. of H4895 with the 35gr. Bergers.

[Medic52]

I just loaded a few with IMR 4064 22 grs w/ 40 gr BT Hornady hope to go shoot this weekend will let you know. I did some with varget 28.1 very impressive grouping with that load....