Shots 1, 2 & 3 measured .066" center to center!!! I called shot #4 as a flyer because I wiggled a little bit as I squeezed the trigger and if I just measure center-to-center on shots 1, 2, 3, & 5 that gives me a 4-shot group measuring .188". However, I’m still happy with a 5-shot .313" group center-to-center. I didn’t have my chronograph along, so I don’t know what the velocity was and that group was with brand new WW brass. I’ll be loading up some 35 gr. Bergers in fire formed brass with 28.0 gr. of 8208 XBR soon and the chronograph will be along!!!
I had a fairly decent group using 8208 XBR and the 40 gr. V-Max on that April 8 trip too, but I got better groups on my next trip to the range. Here’s a couple more targets I shot using 40 gr. V-Max bullets with the .204 with the 11 twist Pac-Nor barrel this past Thursday, April 22. The 27.2 gr. load of 8208 XBR was shot out of brand new brass. I’m going to try two more loads of 8208 XBR with this bulletâ€â€one at 27.4 gr. and another one with 27.5 or 27.6 grains. I’d like to get just a bit more velocity to see if that will tighten up the group horizontally and I would also like to wing these 40 gr. V-max bullets out around 3,850 fps or so if that much velocity will still give me tiny groups.
I had to try my favorite powder, H4895 too. Here's the target I shot using 27.2 gr. of H4895 and WW brass that had been shot one time and neck sized with a .225" bushing. Shot #3 was 26 fps slower than the average of the 4-shots, but I don't know if that's why it is out to the right or not??? It could have been that I zigged when I should have zagged
I'll be loading up a few more test rounds with the 27.2 gr. load of H4895 to see if the group above is repeatable. I need to settle on a load, get a bunch of rounds loaded up and be ready to attack the prairie dogs this spring.
My old Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger that has 2,653 shots down the barrel still shoots the 35 gr. Bergers pretty good.
These three shots were made with cartridges I reloaded back in November of 2005!! This load used to give me 4,250 fps when I first came up with it. Maybe the barrel is getting worn a bit and contributing to the loss in velocity??? I have about 25 of these rounds still loaded so I think I'll use them on prairie dogs this summer. I still have a brand new stainless steel super match grade Pac-Nor barrel with an 11 twist and three grooves sitting in my reloading room waiting to be chambered and installed on this old Savage 12VLP. Maybe, sometime this summer, this old barrel may begin to shoot erratically and then I'll replace it with the new barrel. Of course, that's what I said last summer!!!
