DoubleUp wrote:Tom, that sounds good for your first attempt on the new barrel. I haven't shot IMR 4895 with 32's or 34's, so can't help there. I have shot it some with 40 v-maxes. It gave reasonably good accuracy, right at .5-.6 moa with 27.4g producing a velocity averaging at 3,800 fps in a Savage 1x12, 22" barrel. That was the best load I found with IMR 4895, but I didn't shoot it extensively. I think you'll be able to go easily another whole grain higher to get your velocity up closer to 3,900. I couldn't get the ES consistently any better than what you were getting.
The 34's work good for me seated at 2.245 which gives me an ogive measurement of 1.985, so we're pretty close on that. H322, W748, and IMR 8208 XBR all shoot in the .3's for me with the 34 Midsouth VE's and give me between 3,850 and 3,900 fps.
Good info, thanks. I'm planning on trying the IMR 8208XBR in the 204 real soon. My latest range session yesterday, showed real promise with the 30 gr Berger and 39 gr SBK in prepped Hornady brass (primer pockets were REAL tight before being cut. I used H335 and Rem 7 1/2's with the 30 gr Berger and best group was .451" with four shots in .205". The SBKs were loaded with IMR 4895/BR4's and shot the best group at .420" with four in .151". Temp was between 80 and 87 degrees with an intermittant 6mph wind from 1 o'clock. Mirage started getting bad at 85 degrees. This barrel still shows little copper fouling after 40 rounds. Round count on the new barrel is now 80.
DoubleUp wrote:Tom, that sounds good for your first attempt on the new barrel. I haven't shot IMR 4895 with 32's or 34's, so can't help there. I have shot it some with 40 v-maxes. It gave reasonably good accuracy, right at .5-.6 moa with 27.4g producing a velocity averaging at 3,800 fps in a Savage 1x12, 22" barrel. That was the best load I found with IMR 4895, but I didn't shoot it extensively. I think you'll be able to go easily another whole grain higher to get your velocity up closer to 3,900. I couldn't get the ES consistently any better than what you were getting.
The 34's work good for me seated at 2.245 which gives me an ogive measurement of 1.985, so we're pretty close on that. H322, W748, and IMR 8208 XBR all shoot in the .3's for me with the 34 Midsouth VE's and give me between 3,850 and 3,900 fps.
What load are you using? My tests so far with RL-10X and the Dog town have not panned out though velocity was in the mid range of 3800 fps and accuracy was fair to poor. My initial test loads looked good and shot into .447" but my retest of 20 rounds was poor with groups all over the place between 1.182" to the smallest being .717". ES/SD figures were all over the place. The first five I shot from the clean barrel had an ES of 108.8!. The last group of five I shot had an ES of 14 but shot the worst group at 1.182"? I've been loading for more than 40 years and these results have me confused.
With H322, I've shot my best groups at 27g which gives me 3,875 fps and groups .3 to .5 at 200 yds. Haven't shot the 34's any further than that. With W748, I've had good moa averages from 28.8g to 29.2g with velocity running about 3,850 with 28.8g to 3,880 with 29.2g. I have shot a lot of .3's and .4's with the 34's and this load range in this rifle. With 8208, I've been shooting 27.5g at about 3,850. My groups haven't been as good so far in the 34g bullet with 8208 as compared to H322 and W748. Looks like about an average of .6 moa, so I was off on my .3 moa statement.
