Sierra 39 GR Blitz king & H4895 Powder

[204foxguy]

I have been loading Sierra 39 GR Blitz king & H4895 Powder 26.5 grs- I was getting .25 in groups c-c @ 200 yards on a good day(low winds).
I have run out of the lot # of the H4895 powder I was using . The new powder lot does not achieve the same group accuracy with this load.
My plan now is to start the load testing again starting @ 26.1 grs and working my way up to what Hodgdon says is the Max 27.7 grs trying to duplicate the groups I was getting. Sierra says the max load for the 39 gr blitz king with H4895 is the 26.5 gr load. (I am shooting a Savage M 12 LRPV.)
are any of you shooting the Sierra 39 gr and H4895 with powder loads between 26.5 & 27.7 grs and having excellent group results?
What do u think my chances are of achieving the same accuracy with the new lot of the H4895 powder ?


Thanks for your thoughts

[futuretrades]

Although I don't use H4895 w/39gr sbk's, it is my opinion that you may never be able achieve your 1/4 in. groups @200yds again. That is some outstanding groups for that range.
You need to consider the round count for your barrel, in my opinion. How big was your last canister of powder? Was it only a 1Lb jug or was it an 8 lb jug? If it was an 8 lb jug, you were able to get quit a few rounds out of it. Do you keep track of how many rounds you have put down range? Do you have a tendancy to shoot a hot barrel, such as myself, at times? Unfortunately a barrel starts to "wear out" the more rounds you put thru it. Do you have, and use a bullet comparator? This tool is helpful to keep track of throat erosion. Sounds like you are on the right track trying to achieve the same accuracy. You might also try seating the bullets just a tad farther out. This will allow for some throat erosion.

[204foxguy]

Although I don't use H4895 w/39gr sbk's, it is my opinion that you may never be able achieve your 1/4 in. groups @200yds again. That is some outstanding groups for that range.
You need to consider the round count for your barrel, in my opinion. How big was your last canister of powder? Was it only a 1Lb jug or was it an 8 lb jug? If it was an 8 lb jug, you were able to get quit a few rounds out of it. Do you keep track of how many rounds you have put down range? Do you have a tendancy to shoot a hot barrel, such as myself, at times? Unfortunately a barrel starts to "wear out" the more rounds you put thru it. Do you have, and use a bullet comparator? This tool is helpful to keep track of throat erosion. Sounds like you are on the right track trying to achieve the same accuracy. You might also try seating the bullets just a tad farther out. This will allow for some throat erosion.

Futuretrades
My round count is probably somewhere between 1000-1200 rounds. I don't load for speed, I try to load for accuracy( I try to avoid hot loads if I can).
I do try to avoid shooting a Hot barrel most of the time-warm at most. I have gone thru 2-1lb jug's of H 4895 and 2- 1 lb jug of Blc2.
I do have a Bullet comparator, I will try it to see if I can reach the Lands-I know the R-204 is throated very long to start with.

My plan is to load up 5 different loads -4 of each charge weight starting @ 26.1 grs- then bumping up in .2 gr increments up to 26.9 to start.
I will shoot these and compare to my original load test target that I shot when I developed the original 26.5 gr load. If I find one charge weight that looks promising I will try varying the seating depth of the Bullet to see if I can tighten up the Group.

I was very impressed with the Original Loads ability to shoot so well, I may of gotten a little spoiled.
I had a 34gr bullet load that shot .411c-c @ 200 yds and I believed that too to be very good as well.



Thanks for the suggestions.