The new (to me) 250 TEZ’s

[Richard]

The new (to me) 250 TEZ’s

The day started out (7:00 a.m.) at 74* but the humidity had to be close to 100%. It was hazy with no wind. I had just gotten an order of 100 250 TEZ’s from Carlos and wanted to see how they compared to the 290 gr. version.
I know this gets redundant but new faces show up all the time and I hate for a new comer to not know what I am talking about so here goes:
My rifle is a Rem. 700 ML with a 28” Brux .45 heavy varmint taper. I uses Luke’s new style breech plug with a .028” bushing. (Win. 209 primers exclusively) Trigger is a Shilen/Rem.at 1.75 lbs. Scope is Vortex 6.5 x 20 with BDC reticule and stock is Boyd’s pro varmint. Total weight is 14 lbs.
I use .060” veggie wads under all my sabot-less loads. My booster powder is Hodgedon “Clays” (period) and my main charge for today is Hodgedon 4198. All shooting at 100 yards was done with the straight crosshairs. I forgot to turn the power up my last weeks 300 yard setting so I shot at 17X. At 300 yards I have played around with the power setting from 16 to 18 X with mainly the 2nd. BDC. Everything is shot from a modified recoiling lead sled including a 16 lb. lead shot bag for a total of 54 lbs which slides on a track “C” clamped to the bench. Starting with a clean bore today:

To foul the barrel I shot a five shot group with some FF 250 FTX’s and a 8/58 duplex. The very first shot was the initial fouler and that left four shots in .910” Av. Vel.=2786 with a 41 fps ES.

Next, the 250 Barnes TEZ smooth sized with a 9/59 duplex (upped the 8/58 from last week to see any difference). Vel. = 2787 with a 43 fps ES. Five shots = .883”

The 250 TEZ knurled and FF with same 9/59 duplex. Av. Vel. = 2808 and 53 fps ES. Note that the third shot was a hammer down. Shots 4 and 5 I had to slight lube bore to get them down. These bullets need to be sized at a tighter setting. They mic up to .0006” fatter than the 290’s and I had been using the same setting. Still, 4 went into .929” with all five in 1.1”

Next I went to the 290 TEZ’s FF with the same 9/59 duplex. Av. Vel. = 2692 and ES at 31 fps. The first three shots went .368”; next four (in a row) went into.9” and the fifth opened it to 1.1”.

The same load as above only smooth sized 3 shots in .802 with a 26 fps ES.

The last four groups shot at 300 yards:
290 TEZ smooth sized 9/59 duplex (one shot at steel target to adj. scope some. Then four for group. Av. Vel. For all five shots = 2689 ES = 16 fps. Shots 2, 3 and 4 = 1.8”; with shot #1 = 2.8”

250 TEZ smooth sized 9/59 duplex Av. = 2810 with 37 fps ES and a 4 shot 2.5” group
(all out of 5/59 duplex loads)

290 TEZ smooth sized 10/60 duplex (shot this for EDGE) only captured two shots on the chronograph for 2724 fps and a 8 fps ES. Group was 3.5” with only 1” of vertical – Mark!

And lastly, the lowly 300 gr. generic SST/FTX knurled and FF with a 8/60 duplex. The average speed was 2693 fps with only a 9 fps ES. Shots 1, 2 & 3 grouped in 1.2” with 4 and 5 opening it up to 2.2”.

Even with “hammer downs” and some very loose fitting bullets my results with the new barrel are dramatic over the old Pac-Nor.
Richard

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[rambler]

Dude, that's a heckava lot of shooting. The 250's look to be hanging in with the 290's. SST's are no slouch either.

Thanks for the report Richard!

[Richard]

No S _ _ t Sherlock?---------------40 shots! That is the advantage of shooting from a good sled set up. And, No detached retina's, No "scope-eyes?" and my shoulder feels as normal as it did before I started shooting!

[rambler]

deleted

[Deleted]

Great shooting and thanks for your report...I've found as you have that the 250's will hang with the 290's... I'm going to hunt with the 290's this year because I bought a bunch of them. When I'm out I'll probably go back to the 250's...If you shoot the 250@ 2800fps and the 290@ 2650fps there's not enough difference out to 400yds to make a difference under hunting conditions.... Thanks again for your reports
Zen

[Richard]

Thanks Zen.........I agree! Wish I had 400 to shoot

[rambler]

Jul 29, 2015 16:53:16 GMT -5 @panhandle said:

Great shooting and thanks for your report...I've found as you have that the 250's will hang with the 290's... I'm going to hunt with the 290's this year because I bought a bunch of them. When I'm out I'll probably go back to the 250's...If you shoot the 250@ 2800fps and the 290@ 2650fps there's not enough difference out to 400yds to make a difference under hunting conditions.... Thanks again for your reports
Zen

That is good to know.  250's are much easier on my little break open

[schunter]

Excellent report Richard. Those 250 TEZ's hung right in there. Do you plan to try the 10/60 duplex with the 250???

[12ptdroptine]

As usual very god post Richard. Always sharing your findings and saving us the "trench work". You and your work are VERY appreciated. That Brux is a real shooter in the hands of competent marksman!
Thank You Richard
Drop

[Deleted]

The TEZ differently perform well! These guns just plan shoot anything! For someone going to hunt the TEZ will differently kill pretty much everything out there!

Great report!

[Richard]

Thanks guys! Scott, yes, I will try the 10/60 with the 250's. Just have to work on the size setting for full forming them but really, most testing I have done with the TEZ's reveals about equal performance whether FF or smooth? I would sure like to believe that FF would be better but so far, I can not come to that conclusion?
Rambler informs me that Carlos is getting in a bunch of 290's this week at the same price as the 250's so that is good news. Still can't believe I am shooting bullets approaching $1.00 apiece? Makes me wonder when I get good results from 300 FTX at half that price. I seriously believe though, that if your intent is in stretching your range out past maybe 350 yards or so, a bullet like Luke's APB or the MH's are the way to go. I will leave testing those babies to Earnhardt and a few others with places to shoot that long.

[edge]

Very impressive shooting.

Any thoughts on why some bullets shoot horizontal and some vertical, bullet construction perhaps?
Groups 6 & 9 at 300 yards make an almost perfect vertical and as you said the 290 TEZ is almost all horizontal as it has done in the past with that same load.

That is certainly a lot of shots down range, good thing for the lead sled

edge.

[Richard]

Edge............that is very hard to explain? Most of the 100 yard groups do not overly reflect horizontal or vertical; in fact if you were to project those 100 yard groups to 300 you would not see vertical? Yet when you think of it, most everything I have been shooting lately at 300 yards is at, around or under MOA so whether a group is vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, it does not much matter for a hunting load? I think just maintaining MOA out to these longer distances speaks well of the load? Any, who would put the blame on the sled need to look at other 300 yard groups I have shot from the same sled that are not vertical.
Richard

[12ptdroptine]

Mine arrived today....I am anxious to try them.
Drop

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2015 16:23:58 GMT -5 Richard said:

Edge............that is very hard to explain? Most of the 100 yard groups do not overly reflect horizontal or vertical; in fact if you were to project those 100 yard groups to 300 you would not see vertical? Yet when you think of it, most everything I have been shooting lately at 300 yards is at, around or under MOA so whether a group is vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, it does not much matter for a hunting load? I think just maintaining MOA out to these longer distances speaks well of the load? Any, who would put the blame on the sled need to look at other 300 yard groups I have shot from the same sled that are not vertical.
Richard

Was thinking about that new plug and how well it's working. I know your not big on single loads but wondered if you thought about trying those a little bit only for testing purposes. Can't remember if you did with new plug or not.

Think the 250 bullets are a must for duplex but not sure on 300's along with your knurling up and full forming.

Either way still fun to read your range reports!

[edge]

Jul 30, 2015 16:23:58 GMT -5 Richard said:

Edge............that is very hard to explain? Most of the 100 yard groups do not overly reflect horizontal or vertical; in fact if you were to project those 100 yard groups to 300 you would not see vertical? Yet when you think of it, most everything I have been shooting lately at 300 yards is at, around or under MOA so whether a group is vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, it does not much matter for a hunting load? I think just maintaining MOA out to these longer distances speaks well of the load? Any, who would put the blame on the sled need to look at other 300 yard groups I have shot from the same sled that are not vertical.
Richard

The extremes are very apparent at 300 so why not question why, the worst thing is you never get bug holes?

These groups are not random, perhaps my scientific approach does not jive with your approach to shooting.
If you shot these with your long range rifle I bet you would question it yourself!

edge.

PS I do not understand your comment on the lead sled!

[Richard]

I think there is some concern by some shooters that lead sled cause vertical? And I might somewhat agree with the standard sled plopped down on a bench and allowed to "bounce around" as they do. By allowing the gun.sled with shot bag to slide normally rearward unrestricted, I think that theory goes out the window.
Your kind of right on the somewhat vertical at 300 but then I have gotten groups that were not vertical also. Maybe I have to narrow down which combinations are doing what. I will shoot more 10/60 loads this coming week and see what it produces. If I recall, a few weeks ago you mentioned how there was not vertical in the group but it spread horizontal.....And that was 10/60 just like the one this week.
Chad........I have shot some straight 70 gr. 4198 loads and was not impressed.
Give me an exact load/bullet/wad combination and I will shoot it for you Tuesday. But keep it under 75 gr.of 4198

[edge]

If you re-read my comment on the lead sled, it was only that you shot a lot of times and your shoulder would not be happy had you not used the LS...nothing to do with group size or shape!

edge.

[BuckDoeHunter]

Jul 31, 2015 19:29:59 GMT -5 Richard said:

Chad........I have shot some straight 70 gr. 4198 loads and was not impressed.

Interesting you said that, did the group open up a lot?


When testing my McRem (savage plug, .030 bushing) with 70gr IMR4198 and the 250gr TEZ (which grouped very well initially), I started getting fliers. Thought my scope broke. This was after the cleaned breech plug had a dozen or so shots on it.

Shot again with the duplex load, 5gr Clays INT./65gr IMR 4198, shots went back into the group. Cleaned all the carbon out of the breech plug and straight 4198 shots went back into the group. My rifle doesn't like a fouled breech plug with heavy doses of IMR4198 unless it's duplexed.