300 yards today also!

[Richard]

d**n, that Herman does get some good groups with my duplex!(even if they are only three shots ;D)! I tried to coax him into putting two more shots in the group.............but he would not budge Since I started shooting that duplex back in October of 09' it has consistently shot well. I posted one of my best 5 shot 100 yd. groups at .6" along with other sub moa groups. I also shot a 3.5" five shot 300 yard group. So no doubt, this one is a keeper. I have played with shifting the powder charges around but always come back to 17/56 ---- N-110/N-130.

Today I did a lot of playing with various sabot less loads. I recently got my hands on some sizing dies that enabled me to fine tune the diameter of the bullets. Besides my original .448" die, I now have dies in .451, .450, .4495 and .4490. I worked on sizing some 250 gr. .452" Hornady SST's and got them down to .450" after coming out of the .4490 die. (I ran them thru all four dies) At .450 I can push them down the bore with one hand but a very even feel all the way down. The velocities were pretty good even though the accuracy could have been a bit better. The next time I will stop sizing after the .4495 die. These bullets had not been knurled previously. I only prepped ten bullets and shot five at 100 and five at 200.

The third group was shot with the same duplex along with the .225 FTX and only got 3" for five shots at 200 yds.

Groups four used the 200 gr. FTX and a different duplex as I was out of the the above charges. This was the proven 6/65.......N-11-/N-120 duplex which works very well with saboted 200 gr.bullets. Don't know what happened but after three shots in 6.2", I gave up

For the fifth group I went to the 17/56....N-110/N-130 load again with the 200 gr. FTX and gave up after two shots in 4"

At the NRA convention on Friday, I picked up a dozen 180 gr. Nosler .40 hollow points to try. I pointed them up for a better profile and the five shot 100 yd. group (5/65 ...N-110-N-120) came in at 2.1"

For group #8 I used the same duplex with the 200 gr. XTP which was also pointed. This gave a four shot group right at 1 inch with the fifth shot making it 2"

And lastly, Herman and Bill conned me into shooting the 17/56 duplex with the same 200 gr. SST that Herman shot that 1 3/4" group. Since I did not have a target set at 300 I was going to shoot my 200 yard target. They subsequently convinced me to shoot on Bill's 300 yard target (hence the black target board). After the first three shots ( which measured 3.5") I just had to add two more ;D And....................it still stayed at 3.5" which I thought was not too bad!
Richard

[herman]

HE He !
Don't tell richard but I am going to try N110/N120=10/60 grs next.I think this is one of his loads to but not sure. ;D

[sw]

:)Richard,
Your reports are very helpful. I do wish that your barrel was not shortened so that we would have a real apples to apples. Think trying the same loads in our more std 25" barrels will yield the same results? I'm going to try the same and then possibly drop back a grain or 2 on both powders. Personal opinion is that the 40 cal loads are better overall for hunting: higher BCs, flatter trajectories, a little tougher bullets. Might substitute VV-133 for the 130 in the last load and even possibly increase to 57-58 gs. Thoughts?

[KerryB]

Hey buddy, i sure do enjoy following these posts! I was just sitting here thinking............i read a lot of posts here, but these weekly range reports of yours are something that i study and ponder...........very interesting indeed! Thanks for going to the effort of recording and posting your results for the rest of us to enjoy and benefit from. Edge and i are still saving all of your data in the load data section and your photos in the Doug's Photobucket account to guard against losing this valuable information. Thanks again my friend for your generosity with your hard work and data! KerryB

[edge]

It is funny that the FTX will sometimes shoot a good group, then fall apart on the next.
Looking through the spreadsheet I see some of the 200 and 300 yard groups have exceedingly low vertical dispersion but 10 inches or more horizontal!!

edge.

[bigmoose]

Richard,

After seeing the groups you and Herman,shot, I decided to tear up all the targets I saved and was proud of.
Or maybe I start a file maked, "OVER 76 TARGET" "SMILE"

very fine shooting.

[Richard]

Thanks to all for the kind words. I really do enjoy shooting this rifle and posting the results for everyone to "ponder ;D" At times my groups are very rewarding........and at other times they just get me pulling what little hair I have, out of my head!
SW...........Yesterday, Herman and I both shot that same duplex ....17/56 of N-110/N-130. While mine averaged in the low 2900's, out of his 25" PN he was getting right around 3,000 fps. for the extra two inches. I am still contemplating ordering a new PN for my other Savage but now, Oehler decided to come out with the M35P chronograph again and my tongue is hanging out . $450 for the PN and $575 for the Oehler decisions, decisions
Edge.........part of the problem is I am trying various loads that I might not have tried before with those FTX's Plus slightly different sizing procedures. That 17/56 load I have shot many times and it always produces good to great results (maybe you could pull them up?) The same goes for the 5/65 N-110/N-120 loads. I was all set to try 73 gr. straight N-120 but sort of ran out of time.
Big moose...........When you shoot as much as Herman and I and with as many loads as we shoot, you are bound to find some good ones. Also, having a good rifle, barrel, scope, trigger, benches, rests and everything else, also helps.

Just a note: That three hundred yard five shot group was totally shot in under 20 minutes. Without the cool rod, it would have taken over an hour. So, thank EDGE for the concept! And enjoy shooting all summer (yeah, even in Florida Big Moose!)
Richard

[boarhog]

Richard,
Great shooting and very interesting range report as usual! You are my Hero!

I am curious about the new 35-P. Have you heard of there being any changes in their design, or features, since I got my 35-P in 1992? I was not completely happy with mine until I discovered it had a bad cable on the START screen. It likely was bad from the beginning, or nearly so. Since I replaced it with some good quality microphone cable, I have not had a failure to read on any shot that wasn't a blown sabot, and it read most of those. Customer service at Oehler is fantastic!

[smokeeter]

May 20, 2010 13:45:21 GMT -5 Richard said:

$450 for the PN and $575 for the Oehler decisions, decisions

what decisions.................... gettem both and be done with it

[Richard]

Easy for you Smoke.............If I had your money I could burn mine ;D. Got a son who has been out of work over a year and helping him stay afloat gets expensive. 45 years old and I still can't shake him loose

Boarhog.......When I talked to Ken Oehler last Friday, I got the impression that it was pretty much the same. Two check screens on a 4 ft. bar, tripod, printer and case. Have you made any provisions for protecting the photo cells? My Pact set up is about sabot proof now. Just wish the photo cells could be spaced further apart for more accurate readings.
Richard

[deadon]

Hey guys, Maybe richard,herman an bill are the"Rat Pack" of the shooting world, Minus the booze ;D Great shooting and great post!

[boarhog]

Richard,
I clamp a 1/4" piece of Plexi-Glass to the start screen, and it has been knocked off a time or two. The front orange diffuser has quite a few chips pecked out of the reinforcing ribs, all done by sabots. If I had a table saw, I would split a piece of 3/4 PVC to put on them as a guard. Pix attached below.

When I talked to Ken Oehler, he told me that the diffusers help, whether sunny or cloudy, and that has been my experience. When I've tried to chrono without them, it didn't work so well. The 35-P seems harder to get set up than the Crony, but is probably more accurate. Using a laser bore sighter to line up the screens is a big help. There are DIP switches inside the brain that you can change to 8' screen spacing, if you want. Mine came equipped with a 2' conduit, but I changed to a 4'.

[artjr338wm]

If it is the same 35p discontinued some 5 or so years ago, I need to know how it can now cost, when one includes S&H call it $600 , when it cost prior to discontinue $300 W/S&H Fm NSS on sale, and IIRC around $349 W/printer not on sale.

I would love to buy a 35p, but at around $600 that is more than = to what a month & 1/2 of Pvt school costs me both of my sons.

It just dawned on me would this work? the 35p is so accurate due to it's third so called "proof screen" does anyone know if taking two $100 Shooting Chronys and lining them up one after the other and shooting trough them will give accurate readings and also use chrono #2 as a type of proof check of chrono #1?
I know it sounds some what laughable and cave man in its approach, but I can buy two Shooting Chronys for around 1/3rd the cost of a 35p.
I could easily build a bracket to hold both Shooting chronys and have them line up exactly.

Just a thought based on saving allot of $$$.

[boarhog]

Seems like I paid a bit over $300.00 in 1992, but that did NOT include the printer. It felt just as hard to come up with the $ then, as it would to scratch up $600.00 now! Times are still pretty tough around here.

[Richard]

Art...........what you are saying is definitely feasible but unless you had the remote printer for the second one, it would be hard seeing the readings? For that matter, you could set one down range at say 100 yards and see your readings thru your scope or spotting scope. It would also facilitate establishing the BC on your bullets. My friend in La. has two Oehler 43 ballistic chronographs with his photo cells set 24 ft. apart. One near his bench and one out at his target with is 280 yards. These of course, are on permanently mounted posts on his property. His accuracy is within 2 fps. (one of those engineer types )
Richard