Should have suspected this was not going to be easy when, on the first trip to range, my chronograph gave it up. Guess I can't complain, it has served me well for a bit over 30 years. The good news was the Mfg. offered a 30% discount to old customers; the bad news turned out to be the two month wait for the replacement. Impatient as I am, couldn't wait so was "forced" to do it the old fashioned way. Didn't realize how much I leaned on the chronograph when working up a load.
Really wanted to use the 125 gr. Speer TNT but the rifle vetoed that after several trips to range and an number of powder combinations. 1 1/4" @ 100 was best it would do.
I suspect the problem was the short case/long throat combined resulted in a .109" bullet jump, even w/only about half a bullet diameter seated in case neck. I started to worry that the 1:10 twist was not going to handle lighter bullets. Stubborn as I am, tried some Nosler 110 gr. Varmagedons which surprisingly showed some promise on first trip and, due to different shaped ogive, can load as close as .020" off lands.
Found that moa groups were fairly common with H 335 and H4895 both. Finally settled on 46.5 gr. of H335 and 49 gr. of H4895 as the favored charge and loaded 5 rounds each w/both powders @ .010, .020 and .030 off lands.
The H335 produced one five shot group of .665":
and another of 1.013":
This 5 shot H4895 group measured 1.03" but four of those shots measured .254".....just couldn't stand prosperity, I guess.
I think I'll file the H335 away as a possible but pursue the 4895 because of the 15 rounds loaded, 13 measured .790" and I called one of the fliers out.
Unfortunately, I am still flying blind as to velocities since the new chronograph failed on first trip to the range and is back to manufacturer; hopefully they will get it back a lot quicker than they replaced the old one.
According to the books, the 4895 (max load) should run 3200 fps in 24" barrel (the Scout has an 18") but not much info on the H335. May be a while before I can get to a 300 yard range to check trajectories and no telling when I'll see the chronograph.
Regards,
hm
Really wanted to use the 125 gr. Speer TNT but the rifle vetoed that after several trips to range and an number of powder combinations. 1 1/4" @ 100 was best it would do.
I suspect the problem was the short case/long throat combined resulted in a .109" bullet jump, even w/only about half a bullet diameter seated in case neck. I started to worry that the 1:10 twist was not going to handle lighter bullets. Stubborn as I am, tried some Nosler 110 gr. Varmagedons which surprisingly showed some promise on first trip and, due to different shaped ogive, can load as close as .020" off lands.
Found that moa groups were fairly common with H 335 and H4895 both. Finally settled on 46.5 gr. of H335 and 49 gr. of H4895 as the favored charge and loaded 5 rounds each w/both powders @ .010, .020 and .030 off lands.
The H335 produced one five shot group of .665":
and another of 1.013":
This 5 shot H4895 group measured 1.03" but four of those shots measured .254".....just couldn't stand prosperity, I guess.
I think I'll file the H335 away as a possible but pursue the 4895 because of the 15 rounds loaded, 13 measured .790" and I called one of the fliers out.
Unfortunately, I am still flying blind as to velocities since the new chronograph failed on first trip to the range and is back to manufacturer; hopefully they will get it back a lot quicker than they replaced the old one.
According to the books, the 4895 (max load) should run 3200 fps in 24" barrel (the Scout has an 18") but not much info on the H335. May be a while before I can get to a 300 yard range to check trajectories and no telling when I'll see the chronograph.
Regards,
hm