Originally Posted By: sneeky_sniperI had a .17 Remington that I loaded several 5 shot load groups for to find the perfect powder/charge. It was a good central Texas summer day, and I would shoot 5rds, clean, shoot a fouling shot, and shoot 5 more rounds, I got to my last (hottest) ( both temperature and powder charge) 5 round bunch and fired the first shot.... Nothing on the paper.... Checked bore (clear).... Took my time and fired #2.... again nothing on paper... Checked bore.... (clear) got a factory Rem round that I'd been using as fouling rounds and fired it. Dead on target. Hmmmmm....
Then I moved the target to 50yds and found out that the little 25gr pills were turning to srapnel that wouldn't kill a rat at 50yds. Yes it can happen.
That .17 developed a problem with "keyholing" rounds. And with no rhyme or reason, didn't matter what load, it would just do it occasionally. You can't believe what a 25gr HP will do to a fox at 35yds when it hits him tumbling sideways at 4100fps.
Key holing does not come from incorrect charge, high or low, its the bullet itself that is wrong the weight for your twist barrel. I have a barrel that has over 10,000 rounds throught it shoots fine, but the groups have opened maybe .005 thousands.
If you post over on Benchrest Central they will tell you the same thing, but be my guest and ask them yourself.
If you find the correct weight bullet for your twist you can just seat the bullet a little deeper into the lands and it will be fine. This is exactly what I did with my 6PPC barrel and proved my belief correct.