New rifle, first round set up
- Thread starter 19dsniper
- Start date
les
Hammer Time Executive member
Totally agree with Joe! Back in the 1970's full length bedding was not uncommon. My 30/06 AI is fully bedding and shoot less than 1 MOA. Sounds like you have a good load, now it is time to work on getting better barrel harmonics.
BFD
Hammer Time Executive member
Well, how about that!
Next question I pose (Not directed at you solely) is why is the COAL listed so short? SAAMI is 2.825 with common throats .050-.075 over that...
joe16
Hammer Time Executive member
LightTheTower
Hammer Time Executive member
LightTheTower
Hammer Time Executive member
LightTheTower
Hammer Time Executive member
BFD
Hammer Time Executive member
I can see being conservative, like 2.800, but that 2.680 just put ol @19dsniper in a pickle wasting components.
LightTheTower
Hammer Time Executive member
kneedeep
Hammer Time Executive member
What happened GL?
How did you loose control?
You were (are) doing an amazing job of keeping us all organized. Which I greatly appreciate all your time and work in doing so.
Kneedeep
BFD
Hammer Time Executive member
Marine is capitalized…Yut!
@kneedeep,
I'm still keeping up with the load data as always. Nothing changed there. Still update ya'll 's submissions about monthly on our spreadsheets.
Don't have a clue where the new load data stuff came from? It's Google based,so it may be from Ed Whipple? No idea?
I'll just keep trudging on til somebody says stop?
I'm still keeping up with the load data as always. Nothing changed there. Still update ya'll 's submissions about monthly on our spreadsheets.
Don't have a clue where the new load data stuff came from? It's Google based,so it may be from Ed Whipple? No idea?
I'll just keep trudging on til somebody says stop?
Im going to take the current load that I have worked up for this super lite rifle and try it in my other gun that is going with me. I cleaned it really well tonight down to bare steel. Lots of scrubbing with a nylon brush, but the patches are coming out white now.
I have double checked a number of things to include powder charge and COAL and believe that my current load is very safe to be fired in another rifle, even though I have not started low and worked up. My 10th Edition Hornady Manual lists 39.2 grains as max with a 123 grain projectile. Nosler lists 39.0 grains for a 125 gr. bullet. Ive previously run a 123 SMK and 40.1 grains Varget in this same rifle in the past. No issues.
Im sure at 41.0 Varget and the much lower bearing surface of the Hammers, I will be fine. I loaded up 15. I plan on confirming that my Super Lite is on at 100 or 200 and while slow firing that one and waiting on it to cool, I will run a few thru my Waypoint 2020. This has always been a very accurate rifle and if it shoots 0.5" or so, I will re-zero and just take 1 load with me for both guns.
I will report back here when I have a chance to shoot it. I am hoping for tomorrow some time if weather permits, but our Polar Vortex is blowing in tonight, so we will see.
I have double checked a number of things to include powder charge and COAL and believe that my current load is very safe to be fired in another rifle, even though I have not started low and worked up. My 10th Edition Hornady Manual lists 39.2 grains as max with a 123 grain projectile. Nosler lists 39.0 grains for a 125 gr. bullet. Ive previously run a 123 SMK and 40.1 grains Varget in this same rifle in the past. No issues.
Im sure at 41.0 Varget and the much lower bearing surface of the Hammers, I will be fine. I loaded up 15. I plan on confirming that my Super Lite is on at 100 or 200 and while slow firing that one and waiting on it to cool, I will run a few thru my Waypoint 2020. This has always been a very accurate rifle and if it shoots 0.5" or so, I will re-zero and just take 1 load with me for both guns.
I will report back here when I have a chance to shoot it. I am hoping for tomorrow some time if weather permits, but our Polar Vortex is blowing in tonight, so we will see.
Yeah, another unimpressive range trip today. I started with my Super Lite as the load was set up for that rifle. I don't know about believing this whole 2 round "group" thing. If I was to overlay all the 2 round groups, it would tell a very different story than what one would believe with just 2 rounds. Every time I'm down there, I'm adjusting to try and fine tune my zero and with a good load, that should not be a thing.
I fired 1 round from the super lite rifle and it landed level with the diamond, and 0.75" to the right. I then set it to the side to cool, which is not hard today as it's currently 22 degrees F. but wind chill is 12 degrees.
I then grabbed my Waypoint 2020 that has always shot Sub-Moa groups and fired a few rounds. This barrel was cleaned down to bare metal as this is the first time shooting Hammers out of it. The first round was high and right, but I did not make any scope adjustments as I know it's just starting to lay down some fouling. The next round was level and just to the left of the 1" circle, then round 3 was to the right of the circle and everything just fell apart. All told after 5 rounds the group was 2.965". Again, unimpressed.
I then set that rifle to the side and went back and fired another round on the super lite. This time it landed 1.088" above the last. So for 2 rds. it's already over an inch. I let the rifles cool while I shot .22 lr for a while, then went back and fired 3 Rds. with my Waypoint again. These 3 Rds. of Hammers measured 1.768".
Swapped rifles back to the Super lite. It was consistently 0.75 right previously so I dialed .75" left and fired 1 round. It landed right 0.75" and 1" high. I let the rifle cool. Then fired a second round. This one landed on the sticker, less than 0.25" from center and 0.5" high. I let it cool again. Fired 3rd round, this one went left on the same level as the second round. Total group size was 1.252"
Again, if I was to slow fire and overlay all the shots, there is no way this is a sub-moa. load.
I then went and decided to shoot some factory 140 grain Hornady American Gunner ammo. I purchased a 200 rd. bulk container of this and wanted to give it a try. I fired 4 shots into 0.832". It's not as nice as I would like, but it shows that it's a sub-moa load and gun. Factory ammo is shooting MUCH better than this current load of Hammers.
I have really mixed feelings as part of me is glad that my first purchase was 100 projectiles, because I only have around 20 left. But holy crap have I gone thru components trying to make this work. Im done for now. I no longer have time or resources before leaving for this hunt this weekend. I still haven't made up my mind on what to take. I really want to take this brand new rifle that I like so much, a rifle I bought specifically for this hunt. I also really want to give the 125 Hammers a go, but I just don't have confidence in it yet.
I will not be able to try again till next year. I use to do contract work killing hundreds of deer and hogs off state parks and other locations. However those contracts are over as our 2 oldest have retired and our Dr./ Veterinarian is also retired and he was the one that did all the lab work on our scientific research permits. So I now get 1 chance per year to hunt. This trip is it. I will make up my mind tonight on what to take and figure it out I guess.
Im honestly glad I didn't place a huge order of more hammers like I was looking at doing yesterday. I got excited and was going to make about a $500 purchase across 3 different calibers. I am honestly re-thinking things. Maybe I should purchase the sample pack to save money and give that a shot, but there is no way this would have worked this go around as I'm 80 rounds in across 2 different rifles and I still don't have a sub minute load.
I fired 1 round from the super lite rifle and it landed level with the diamond, and 0.75" to the right. I then set it to the side to cool, which is not hard today as it's currently 22 degrees F. but wind chill is 12 degrees.
I then grabbed my Waypoint 2020 that has always shot Sub-Moa groups and fired a few rounds. This barrel was cleaned down to bare metal as this is the first time shooting Hammers out of it. The first round was high and right, but I did not make any scope adjustments as I know it's just starting to lay down some fouling. The next round was level and just to the left of the 1" circle, then round 3 was to the right of the circle and everything just fell apart. All told after 5 rounds the group was 2.965". Again, unimpressed.
I then set that rifle to the side and went back and fired another round on the super lite. This time it landed 1.088" above the last. So for 2 rds. it's already over an inch. I let the rifles cool while I shot .22 lr for a while, then went back and fired 3 Rds. with my Waypoint again. These 3 Rds. of Hammers measured 1.768".
Swapped rifles back to the Super lite. It was consistently 0.75 right previously so I dialed .75" left and fired 1 round. It landed right 0.75" and 1" high. I let the rifle cool. Then fired a second round. This one landed on the sticker, less than 0.25" from center and 0.5" high. I let it cool again. Fired 3rd round, this one went left on the same level as the second round. Total group size was 1.252"
Again, if I was to slow fire and overlay all the shots, there is no way this is a sub-moa. load.
I then went and decided to shoot some factory 140 grain Hornady American Gunner ammo. I purchased a 200 rd. bulk container of this and wanted to give it a try. I fired 4 shots into 0.832". It's not as nice as I would like, but it shows that it's a sub-moa load and gun. Factory ammo is shooting MUCH better than this current load of Hammers.
I have really mixed feelings as part of me is glad that my first purchase was 100 projectiles, because I only have around 20 left. But holy crap have I gone thru components trying to make this work. Im done for now. I no longer have time or resources before leaving for this hunt this weekend. I still haven't made up my mind on what to take. I really want to take this brand new rifle that I like so much, a rifle I bought specifically for this hunt. I also really want to give the 125 Hammers a go, but I just don't have confidence in it yet.
I will not be able to try again till next year. I use to do contract work killing hundreds of deer and hogs off state parks and other locations. However those contracts are over as our 2 oldest have retired and our Dr./ Veterinarian is also retired and he was the one that did all the lab work on our scientific research permits. So I now get 1 chance per year to hunt. This trip is it. I will make up my mind tonight on what to take and figure it out I guess.
Im honestly glad I didn't place a huge order of more hammers like I was looking at doing yesterday. I got excited and was going to make about a $500 purchase across 3 different calibers. I am honestly re-thinking things. Maybe I should purchase the sample pack to save money and give that a shot, but there is no way this would have worked this go around as I'm 80 rounds in across 2 different rifles and I still don't have a sub minute load.
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Super lite was brand new out of box. As such I torqued everything and cleaned the barrel. Then shot. Cleaned it after around 50 rds of Hammers.
This other rifle I have shot alot. Always 140 AG or 143 eld-x. Because of that, I cleaned before switching to hammers. No other cleaning.
This other rifle I have shot alot. Always 140 AG or 143 eld-x. Because of that, I cleaned before switching to hammers. No other cleaning.
LightTheTower
Hammer Time Executive member
I don’t know what to think. If you hadn’t shot those 4 AG’s, I’d be questioning your scope’s ability to hold zero. My brother had a Razr do something very similar a year ago. I’ve got a feeling we’re missing something simple…
I don’t know what to think. If you hadn’t shot those 4 AG’s, I’d be questioning your scope’s ability to hold zero. My brother had a Razr do something very similar a year ago. I’ve got a feeling we’re missing something simple…
I honestly hope so. From what ive read, I really want to make these 125's work. Ive checked all the torque settings and nothing has moved. I use a blue paint marker to make sure as a quick visual reference on screws after it's torqued. I still took the torque wrench out and double checked just to be sure. It's all good. I know that you can play with group size based off of torque on the stock. But first I need a known accurate load, or at least consistent, to see if the group gets bigger or smaller based off of stock torque values. So I will need an accurate load before playing with stock torque.
After I get back from my trip this weekend, I will load up some 140 ELDM or even 130 ELDM and try those in this rifle to see how the rifle performs. I know the waypoint is good to go as with the 143 ELDX it will shoot in the 0.4" range on a regular basis. So I will focus on the Super Lite and see what it does. I still haven't even tried my go to load of 143 ELDX with 41.5 H4350. I wanted to keep all hammers in this rifle, at least before this hunt.
Once the hunt is over, it's not important till next year. So I will have a lot more time to figure things out. I am still going to order up some 80 grain HHT for the 6.5 and the 138 gr HHT for my 308. Im just going to make them sample packs I guess. I can't see buying 100 of each and another 100 of the 125 gr HHT. It's too much money till I get something figured out.
If I have a few minutes before leaving Friday morning, I will head down and shoot some more AG and then a few of my 143 ELDX load in my Waypoint. At least that way I can lay in a little more fouling before heading down for the hunt. That and I really need the confidence booster at this point. I hate shooting like I did today as it really gets in my head before a big hunt.