85 gn sierra Varminters

[Doon]

Did some testing with the 85gn Sierra HP today

Series 14 Shots: 3 85 GN Sieria hp
Min 2909 Max 2914
Avg 2912 S-D 2.6
ES 5

Series Shot Speed
14 1 2914 ft/s 27.2 gn AR2207
14 2 2909 ft/s 27.2 gn AR2207
14 3 2913 ft/s 27.2 gn AR2207

This was my final string and grouped as per pic
All groups were shot with magnetospeed on suppressor.
Hornady brass. fed 205 primer, ADI AR2207 Powder.
Rifle Savage/howa 20.5 inch barrel suppressed. Distance 100 yards

[bow shot]

Thanks for the data, and 'good to see you are at it Doon! I hope to be working up loads and punching paper soon, hopefully w/i a month. Can't wait!!!!

[Doon]

Thanks for the data, and 'good to see you are at it Doon! I hope to be working up loads and punching paper soon, hopefully w/i a month. Can't wait!!!!

No worries,
The 27.2 load is max published data,


85 GR. SIE HP AR2207 .264" 2.240" 24.5 2674 38500 psi 27.2 C 2919 49500 ps
Start at 24.5 and workup!!!
The coal of 2.240 is not possible,the projectile would hardly be sitting in the case.
85 gn HP 1.810 to ogive , coal 2.224 was my seating depth.
You would probably have to seat deeper than this as my chamber is not saami.

[Fat Albert]

Good Day! I ran Doom's load through Quick Load and it is spot on. BUT can one of you Vegemite Eaters down there call ADI and find out what the hell kind of brass they are using. ADI and Hodgdon data shows that both their max data listed for 2207(H4198) and 2207 (H322) as compressed loads but QL lists them at 88.4% and 88.3% fills. I would call them my self but if my wife saw a phone call from The Socialist/Marxist Peoples Republic Of California to Down Under on are bill it would hit the fan. I have e-mailed them in the past and they never got back with me. Thanks "Start low and work up"

[Doon]

Good Day! I ran Doom's load through Quick Load and it is spot on. BUT can one of you Vegemite Eaters down there call ADI and find out what the hell kind of brass they are using. ADI and Hodgdon data shows that both their max data listed for 2207(H4198) and 2207 (H322) as compressed loads but QL lists them at 88.4% and 88.3% fills. I would call them my self but if my wife saw a phone call from The Socialist/Marxist Peoples Republic Of California to Down Under on are bill it would hit the fan. I have e-mailed them in the past and they never got back with me. Thanks "Start low and work up"

Her you go no need to call them and upset the handbrake,lol

http://www.adi-powders.com.au/handloaders/rifle.asp?Calibre=6.5mm+Grendel

[bow shot]

Finally...:
IMG_0738.jpg
IMG_0737.jpg
IMG_0736.jpg
IMG_0735.jpg

[bow shot]

Sorry for the tiny pics.. Anyway, I'm working:
New Norma brass
Fed 205m Primers
85gn Sierra Varminters
Benchmark powder 27.0 - 30.0gns, in 0.2gn increments (27.0 is shot 1, 27.2 is shot 2, 27.3 is shot 3...etc.)

I'll be shooting 5 sessions of round-robins, looking for a series of powder charges that tend to (vertical) group closest together.

I could could only get 10 shots off today. Looks like a possible node at shots 5, 6, 7. Time will tell as I shot more round-robins. Never got to finish today, too many guys at the range, lol!
IMG_0734.jpg

[greaseywater]

I just read through the thread. Thanks for posting the details and following up after your 3 year hiatus.

At what distance are you shooting the ladders?

[bow shot]

Aye, very sorry this took so long... can't believe I finally have the chance to get back at this.

Well, unfortunately I'm limited to 100y now. I just moved here (KY) from NY and that's all the room I have at a local range. Back home, I'd print ladders from 465 yards, so I realize this set won't tell me much, lol! At distance (I like at least 300y) its much easier to see nodes. I will be trying to get feelers out over the next few weeks to find a farm or something where I can set up. I have a bad feeling though it aint gonna be easy to find a place, so the round robin sessions might just end up being the old fashioned "shooting for groups" style of load testing.. and I just don't like doing it that way.

Here's a ladder from my 6.5-284 norma rifle from 465y, from back in 2013, which was the last time I was able to do load work :^( . The tiny cluster at the top was with a very hot load, 142gn Sierra Game or Matchkings, I forget which...lol!!
IMG_0668 small.jpg

[Cooper]

Good Day! I ran Doom's load through Quick Load and it is spot on. BUT can one of you Vegemite Eaters down there call ADI and find out what the hell kind of brass they are using. ADI and Hodgdon data shows that both their max data listed for 2207(H4198) and 2207 (H322) as compressed loads but QL lists them at 88.4% and 88.3% fills. I would call them my self but if my wife saw a phone call from The Socialist/Marxist Peoples Republic Of California to Down Under on are bill it would hit the fan. I have e-mailed them in the past and they never got back with me. Thanks "Start low and work up"

I'm a Vegimite eater from the land down under. I generally found the ADI data pretty good. The lastest edition hard copy has been updated using Lapua brass. So far I've found it to be pretty close.
I have 85gr Sierra's to try and AR2207. I probably would have just stuck to 8208. But I guess you have to try different things once in awhile.

[greaseywater]

I hope I didn't come across as judging your progress. If 100 yrds is what you have, then it's what you have.

I'm just starting on reloading, so every bit of information is helpful. Even the stuff a lot of the more experienced guys leave out because it's too simple or they've covered it up and down already. (which I understand. The search tool gets a lot of work).

[bow shot]

No problem greaseywater! I didn't take it wrong

[bow shot]

Well, I can't get the distance I need for a ladder, so I settled for a 5-shots-per charge round-robin test @ 100y

Brass: Unfired Norma
Primer: Fed 205M
Bullet: 85gn sierra Varminter
Calse length: untrimmed, 1.510 +/- 0.005"
OAL: 1.2060" (Lee F/L sized)
COAL: 2.11 +/- 0.005" (Wilson seater)
Powder: Benchmark
charges: 27.0 - 30.0 in 0.2gn increments
Best charges: 28.3 and 29.5 gave me about 0.3" vertical

It took many hours to to squeeze off all of the shots, letting the barrel cool 4 minutes between shots. I have no scientific basis for 4 minutes, it just seemed right. I started by popping off 10 shots or so of some other ammo.

Things about this test:
1) I only based the merit of the charges on the vertical spread. I could go on and on about why..
2) 85 degrees, calm wind
3) I was unable to track my recoil, and see if it was consistent. We have to shoot through these stupid tubes at the range, so you can't "see" where the retical "lands" after the shot; you just see the black inside of the tube. There was some evidence that the recoil was almost straight horizontal-left.
4) I realized at one set of rounds that my parallax was waaaaay off. I excluded those shots form the groups.
5) I printed some rounds on the wrong targets, but realized pretty quickly, and was able to make the appropriate notes/marks on the appropriate targets.

IMG_0744.jpg IMG_0745.jpg

[bow shot]

BTW.. I found out that the Norma (and Nosler) brass have SMALL flash holes. The Hornady has large. I'm sure it makes a difference... not sure why Norma went with small..

Also, Nosler is made by Norma and is finshed off with a full prep so it's ready to load out of the box (full length sized, trimmed, de-burred, chamfered, flash holes uniformed) . I don't think the Norma is prepped at all. Hence when you see Nosler for sale, its a little more pricey that most other. Fantastic brass, I used to load 204 Ruger with it.

[Huckleberry75]

I use 85 gr Sierra for varmint. They chrono at about 3190 average and make big holes.
20 inch Satern barrel

What powder are you running for this load?