Bought a reminder 700 sps varmint 308 and wanted to reload so bought a reloader and started. My gun is free floated and block bedded and I have some questions. I'm using 165 nosler accubond with blc2 powder. And I'm testing all my rounds with a lead sled. The best I got so far was .5 groups minus first shot. 1.5 with the first shot included. And I always have one flyer on all the loads I tested. Am I doing something wrong or is this normal. I even tried different lengths to. When I increased my length to the oal max my accuracy got was worse throwing bullets all over the place. I'm trying to load something that will group .5 to .6 and it's almost there except for that first shot. The only thing I haven't done was sling some fouling shots first I'll try that next but does anyone have any similar problems and how was it fixed.
new to reloading need help and advice
- Thread starter bungiex88
- Start date
Information on the load and how you developed iit would be helpful. However if it is always 1 shot out of 5 , my guess is it is you not the rifle or load. Led sled or not.
How does it shoot factory loads?
Is it always the first shot?
How many groups have you shot?
What was the wind like?
Assume it was 100 yds?
How does it shoot factory loads?
Is it always the first shot?
How many groups have you shot?
What was the wind like?
Assume it was 100 yds?
It was at 100 yards. No wind. It was shooting most factory loads 1 inch with shots spread all over that 1 inch no bullets ever touched with factory loads unlike what I was getting after the first shot with handloads. I got my loads from a nosler book. I took low med and high from the book with that powder. the most accurate if got so far is 42.5 grains of blc2 powder. BUT the first time to the range I took a low med and high 5 rounds a peice. Then picked the best grouping of those three then went home and made 3 more batches 1 which was the same that I got my best results from then added and took away halt a grain to get the other 2 grains went to the range and shot again with just about the same results. Basically I'm just wondering how close can you actually get with a factory rifle and handloads till its the best the gun will probably do. Or should I change powder or bullets or buy more the same and keep tweaking.
You might want to try a few different powders, burn rates are different and your rifle may like a faster or slower burning powder. Do you clean your rifle after each testing? If you do that may be why your getting that first round flyer. Most shooters have many different attitudes to how often to clean your rifle. Just sayin.
To avoid first shot fliers:
1. Clean any oil out of your bore with alcohol of "Gunscrubber."
2 Fire a round or two into the dirt berm. Then shoot your group.
When working up accuracy loads, I load 12 rounds of each powder charge.
From a CLEAN barrel, I fire two fouling shots into the berm. Then two, five shot groups. (IME, three shot groups are meaningless when loading for accuracy)
I also clean my bore thoroughly, with Sweet's 7.62 after every ten shots.
MY question is why you would need better than 1.5 inch accuracy in a big game rifle????
That translates to 4.5 at 300 yards. Well within the kill zone of a deer.
If you can't get within 300 yards of a deer, your rifle is not your problem, you need to learn how to hunt.
1. Clean any oil out of your bore with alcohol of "Gunscrubber."
2 Fire a round or two into the dirt berm. Then shoot your group.
When working up accuracy loads, I load 12 rounds of each powder charge.
From a CLEAN barrel, I fire two fouling shots into the berm. Then two, five shot groups. (IME, three shot groups are meaningless when loading for accuracy)
I also clean my bore thoroughly, with Sweet's 7.62 after every ten shots.
MY question is why you would need better than 1.5 inch accuracy in a big game rifle????
That translates to 4.5 at 300 yards. Well within the kill zone of a deer.
If you can't get within 300 yards of a deer, your rifle is not your problem, you need to learn how to hunt.
I don't think changing components will get rid of a flyer. However dble check your components for consistency may help. If your sure it isn't your setup (parallax rest etc) then :
Check oval for consistent length
Make sure cases are same brand/approx weight
How are you dispensing charges?
Have you checked run out?
Try shooting w/o changing head position. Don't shoot, look through the scope, restablisb check weld, shoot and repeat. Chamber rounds w/o moving your head.
Mark the cases that are flyers and see if it is always the same cases.
Check oval for consistent length
Make sure cases are same brand/approx weight
How are you dispensing charges?
Have you checked run out?
Try shooting w/o changing head position. Don't shoot, look through the scope, restablisb check weld, shoot and repeat. Chamber rounds w/o moving your head.
Mark the cases that are flyers and see if it is always the same cases.
I've got no problem getting close to deer at all. I've been hunting with 223 past couple years with plenty of head and neck shots with no problem but it would be nice to have something that can poke out there with a lot of energy compared to the 223. I'm not shooting at no deer beyond 250 with the 223. Me not getting close to deer is not the reason for this rifle. We have alot of ground pigs here to I'd like to try and poke a hole through at greater distances. So I know how to hunt don't you worry about that.
Yes, but from the little information provided we can not tell what. It could be the shooter, the gun or the reloads. Any of these will effect what happens.
Since you are using a Lead Sled and your results are good except for the first round, I would rule out the reloads and the rifle.
That leaves us just with the shooter as the problem. Since it is consistently the first round as a flier, I would guess it is your trigger pull or trigger break that is causing this to happen. You may want to get a trigger job on that rifle and see if improves your results.
Good luck and stay safe.
Jim
boondocker385
New member
Some rifles seem to do better with a "fouling shot" or 2, others don't. I have a Savage that doesn't need it but a Remington that does. YMMV.
Make sure you are not doing anything different between shots. Helped a friend who,using a lead sled, would start his groups with a firm grip at the beginning of each string and I could visibly see his hand relax by the 5th shot. His groups were terrible. After he corrected that, his groups tightened up.
Shoot 5 rounds not three, and once you find a good load, try it in various shooting positions, you may find 5he point of impact changing.
Make sure you are not doing anything different between shots. Helped a friend who,using a lead sled, would start his groups with a firm grip at the beginning of each string and I could visibly see his hand relax by the 5th shot. His groups were terrible. After he corrected that, his groups tightened up.
Shoot 5 rounds not three, and once you find a good load, try it in various shooting positions, you may find 5he point of impact changing.
If your using your rifle for just accuracy a trigger change would make a big difference, I started with a Rem. 700 LTR 20" brl. changed to a Jewell trigger set a 10 oz. will feel like 3lb when you get use to it. Tried 3 powders, Varget, RL15 & IMR 4064. IMR 4064 shot the tightest groups then RL15, Varget was all over the place. Remingtons have alot of free bore, so I just kept the OAL to specs 2.800, You should make your measurements to the ogive. Keep your headspace to a minimum .001. The flyer could be oil left in the barrel. My last step in cleaning I run a patch with Kroil Oil down the barrel, before the next shooting session I run two dry patches through the barrel, first shot is dead on. Hope I helped in some way. Chris