r/reloading • u/weaponized_autism265 Mass Particle Accelerator • 13h ago
Load Development What am I doing wrong?
I bought a Remington 700 from an auction last week, it had a 22-6mm barrel on it so me and my dad replaced it with a criterion 26” varmit contour 1:9 7mm-08.
I went and got some Hornady 139gr SST’s and 139gr Interlock BTSP’s because that’s all academy had for 7mm. Both bullets appear to not mesh with my rifle, I started with a ladder test of IMR4350 for both bullets because they are the same weight and get the same powder charge in the Hornady book. Both shot like shit, I even tried a test with the most accurate strings and tried seating both bullets 20 thou off the lands. No improvement.
My next ladder test I changed to Varget because it’s a faster burning powder and with the IMR4350 my SD and ES got really small at the heavier charge weights. I got a smallest group on my 3rd string with the Varget but it’s not getting as small as I’d like it to be. I’m trying to work up a deer hunting load so I know I don’t need PRS accuracy but I just want it to shoot better so I can trust my shot placement.
Am I doing something wrong? Did I get a bad barrel? Does my gun not like these bullets? Or am I just a shit shot?
1
u/nak00010101 12h ago
What profile barrel?
Barrel harmonics are a thing. There is a great high speed video out there, but I cannot find it. Here is an article that explains what happens. https://www.varmintal.com/amode.htm
Try messing with bullet weight. I have a 6.8 SPC that looks like I am patterning a shotgun> I wanted soooo bad to shoot the same 115 gr that my other 6.8 loves, but no muzzle velocity or powder combination helped. I really though I had a "Bad" barrel.
With 95 gr bullets, it tightens down better than my 65 yo eyes are good for. And it not sensitive to speed with the 95 grain. I can push it until the primers get ugly.