How are my SDs in my DPMS G2 BULL 24"

[jugornot]

How are my SDs? Load test done with Magnetospeed. The test started with 43.8 grains of varget and continued by .2 grain to 44.6. Max load on Hogdgon site is 45 grains. Shot with DPMS G2 BULL 24" barrel. Grains of Varget added to spreadsheet.

Series 1 Shots: 5 43.8
Min 2644 Max 2663
Avg 2654 S-D 7.4
ES 19

Series Shot Speed
1 1 2652 ft/s
1 2 2654 ft/s
1 3 2644 ft/s
1 4 2660 ft/s
1 5 2663 ft/s
---- ---- ---- ----
Series 2 Shots: 5 44
Min 2649 Max 2655
Avg 2651 S-D 2.4
ES 6

Series Shot Speed
2 1 2655 ft/s
2 2 2651 ft/s
2 3 2649 ft/s
2 4 2652 ft/s
2 5 2649 ft/s
---- ---- ---- ----
Series 3 Shots: 5 44.2
Min 2649 Max 2664
Avg 2659 S-D 6.0
ES 15

Series Shot Speed
3 1 2649 ft/s
3 2 2660 ft/s
3 3 2663 ft/s
3 4 2664 ft/s
3 5 2661 ft/s
---- ---- ---- ----
Series 4 Shots: 5 44.4
Min 2662 Max 2684
Avg 2676 S-D 9.1
ES 22

Series Shot Speed
4 1 2678 ft/s
4 2 2662 ft/s
4 3 2684 ft/s
4 4 2684 ft/s
4 5 2674 ft/s
---- ---- ---- ----
Series 5 Shots: 5 44.6
Min 2672 Max 2682
Avg 2675 S-D 3.8
ES 10

Series Shot Speed
5 1 2674 ft/s
5 2 2676 ft/s
5 3 2672 ft/s
5 4 2675 ft/s
5 5 2682 ft/s
---- ---- ---- ----

 

[Bfglowkey]

Any time your getting single digit SDs your doing good. You have 2 alone that are below 5...that is money in the bank in terms of consistency. Now if the groups are solid you may have a good load on your hand. Yes....it is possible to have great SD/ES numbers and it still be out of harmonic whack of your barrel making a shotgunesque pattern.

 

[jugornot]

Thanks for the reply. Actually I was satisfied with the groups. The largest was .868 and the smallest was .377. The .377 was a fluke as the rifle is pretty consistent .5 to .7. My goal is for single digit ES. According to some sources that is attainable. I truly love accurate guns and hand loading has halved my group sizes.

 

[Bfglowkey]

I have seen single digit ES's...just don't over stress your self attaining. So many variables that can push a recipe it will drive you mad. When you start taking case scrapings from inside your fired brass and send it off to forensics for analysis...then you know your going a little too far lol! Enjoy your new recipe....NEXT!

 

[hounddawg]

looks like you found a nice flat node, I never chronoed my gas guns , they are just plinkers, but for a bolt gun I would love to have a wide node like that for 500 yd+ shooting

@43.8 your average is 2644 @ 44.6 it is 2675. 31 FPS ES for .8 gns difference is nice. You could load your rounds with a powder throw and no trickling and get good velocity consistency.

If it is a cold where you are as it is where I am I would be loading that 43.8 charge and it still should shoot good for you year round

do you have the option to tweak the bullet in or out to tune groups? Usually when the SD's are low the groups are small but sometimes tweaking them .003 to .005 in one direction or the other can help tighten a group up

Post some pics please, I love pics of targets, guns, ranges and benches

 

[jugornot]

Thanks for the reply. No tweaking of bullet seating. All are loaded to just clear mag. I am considering entering my gas guns into local matches. Both of my bolt guns are single shot. Not impossible for timed event but improbable. I am now loading to 44.6 which is almost max and not compressed. I also like the fact that average Fps from 44.4 to 44.6 actually decreased by 1 fps. I won't advance to 44.8 as Sierra lists that as a compressed load. Hogdgon lists 45 as max load. Range temp was in the 40s when this was shot. Last summer (really hot) I was shooting 44.4 grains of Varget with no problem. After some work it has turned into a nice rifle. Sorry no targets. When you accumulate several thousand the wife makes you do something with them. I measure them and remember some recent, but that's it. With the new range I only use targets for load tests and maybe to zero once in a while. Will try to save the next load test.
BFG no worries about over stressing Spent 40 years as an Instrument Tech, working on systems that would easily kill you.

 

[hounddawg]

I would not worry about any more load developing on that gun then, just load em and shoot em.

Most of the F class shooters shoot one shotters and I have seen some shoot gas guns at mid range matches. Twenty minutes for 20 shots means no rush and plenty of time. I think I have learned more about shooting in one year of competing than I did in 5 years of just plinking. Just get out there, have fun and learn. I did a 3 target match this morning and went from really reallu bad to really good.

I missed a wind shift on the first target and ended up with four 8's and a 7(ouch!!). Went back to my normal 190 score the second target and smoked the last target with a 196 9X which is my highest X count ever on a target. Same rifle and all rounds loaded at the same time so I own that first target, just plain bad shooting on my part. Get into some club level competition and I bet you will love it.

Point is though I had a great time at that match, talked with some really nice people and had a great morning in spite of completely missing that wind shift

 

[jugornot]

Trouble with my ranges matches is it is all positional shooting. After Both knees and a shoulder replacement and degenerative disk disease uncle Arthur has a firm grip on me. Changes position takes many seconds instead of instants. There is no running just a timely shuffle. 20 minutes without moving would be torture. For now I still shoot just to impress myself. It is one of the most satisfying endeavors I know. The feedback is nearly instantaneous. I don't know of any FTR matches in the central NC area. By the way nice recovery on your match. Good shooting. Do your targets run 1 moa for 10 and 1/2 moa for x's?

 

[hounddawg]

F class would be perfect for you, I call it low and slow shooting. I would say the average age of F class shooters in my area is 70 - 75 years old. I know of one paraplegic shooter who does his own equipment setup and shoots consistent high 190's.

BTW that load data is a perfect example of what I was attempting to describe in the scale thread that got shut down.

With this load you hit that perfect mix of the right powder, bullet, primer and cartridge for that barrel. You can be off by one or two tenths of a grain from the target weight and have good velocities. Load to the middle and shoot it in 30F in January and 90F in August and never change the scope zero

 

[jugornot]

You are right and this is where I went wrong with our discusion. It is impossible to just do good enough for me. Some people including my wife, say I'm a perfectionist. I tell them how wrong they are and say I just have high standards. If it is within my ability to improve something I will. I am also a gestalt type of person. Everything contributes to the whole. And the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The parts I put in to reloading are to very high standards. The whole has been very rewarding to me.

At my old range I took a Intro to long range shooting class. After several hours in the classroom, we went to the range. We worked on prone position and then shot our first target AT 25 Yards. After our first 3 shot group, I realized the problem. I was the only person with a one hole group. The next smallest group was just over an inch. I went in to the class wondering if I was unprepared.

By the way after 45 years my wife now says she has very high standards. Don't ask her what other people call her. Maybe there is something to that lead by example thing. Sometimes I get to caught up in myself to recognize there are other ways.

By the way my bolt guns are FTR models. Haven't been able to find matches within reasonable distances. That would be disadvantageous in F class. There the cartridge could make a 30% difference in hits.

 

[hounddawg]

Don't tell the FTR guys that .308 is disadvantageous. A lot of the guys shooting it at our matches are shooting high master scores. The FTR and F Open are separate divisions as far as matches go and it is not uncommon to see a .308 shooter have the highest scores all the way around and sometimes the difference in 1st and 2nd place comes down to the X count

about the scale thing, no sweat. If I were shooting 1000 yard benchrest it's a good bet I would be using a high end scale. But it is just like that how much does it matter series there are diminishing returns. Best investment I can make in my shooting right now is practice practice practice. Group centering kicks my butt and that is a shooter issue not a gear problem

 

[jugornot]

According to the How Much Does It Matter guy the big three for improving is wind calls, range estimation and cartridge selection. Two of which come from practice.