Load sucked

[garryc]

I loaded 25 grains of 3031 behind a Speer 50 grain TNT. Accuracy sucked!!

These bullets are part of a bulk pack I bought about 18 years ago. Truthfully I don't ever remember them shooting well in anything, but better than this. They shot really bad in both my M700 ADL and my AR. Granted, the trigger on that ADL is really bad and I don't know if I can get it to adjust to tolerable levels or if I just need to scrap it. I'm considering the Jard trigger that replaces the parts inside the Remington housing.

Anyway, I'm wondering if I should make this same load behind a Nosler 50 grain BT, of which I have a limited supply.

Would you try it?

 

[Nathan]

Yes. Bullets are generally the problem

 

[chris in va]

What is the twist rate?

 

[Nick_C_S]

I don't load for rifle. But in the pistol world, this:

Yes. Bullets are generally the problem.

 

[Panfisher]

I have had several bullets that shot poorly, but with a different recipe they shot quite well. I would try a different load be for giving up on them.

 

[hoghunting]

I have had several bullets that shot poorly, but with a different recipe they shot quite well

Exactly, it takes more than one powder to rule out a bad performance by any bullet.

 

[44 AMP]

I guess we'll just assume you're talking about a .223 here?

 

[jdscholer]

How bad was bad? Was this from a bench rested situation? Range??

 

[mikld]

It's been said "Cheap bullets give cheap accuracy, and premium bullets give premium accuracy..."

 

[T. O'Heir]

The trigger on that ADL is adjustable.
Did you work up to 25 grains of 3031 or just pick the max load? Either way you must work up the load for each rifle. The chances of finding one load both rifle shoot well are slim.
Like Chris says, what the rifling twist is can make a difference, but a 50 isn't too unusual for .223. The AR have a stock 20" barrel? Remington uses 1 in 12 for .223. Even in elderly ADL's.
"...It's been said..." Incorrectly. Premium bullets just cost more.

 

[Catfish]

I bought some bulk bullets years ago that turned out to be seconds. I could could barely get a 3 in. group with a rifle that I had shot a lot of groups under 1/4 moa. I started checking the bullet, some of them was not even close to being round, weight was from 52.5 to 55.3 gns., and the tips of the bullets.