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OK. I reloaded 5 rounds of experimental ammo for my 375 Ruger. Here's the load.
66.0 grains of Reloader 15
Speer 235 grain bullet, loaded to an overall length of 3.275"
weather conditions were as follows: Temp 80 degrees F, with a 19 mph SW wind, and I was shooting straight north.
By the chronograph:
Shot 1-2414 fps, Shot 2-2418 fps, Shot 3-2411 fps, Shot 4-2460 fps, and
Shot 5-2510 fps. Avg velocity-2443 fps, Standard Deviation-42.62, and Extreme Spread-99 fps.
Scope on rifle is a Weaver Super Slam 1.5-6 FFP, and with scope set at 6X, the dot covered a 2" circle aiming spot. 3 of 5 shots were within 1.5" and 2 of 5 were south of the group of 3 by roughly 2.5 inches.
Trying to figure out the 2 shots that weren't with the other 3. All screws are tight, angle screw torqued to 90 inch pounds, barrel floated, action glass bedded with pro bed 2000, trigger tuned to 2 3/4 pounds.
This was my first experiment with this powder. Previously was using 48.0 grains of 5744, with a 5 shot grouping of 2", but thought I'd try something different. Best group with this rifle was with 49.0 grains of Rel 7 behind a Hornady 225 grain bullet. I'm almost out of Rel 7, and there's none to be found within reasonable driving distance, so trying powders that are more available.
The loads I'm loading are reduced power loads for a spring black bear hunt over bait. I want to use the 375 Ruger, but don't believe I need full power loads with heavy bullets for blacks. Well, I also use the 375 with reduced loads for whitetails. Anyway, looking for thoughts or ideas on what I could do different to tighten groups up a bit as well as trying to figure out why the last 2 shots were quite a bit higher in velocity than the first 3. All charges were weighed on an RCBS 5-10 scale, which has served me well enough. Any thoughts and/or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
66.0 grains of Reloader 15
Speer 235 grain bullet, loaded to an overall length of 3.275"
weather conditions were as follows: Temp 80 degrees F, with a 19 mph SW wind, and I was shooting straight north.
By the chronograph:
Shot 1-2414 fps, Shot 2-2418 fps, Shot 3-2411 fps, Shot 4-2460 fps, and
Shot 5-2510 fps. Avg velocity-2443 fps, Standard Deviation-42.62, and Extreme Spread-99 fps.
Scope on rifle is a Weaver Super Slam 1.5-6 FFP, and with scope set at 6X, the dot covered a 2" circle aiming spot. 3 of 5 shots were within 1.5" and 2 of 5 were south of the group of 3 by roughly 2.5 inches.
Trying to figure out the 2 shots that weren't with the other 3. All screws are tight, angle screw torqued to 90 inch pounds, barrel floated, action glass bedded with pro bed 2000, trigger tuned to 2 3/4 pounds.
This was my first experiment with this powder. Previously was using 48.0 grains of 5744, with a 5 shot grouping of 2", but thought I'd try something different. Best group with this rifle was with 49.0 grains of Rel 7 behind a Hornady 225 grain bullet. I'm almost out of Rel 7, and there's none to be found within reasonable driving distance, so trying powders that are more available.
The loads I'm loading are reduced power loads for a spring black bear hunt over bait. I want to use the 375 Ruger, but don't believe I need full power loads with heavy bullets for blacks. Well, I also use the 375 with reduced loads for whitetails. Anyway, looking for thoughts or ideas on what I could do different to tighten groups up a bit as well as trying to figure out why the last 2 shots were quite a bit higher in velocity than the first 3. All charges were weighed on an RCBS 5-10 scale, which has served me well enough. Any thoughts and/or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks
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I shoot two 375s, one an H&H the other a RUM. your Ruger is in between. for the H&H I've gotten good results with 4064, but four shots with max spread 8 fps shows a lot of potential. First thing I'd check is how far off the lands the bullets are loaded and try some adjustments with that. Also, I haven't been overly impressed with the 235s for accuracy- I've found the 250 gr Sierras to be more accurate in both the H&H & RUM. 0 -
What is the round count for rifle? If it less than several boxes, the bore isn't ironed yet. Did you fire a fouling shot or two to clear the bore? JB's Bore paste is good stuff.
Unless it's a short stiff barrel I like about 5# of damping pressure applied at the end of the forearm.
I really like the original 5744, the new stuff not so much.
I would do 3 shot groups. With less than full case loads it's a lot trickier to find the sweet spot. Doesn't help that powder selection these days is poor.
Seat bullets 1/2 way, lower ram. spin shell 180 degrees then finish seating the bullet. Three to five thousands off the rifling is what I try for.0 -
the 5744 is a faster powder, the rl 15 is slower, you are running into ignition/pressure problems with the slower powder and a reduced load. the closer you can get to 100% case capacity the more consistant the results. for the reduced loads stick to the 5744 (or 4227/4198/ect.) 0 -
RayB I definitely agree with the sierra 250's being more accurate than the 235's. I have some 4064, but haven't tried it in the 375. I've about burned through a pound trying to find a load with it in my 257 Roberts, and finally gave up. I'll try and do a check for OAL. 3.275" has the bullet seated right at the base of neck, which is usually my starting point, but definitely worth checking. Round count for the rifle, well, I'd have to check my log, but I doubt if I've run 120 rounds through it. I bought it used, but doubt if it had more than a box through it when I got it. I've cleaned it at least 3 times because I've tried shooting 265 cast bullets through it, and have gotten decent accuracy with them, mostly in the 2-2 1/2" range. I think that's reasonable, considering I was running them about 1900 fps with Rel 7 and 5744. I'm kind of thinking I just need to make a pilgrammage and get some more Rel 7, as I've had consistently better success with accuracy with it with every bullet I've shot. The Rel 15 was just an experimental thing to see what would happen. I was happy with 3 of 5 shots, but wasn't to impressed with the last 2 when the velocity went up like it did.
Charliemeyer007, how do I spin the bullet 180 degrees without marring it, and what exactly does that do? Not trying to be a smartalec, just never heard of that before. Also, the barrel is the ruger magnum contour, and I believe 23".
The 235 grainers I have are actually Herter's bullets, but they've got to be the same bullet as the speer 235 grainers. I'm thinking that at the velocities I'm loading, I'd say 200 yards would be a pretty fair shot, so if I'm getting 2 1/2" groups at 100 yards, I should be good for shooting over bait, however, I like tinkering and messing around to get as much as accuracy as I think I can get.
Thanks for the replies so far. Seems ya"ll have confirmed my suspicion of Rel 15 not being ideal, still it was worth wasting 5 bullets and a little bit of powder.0 -
When you rotate the case with the partially seated bullet you take out half of the alignment error that is in your press and dies. 0 -
Loaded up 3 rounds this morning using 46.0 grains of Rel 7 behind this herter's/speer 235 grain bullet. Group size was 2 inches, of which 2 were 3/4 inch apart and 1 shot 2 inches to the 9 o'clock. That could've been a bad trigger squeeze by me easily enough. I then called 4 different places looking for more Rel 7. No luck. Guess it's gonna be 5744, whether I like it or not. 0
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