Deciding on what bullet to load with...

[NitwiT]

So, without getting to involved in explaining, I have always been a diehard Barnes guy. My 308, my 300 wm, my kids .243. I have since entered the world of the 6.5 needmoor, mostly to cure a flinch the 300 wm caused.

I currently own and hunt with a Tikka T3 Lite, with a 20" barrel. I have tried to great ends to get this rifle to shoot my bullet of choice, the Barnes 127 grain LRX, however, accuracy is still gross. (2-3" groups on good days). I have tried both Staball 6.5, and Varget. I have tried the Barnes Vortex LRX factory ammo, with worse results in accuracy, then the 120 grain TTSX Vortx, with also poor accuracy and vertical fliers.

This pushed me into trying factory ELDX, with submoa results, a 5 shot horizontal hole. I went back to Cabelas and saw the Hornady Outfitter ammo, a 120 grain, solid copper bullet. I tried a box, and was floored to see 3/4" moa results. Consistently. I now have a box of 120 grain CX bullets to try with Varget, as well as a box of 130 grain CX.

I had always known that rifles can like different bullet weights, but to have a rifle hate a bullet, then love an "identical" bullet from a different manufacturer has me scratching my head.

So, the question: how do you guys go about deciding whether or not your rifle likes a certain bullet, without doing a full OCW test on each. I had the thought of testing bullets and powders with a single 5 shot group, 1 grain under book max. I'd rather not fire 50 rounds of each testing all the combinations I currently have.

Fyi, I also have little to no interest in picking up more powder (h4350) and other components. Already over invested in my current stuff.

 

[deadwolf]

H4350 and a Berger 140gr vld and you’re set.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wind gypsy]

So, the question: how do you guys go about deciding whether or not your rifle likes a certain bullet, without doing a full OCW test on each. I had the thought of testing bullets and powders with a single 5 shot group, 1 grain under book max. I'd rather not fire 50 rounds of each testing all the combinations I currently have.

The 5 shot group, 1 grain under max is a pretty good option IMO.

Otherwise if i've got a pretty good idea what max is going to be, i'll load 1 charge each starting @ 0.5 grain above expected max and down 3 grains or so in 0.5 grain increments. Shoot em all at the same target @ 100 yards. Even with the change in charge weight, if it's not going to be picky (or worse) combo loads from 3 or 4 adjacent charge weights should land into a good group. Then use what velocity and any pressure signs told you about how hot the loads to pick safe charge weight that's not a slug but not max to confirm with 5 or 10 shots that it'll work ok. It helps to pick known cartridge powder, bullet, brass combos that are well proven to take the guesswork out of a lot of this though.

 

[SDHNTR]

I’m confused by your post. You said it hated one bullet and then loved an identical one. Which one did it love? I didn’t see anything identical.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Basically like this: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/painless-load-development-mine.238400/

 

[N2TRKYS]

I prefer Nosler bullets in all cartridges, because I love their on game performance. I’ve never had a rifle that wouldn’t shoot them accurately.

I’ve never seen a rifle that wouldn’t shoot the bullet that was wanted to be shot in it. “Shoot what the rifle likes” has never been a thing in my experience.

 

[NitwiT]

The 5 shot group, 1 grain under max is a pretty good option IMO.

Otherwise if i've got a pretty good idea what max is going to be, i'll load 1 charge each starting @ 0.5 grain above expected max and down 3 grains or so in 0.5 grain increments. Shoot em all at the same target @ 100 yards. Even with the change in charge weight, if it's not going to be picky (or worse) combo loads from 3 or 4 adjacent charge weights should land into a good group. Then use what velocity and any pressure signs told you about how hot the loads to pick safe charge weight that's not a slug but not max to confirm with 5 or 10 shots that it'll work ok. It helps to pick known cartridge powder, bullet, brass combos that are well proven to take the guesswork out of a lot of this though.

This was my current plan prior to posting this.

I’m confused by your post. You said it hated one bullet and then loved an identical one. Which one did it love? I didn’t see anything identical.

Identical was in quotes. Basically, Barnes 120 TTSX mono bullet shot poorly. Hornady 120 CX mono bullet shoots very well.

Basically like this: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/painless-load-development-mine.238400/

Good read, I had forgotten about that one. Thanks.

I prefer Nosler bullets in all cartridges, because I love their on game performance. I’ve never had a rifle that wouldn’t shoot them accurately.

I’ve never seen a rifle that wouldn’t shoot the bullet that was wanted to be shot in it. “Shoot what the rifle likes” has never been a thing in my experience.

Prior to this rifle, I would have stated that any bullet can be shot from any rifle with the right load development. Two OCW test, with two different powders, led me to change my mind. (maybe erroneously). I still want to be able to shoot Barnes, as I prefer monos, as well as the slower expansion requirment over hornady.

 

[SDHNTR]

Nothing “identical” at all about those two bullets.

I’ve seen plenty of rifles that hated or loved something in TTSX, CX/GMX, or Hammer. You just never know. And sometimes you just can’t make a bullet (or powder) work. I’m not in the slightest surprised by your findings.

 

[Vern400]

A three shot group ( or even 2 shots) can prove a load is bad. If you fire two shots and they're too far apart, stop. I've never seen more bullets tighten up a group because I don't call flyers.

With a new bullet, you're just looking for something promising - a sign of Hope!

If I try a half dozen loads with powders I've used, seating depths I've used and nothing's down close to an inch?? I'm done with that bullet in the specific rifle.

Recently I shot 23.5, 24.0, 24.5 grains of benchmark under a 60 grain 223 Hornady varmint bullet and got 1.3, 1.15, and 0.6 in. The next day I shot a 0.58. And then a 0.7. I think it's worth fine-tuning. Those were five shot groups. I tried to make them bad. But I couldn't.

I will probably go back and put a 62 grain Sierra game King on top of the same powder charge and CBTO. If it's garbage, this will be the only rifle I have that doesn't shoot SGKs very well.
But I've already tried half a dozen loads with SGKs and this one rifle doesn't seem to like them.

I don't care, and I'm not going to fight it. I still got a tack driver. That little Hornady bullet will still kill a coyote, and blow a deer's head half off.

I've also got a 308 that loves 165 ballistic tips.
But it only loves them when they are well into the lands. I got a box of 100 loaded at 2.85 oal. It usually shoots in the 0.6 range in good conditions. They don't fit the mag.
Ain't going to fight that either.

 

[Vern400]

Berger bullets has a very good FAQ about the differences between tangent ogive and secant Ogive bullets. Take a look at it.

You might think two bullets are the same because they look the same, but they behave differently. Some reloaders say seating depth doesn't matter, and that might actually be largely true depending on what kind of bullet we're talking about. Other bullets happen to be fairly sensitive to seating depth.

We could do this for a lifetime and not learn everything.

 

[Mulyhuntr]

147 eldm and Reloder 16 or H4350. Hammered an elk at 555 yards with my tikka superlite and 41.5 RL16 and the 147 this year. One step and dead.

Copper has always made me want to pull my hair out. Only use them when I hunt commiefornia (because I have to).