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Reloading a .300wm - dissapointing results

7K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  unclenick 
#1 ·
Hi all,

First post here, and I'm new to reloading and even shooting. 2 years ago I hadn't even shot a gun, and buddy of mine got me into it. I first bought a 870 express in 12g, then a Taurus PT-145, and now a 700 ADL chambered for the .300 win mag with a 26" barrel. 1/10 twist.

I bought the 700 new from Cabelas last year, and it came with a Cabelas 3-12x40 scope. For a scope that just came with a gun I'm impressed with it's clarity.

Anyway, the first ammo I bought for the sight in was the cheapest stuff I could find at $25 a box: Federal Power-Shok with 180gr Speer Hot-Cor bullets. I also bought a $40 box of Hornady 180gr SST that I figured I'd use for hunting afer using the federal's for sighting in.

After sighting in 1.5" high at 100 yards, it was dead on at 200 yards. The hornady ammo barely hits paper at 200 yards, while the cheap Federal yields sub .5" groups at 100 yads, and consistent .75" groups at 200 yards! Needless to say I bought a couple more boxes of the federal ammo. Also, because of how fast this things heats up I only shoot 4 shot groups and then let it cool for 10 minutes.

Even at $25 a box, it was too costly to shoot this all the time. I have a yearly pass to the range, so I'm there all the time.

So, I bought the Lee Anniversary reloading kit, a RCBS 750 digital scale, RCBS neck sizer, Lee bullet seater, Lee full length sizer, and a Titan caliper.

I saw good reviews on the Sierra Game King bullets and Speer Hot-Cor, so I bought 100 of each in 180gr. I also figured since the Federal ammo my gun loves shoots the same Speer bullet I'd get similar results.

WRONG

I'm using once-fired federal brass that was shot in my 700, CCI large rifle magnum primers, and IMR 7828 powder. Since the brass was first shot in my gun, I'm only neck sizing and triming the brass.

Using either the Sierra or Speer 180gr bullts, my best groups are 2.5" at 200 yards. A far cry from the .75" with factory ammo. I've also tried reloader 22 powder with the same results.

I've tried seating the bullets at an extended 3.4" to get closer to the rifling rather than the 3.340" like the books say, but 3.340" yields better results every time. The federal factory ammo is 3.295"...

Like one should, I start the load on the light side and work my way up. I've only seen a sign of over pressure once where I saw the ejector mark on the brass, and that was with 76gr of 7828. 74gr yields the most accuracy, so I don't go beyond that. R22 is best at about 75gr.

So, help a newb out. Anything else I should try?
 
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Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thanks for the quick replies!

Jason, I had thought about matching the bullet seating depth of the Federals, and now that you suggest trying it I for sure will.

Nick, that sounds like a pretty serious issue with neck sizers. How can I check to see if my RCBS is doing that to the necks? Also, thanks for the link, I'll check into that for sure.

spitfire_er, I kinda wondered the same thing, so last week I shot a four shot group with the federal factory ammo again and it yeilded a 1 1/4" group. That was after shooting about 20 reloads, and my 700 is a copper fouling nightmare. If I hadn't run across Bore Tech Eliminator I would have lost my mind.


Next I'm going to try seating the bullet at around 3.30". Another thing on the radar is IMR 4831 powder.

Thanks!
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
Thanks again for the great advice everyone!

Since I'm so new to this I haven't ruled anything out yet. I think I've only shot about 100 reloads through this thing, but I keep track of everything and have documented the groups that each combination has yielded so I don't try the same thing twice if it didn't work out well.
 
Discussion starter · #14 · (Edited)
UPDATE:

I created a spreadsheet with about the last months worth of targets that I documented what powder, bullet, primer, charge, etc. While documenting all this and seeing it all side by side, I noticed that I'd change several things at a time on a load. Big mistake.

I also noticed there was some combinations I had missed, so I made some loads and went to the range today.

74gr of 7828 with a 180gr Speer Hot-Cor= 4 shot 5/8" group at 100 yards.
73gr of RE22 with moly coated 180gr gameking = 4 shot 1 1/16" group at 100 yards

Also, picked up some H4831SC last week: (all 4 shot groups)

70gr with 180gr Speer Hot Cor = 1" group at 100 yards
71gr with 180gr Speer Hot Cor = 1.5" group at 100 yards
72gr with 180gr Speer Hot Cor = 1.25" group at 100 yards

Something else I did today based on the advice on the board is I waited about 2 minutes inbetween each shot to let the barrel cool. Seemed to work great, thanks!
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
UPDATE:

I managed a 1.5" 4 shot group at 200 yards with the 7828, but I think there's even more room for improvement.

Also managed a sub 1" group at 100 yards with the H4831C.

Time to try .2gr to .5gr adjustments to fine tune it.
 
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