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Bigslug
Posts: 9,878 Senior Member
Ruger Scout Delivers
Bigslug
Posts: 9,878 Senior Member
Y'all probably remember this little cutie coming home a couple months back:
Got some early load development work out of the way that determined that the rifle prefers 130 grain Barnes TTSX over the 110 and 150 grain versions, but that all occurred at the tail end of the Varget supply, and the new stuff appeared to be very slightly bulkier. Nothin' for it but to re-shoot the experiment:
That's 12 shots with 12 different powder charges working up across almost two grains of powder, with one called flier.
Oh yeah. . .she'll do!:cool2:
Looks like the happy flat spot on the velocity curve is going to be about 49.3-49.4 grains pushing right at 3,000 fps. A further test of that to verify the speed, and then order the CDS dial from the good folks in Beaverton. Gotta do some further head scratching, but it looks like a 275 yard zero gets me point blank on deer (assuming 8" vertical kill zone) to about 325 yards. Might bring it closer in because the whole point to this rifle is an area with a lot of sub-200 yard shooting - as I say, more head scratching.
Learned a couple things - all three weights of Barnes tested have exactly the same nose; the weight difference is in the shank. Found this out because the initial seating depth just off the lands determined via Stoney Point tool turned out to be a couple hundredths too long for the magazine box. Seated all three weights to fit at the same die setting and the gun does not seem to care about the longer jump. It also likes the 110's pretty well, but for all of 25 feet per second and there not being much more room in the case, I'll stick with the 130 and call it a day.
Only 7.5 months until deer season. . .:bang:
Got some early load development work out of the way that determined that the rifle prefers 130 grain Barnes TTSX over the 110 and 150 grain versions, but that all occurred at the tail end of the Varget supply, and the new stuff appeared to be very slightly bulkier. Nothin' for it but to re-shoot the experiment:
That's 12 shots with 12 different powder charges working up across almost two grains of powder, with one called flier.
Oh yeah. . .she'll do!:cool2:
Looks like the happy flat spot on the velocity curve is going to be about 49.3-49.4 grains pushing right at 3,000 fps. A further test of that to verify the speed, and then order the CDS dial from the good folks in Beaverton. Gotta do some further head scratching, but it looks like a 275 yard zero gets me point blank on deer (assuming 8" vertical kill zone) to about 325 yards. Might bring it closer in because the whole point to this rifle is an area with a lot of sub-200 yard shooting - as I say, more head scratching.
Learned a couple things - all three weights of Barnes tested have exactly the same nose; the weight difference is in the shank. Found this out because the initial seating depth just off the lands determined via Stoney Point tool turned out to be a couple hundredths too long for the magazine box. Seated all three weights to fit at the same die setting and the gun does not seem to care about the longer jump. It also likes the 110's pretty well, but for all of 25 feet per second and there not being much more room in the case, I'll stick with the 130 and call it a day.
Only 7.5 months until deer season. . .:bang:
WWJMBD?
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Replies
Those bullets have a reputation for remarkable lethal performance, but given your screen name I'm still slightly surprised.
My mother has the lefty version of the exact same rifle, and has some notions of busting coyotes, so Dad ordered all three weights. Wouldn't have spent money on 'em, but if they're there to test for free. . .
The .30-06 "long gun" is running the 168 grain version which I consider good for darn near anything that walks. The little antlered rats I hunt, the 130's are fine.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
It's been a real time, effort, powder, and bullet saver. You need uniform brass for best results in the initial workup, but that's becoming easier in recent years. Doing a string of about 15-20 rounds, each one holding an incrementally greater charge (0.2-0.5 grain depending on case size) than the last lets you know real quick where your plateaus are, and more importantly, shows you where to load to stay away from the spots where you jump from one to the next.
The nice part: barring pressure signs that tell us to back off, we pretty typically choose the fastest plateau of (typically) 3 to (sometimes) 4 rounds in the workup, which also gives us the highest load density numbers. Loading smack in the middle of that plateau virtually always gives us "better than you need for hunting" ammo with no further work required. Sure, you get curveballs from all directions sometimes, but it's typically those 15-20 starters, and another 10 of the hypothetical winner over the chrono to verify and check group, and call it done for hunting purposes.
What's exceptional here is that I'd take that group from the final load. That I'm getting a group like that. . . from just the workup. . .from an 18" brush carbine, is pretty exciting stuff.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Did not see any reason to mess with it out of the box on either mine or Mom's. I weighed it when I got it home - a clean break at a skosh over 4#, as I recall.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
I'd be interested in hearing how that works out for you. Dad also worked up a load of 180 grain gas-checked Ranch Dogs at about 2100 FPS that seem to want to hang around 2-3 MOA - good enough for a practice load - the shoot 2-3" below the Barnes at 100Y. Those bullets are tumble lubers, but we're tumbling and sizing to get them totally coated. . .any they really don't seem to want to go faster than this. I've got no desire to mess with the "shake & bake" of powder coating, but it might be an option...
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee