Finally encountered brass with the 'dreaded donut', so it looks like I'll be turning the necks on all my necked up/down brass from now on.
Have any of your cases been annealed after made from 308? Does this happen during a neck resize?
The lighter Nosler ballistic tips fragment much more than the heavier ones. I use a .308 165 grain pill and it holds together well enough for close in shots. A 125 grain .308 BT (.300 Blackout load), comes apart.I was a fan of the Nosler 120 ballistic tip. I shot a whitetail running right in front of me and it hit through the bone of the upper front leg. The bullet angled forward and exited the exact front of his chest. Fragments hit the heart, but there was no blood trail that I could find. He only ran 80 yards but he was in real thick stuff.
I'm no longer quite so confident in the Nosler 120's
You're doing OK if you're breaking 2810 with 5 fps SD.Did a little velocity verification yesterday. Have to say, I thought my velocity was going to be higher than what the Magneto-speed was reporting - but it was consistent, so I guess I just had high expectations?
142gr SMK, 43.6gr H4350, 2.815" COL. Primers, varied between CCI 200 and CC #34's. 26" barrel. Temp in the upper 50's.
The CCI 200 batch, fired 2 strings of 10 rounds. Numbers were significant in the swings from high to low, so the ES and SD were also significant. Had 1 round that cracked 2930fps (primer looked good, but bolt lift had some effort), lowest was 2790fps, the rest seemed to hover the in the low/mid 2800fps range. Had me scratching my head initially, but I think I have that one nailed down - mixed brass batches. PPU .243 converted, some converted Nato brass, and converted commercial .308 brass.
The CCI #34 batches were much more consistent. Velocity was in the low 2800fps range, and the batch that used the same head-stamp of brass returned my best ES/SD's so far. ES was 13fps, SD was 5fps over 10 rounds, AVG of 2813fps.
Was hoping to be closer to 2860-2890fps with the 142's, but I'm starting to think I may have been a bit optimistic. Haven't shot the rifle in months, so even though I shot like crap, and didn't write down all the data I'd wanted to get - it was still a good day to just be behind the rifle.
You're doing OK if you're breaking 2810 with 5 fps SD.
The mixed brass thing is to be expected and I'd personally want to set aside everything but one single brand/year/lot, as you had for your last load.
That thing is probably almost worn out by now, LOL, ever go shoot something with it?
Turns out my velocities are actually more in line with my prior expectations, I had the wrong spacer on the magneto-speed last time out - turns out that affected the results. (I am indeed a dumb-ass.)
View attachment 250478
Have to say I'm a little surprised that the Lake City/CCI 200 batch returned my best (lowest SD/ES) numbers, I honestly wasn't expecting that. (The listed ES/SD for the Nosler/#34 batch may be incorrect, noticed after I got home.)
It seems my rifle is a 'cheap date', but every batch shot nearly identical, and was more than enough accurate/consistent to ring a 2" steel paddle on the 500 yard line with repetition.
**And I am officially back into the A5 stock, the chassis is a great piece of gear - and I adore being able to go mag fed, but it isn't for what I'm trying to do with the rifle.
So, if anyone may be interested in a complete XLR Element with 1 10rnd AICS mag for the Savage short-action (top-side bolt release), I have a very clean one available.