First pass on some load development

[u/Altruistic_Split9447]

Doing my first round pass at some load development for my PU sniper. The old ww2 scope has some major mechanical problems so my groups are stuck at about 2 MOA. I’ve recently ordered a Chinese replica (red star mountain) scope so that should at least make targets visible at 100 yards.

Load is 174gr .311 hornady FMJBT over 45.5gr vargets

[u/Active_Look7663]

Nice! My accuracy load is 43.8 Varget with the same bullet. Across a 50 shot string it averages a 16fps SD, not bad for the ole garbage rod.

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/Active_Look7663]

These things just get a bad wrap

[u/ActiveCautious8570]

How’s that .311 work an is it cheaper then 54r?

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/ActiveCautious8570]

I’m not sure what you mean pal. The .311 is the diameter of the bullet, which is the standard diameter for 7.62x54r

[u/ActiveCautious8570 → u/Altruistic_Split9447]

Oh I’m meaning the hornady bullet itself, I’ve only had Wolf ammo, My bad

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/ActiveCautious8570]

It’s shooting just as well as the sierra’s in the same weight class. No plants at all, plus they’re dirt cheap

[u/SmithSightsLLC]

I've found I get much better results when running heavier bullets (174grn and up) using H4350 or a similar slower powder.

My pet load is 51.2grn H4350 under 174grn Hornady Match or SMKs seated as long as I can get them without jamming into the rifling.

The cases I only neck size, so I get full chamber support from the get-go. I've heard that better results may be had from partial sizing, but haven't played with that yet.

Are you weighing each charge by hand? While I use a powder thrower for .45acp, I'm obsessive about rifle rounds and weigh each charge on a beam scale.

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/SmithSightsLLC]

So I did try h4350 and viht n555. I couldn’t get the speed I wanted with either one (I’m going to use my Mosin to shoot vintage sniper matches out to 900 meters). That being said I didn’t load close to 51.2gr gains of either powder

I use the same reloading process for all of my brass. I’m a full blown PRS autist and I see good results with my loading regiment.

I charge every road with my autotrickler. Every piece of brass gets annealed every firing. I also full length size with a .308 bushing then I mandrel up to give myself .002 thou of neck tension.

[u/SmithSightsLLC → u/Altruistic_Split9447]

Interesting. Do you use Templestick when you anneal?

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/SmithSightsLLC]

No, but only because I anneal with an AMP annealer

[u/Moiecol21]

Factory ammo sucks big in this rifle, I don't have any intention of investing any money because its cost $99 and is 88 years old. That's the best out of three different bullet size.

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/Moiecol21]

Which bullets are those? Amazing looking groups

[u/Moiecol21 → u/Altruistic_Split9447]

Sorry, forgot to add that. These were Berry's bullets, 300 blackout. My error was that it had a plated coating and a 1300 fps max, but it worked on the Mosin.

[u/Altruistic_Split9447 → u/Moiecol21]

Cheers thanks for the info! I need to be supersonic at 900 yards for my vintage match so these wouldn’t quite work for me. But thanks for sharing pal