Accuracy Next Steps

Ok, so I've done quite a bit of OCW testing with several bullets and powders and determined that my Savage .223 with a 22 inch barrel likes 25.4 grains of H335 under 60 gr Hornady soft points, seated to an OAL of 2.245. All testing was done with general Lake City brass, (not sorted by year or weight etc.) trimmed to 1.750 with Wolf .223 primers.

I have not yet measured the chamber depth to rifling but I do have the equipment to do so.

Question is: What are my next steps to further work on accuracy for this load, in this rifle? What steps are most likely to produce better accuracy?
Seating Depth, sort the brass by weight, other?

Thanx

Sam

Get good bullets and good brass. Just neck size bolt gun brass. Seating depth matters, but not that much with thick jacketed bullets like Sierra or Hornady.

Most all else is up to the loose nut behind the scope.

An easy place to start is to sort by headstamp.

LC brass from one year isn't the same as every other.

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Originally Posted by Hoser

Most all else is up to the loose nut behind the scope.

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Truer words were never spoken.

What kind of accuracy are you actually getting?

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Originally Posted by Tim K

Truer words were never spoken.

What kind of accuracy are you actually getting?

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I'm seeing fairly consistent .5 to .8 MOA, 5 shot groups at 100 yd.

I guess I'm just looking to narrow the consistency from round to round now so I can build that ammo for practice and then work on the shooter's skills. Now THAT will eat up some ammo.

Sam

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Originally Posted by JustAGuy

I'm seeing fairly consistent .5 to .8 MOA, 5 shot groups at 100 yd.

I guess I'm just looking to narrow the consistency from round to round now so I can build that ammo for practice and then work on the shooter's skills. Now THAT will eat up some ammo.

Sam

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If it stays sub MOA out to 300 yards or so, I'd say you're close to done with that bullet (flat base, right?). Not that you can't get your dope farther out, it just won't ever fly like a boat-tail at distance.

You can do all of these things:

-Sort brass and bullets by weight
-Anneal cases
-De-burr the flash holes
-Uniform the primer pockets
-Turn case necks
-Check concentricity
-Tinker with distance from lands
-Get the Pope to bless the rounds


... but my guess is you won't get that load a whole lot better than what it is now.

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Originally Posted by Zombie Steve

If it stays sub MOA out to 300 yards or so, I'd say you're close to done with that bullet (flat base, right?). Not that you can't get your dope farther out, it just won't ever fly like a boat-tail at distance.

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Yeah, the 60 grainers are flat base. I've done some limited testing with heavier boat tail bullets but didn't have very good results at the 100 yd mark. Maybe after I get this flat base bullet accurate out to 300, I'll go back and re-visit the heavier ones...maybe with a different powder.

Sam

size the brass, rotate 180 degrees size again. (so someone says who shoots competition palma matches)

Then seat the bullet 1/3 of the way, rotate it 1/3, seat another 1/3, ect, ect,ect.

But if you run your loaded ammo over a concentricity gauge and have minimal runout, you dont need to do it.

Oh yeah. Square up your dies. When you get them where you want them and before you lock them down, take a small stack of washers (or anything flat about the size of the shell plate) and put them on top of the shell plate. Raise the ram and you'll see it square up once it touches. Leave the ram up and lock down the die.

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Originally Posted by Hoser

Then seat the bullet 1/3 of the way, rotate it 1/3, seat another 1/3, ect, ect,ect.

But if you run your loaded ammo over a concentricity gauge and have minimal runout, you dont need to do it.

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I have a concentricity gauge, but I still do this out of habit.

If your Savage bolt gun is a basic 110 action off the shelf gun, you are probably getting pretty close to the accuracy limits of the gun at 0.5 to 0.8 MOA frankly.

You may wish to spend some time on rifle accurizing basics too. Action to stock fit, verify that the barrel is free floated, experiment with a bit of barrel tension, etc.

You also may want trim the excess material from the flash hole inside the case. The flash hole is punched during manufacture and this material can remain in the case causing a shadow during ignition. I bought a thousand of the LC brass that Midway had on sale and found about 1 in 10 had significant material inside.

I should also mention that the material left inside from manufacturing the flash hole will effect case volume, which in turn effects pressure, velocity etc.

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Originally Posted by Zombie Steve

-Get the Pope to bless the rounds

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I did this and got minimal improvement...

I think .5-.8 moa is pretty darn good for a factory rifle, better than mine. I also haven't had the chance to shoot any of my reloads yet.

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Originally Posted by JustAGuy

Ok, so I've done quite a bit of OCW testing with several bullets and powders and determined that my Savage .223 with a 22 inch barrel likes 25.4 grains of H335 under 60 gr Hornady soft points, seated to an OAL of 2.245. All testing was done with general Lake City brass, (not sorted by year or weight etc.) trimmed to 1.750 with Wolf .223 primers.

I have not yet measured the chamber depth to rifling but I do have the equipment to do so.

Question is: What are my next steps to further work on accuracy for this load, in this rifle? What steps are most likely to produce better accuracy?
Seating Depth, sort the brass by weight, other?

Thanx

Sam

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Don't forget, Practice. cheek weld, trigger pull, mirage, doping wind