Posted by: The Moderator
The Rifle Reloading Rabbit Hole - .300 WSM - 03/07/22 03:13 PM
Never was in to and gave much of any thought to rifle or pistol reloading, minus the 12ga AA Winchester trap loads I did by the thousands when I was in competitive trap shooting back in the day. Ammo was always easy to find and as long as "hit" mostly what I was aiming for, I called it good.
Everything changes over time - especially the ability to find good, quality, hunting ammo, let alone cheap plinking ammo. COVID came along and I figured it was time to peek in the reloading rabbit hole and see what all the fuss was about. That was well over a year and a half ago and I jumped right on in.
Fast forward to today and I've got a good Forster press, a good seating die for the .300 WSM, decapping/depriming die, multiple full length sizing dies, bullet pulling die, bullets, primer, powder, measuring devices of all kinds, scale, case prep tools and on and on.
Initial learning curve was to design and good shooting and accurate bullet for the .300 WSM Kimber Mountain Ascent. Her she is in all her glory.
What came out of the last 1.5 years was a recipe that included a 180 grain Nosler Accubond, Nosler brass, CCI 250 primer, Accurate 4350 powder, seating depth, shoulder bump, and case length.
Avg Muzzle velocity was: 2829
Standard Deviation: 5
Extreme Spread : 9
The numbers were great.
But would it shoot? It's a light weight mountain rifle with a pencil thin barrel.
The ammo is spot on.
The rifle is spot on.
The scope is spot on.
If I miss my target now, I can not blame the ammo, rifle, or scope.
Next Project: Remington Model 700, 7mm Remington Magnum.
The barrel needs to be threaded for the suppressor and a custom brake. A new round recipe needs to be formulated, calculated and created. All new dies, brass, powder (probably), bullets, and primers. Ugh. More stuff.
I totally fell in to the damn reloading rabbit hole and there's no coming out.
Everything changes over time - especially the ability to find good, quality, hunting ammo, let alone cheap plinking ammo. COVID came along and I figured it was time to peek in the reloading rabbit hole and see what all the fuss was about. That was well over a year and a half ago and I jumped right on in.
Fast forward to today and I've got a good Forster press, a good seating die for the .300 WSM, decapping/depriming die, multiple full length sizing dies, bullet pulling die, bullets, primer, powder, measuring devices of all kinds, scale, case prep tools and on and on.
Initial learning curve was to design and good shooting and accurate bullet for the .300 WSM Kimber Mountain Ascent. Her she is in all her glory.
What came out of the last 1.5 years was a recipe that included a 180 grain Nosler Accubond, Nosler brass, CCI 250 primer, Accurate 4350 powder, seating depth, shoulder bump, and case length.
Avg Muzzle velocity was: 2829
Standard Deviation: 5
Extreme Spread : 9
The numbers were great.
But would it shoot? It's a light weight mountain rifle with a pencil thin barrel.
The ammo is spot on.
The rifle is spot on.
The scope is spot on.
If I miss my target now, I can not blame the ammo, rifle, or scope.
Next Project: Remington Model 700, 7mm Remington Magnum.
The barrel needs to be threaded for the suppressor and a custom brake. A new round recipe needs to be formulated, calculated and created. All new dies, brass, powder (probably), bullets, and primers. Ugh. More stuff.
I totally fell in to the damn reloading rabbit hole and there's no coming out.
