Art
02-13-2014, 04:37
For many years the only ammo I reloaded was one load for my .250 Savage. I have a friend who lets me use his equipment and work under his supervision. While I was doing the .250 Savage thing I probably only reloaded every four or five years since the only time I use the rifle anymore is to put a few rounds downrange in the summer or fall to verify zero. I don't hunt deer anymore and the last time I reloaded for it was 1995!!!
A couple of years ago I bought a set of 30-06 dies with the idea of reloading for my .30-06 milsurps. I had some leftover IMR 4064 powder and Fed. 210 primers from the .250 sessions and picked up a box of 168 gr Sierra Match Kings. It was months before I got around to seeing my buddy again but I brought the stuff with me. He asked what I had in mind and I said I wanted to start with 46.5 gr of the 4064 powder. He said that was below the starting load in his manual but we loaded some up. We also resized enough cases to use up my Fed 210s. I took the handful of rounds with the 46.5 gr loads and they shot so well I decided to leave the load alone. We had used up the little bit of powder I had on the trial Match Kings. A couple of months ago I found a gunstore that had two pounds of 4064 powder. They would only sell me one pound So I took what I could get. I wasn't able to get anymore Match Kings but I did find some 165 gr Game Kings so this Monday I took them to my buddies house and we loaded the remaining primed cases with the Game Kings and loaded some Winchester virgin brass I bought with the remaining Match Kings with the same powder charge but using Winchester WLR primers. Long story short I took the loaded ammo out yesterday, set up a 200 yard SR target and fired off three of the Match Kings using my M1903A3 which in my hands is the most accurate milsurp I own. From the bench using a Caldwell rest. One was a called flier, SOP for me but the other two went into the "X" ring. I then fired two Game Kings. One was in the "10" ring just outside the "X" ring high left and the other was also in the "10" ring about 1 1/2 inches low right of the "X" ring. I think I'll leave that load alone.
I also have a caboodle of .303 British once fired cases and about 80 Mk VII projectiles I pulled from geriatric ammo I had gotten hangfires from lying around. I ordered a set of .303 British dies and got them last week, just in time for the Monday reloading session. The pulled bullets all Keynoch commercial about half with copper jackets and half with cupro nickel jackets. Because of the limited amount of these projectiles I had I decided to try about 39 gr. of the 4064; Manuals vary between a bit over 40 gr to a bit under 42 for this powder in .303 so I figured I should be in the safe zone. The cases were Winchester once fired military contract and the primers were the Winchester WLRs. I used my trusty No 4 Mk II which I bought "new old stock" in the mummy wrap. The report and recoil were very mild, I mean very mild indeed but it shot to point of aim at 200 yards with the battle sight setting and put 5 shots from the bench into 5 1/2 inches at 200 yards, usually can't shoot five without a flier but I'll take it. I think I'll leave that load alone too when I load the remaining .303 projectiles. If I find anymore ancient .303 Mk VII cartridges cheap I may buy them just for the projectiles.
Oh, all loads were done on a "Rockchucker" starting a few grains below the desired load and trickiling up. Brass was full length resized. After resizing and priming each case was charged with powder and the bullet seated before going on to the next primed case.
So far so good.
A couple of years ago I bought a set of 30-06 dies with the idea of reloading for my .30-06 milsurps. I had some leftover IMR 4064 powder and Fed. 210 primers from the .250 sessions and picked up a box of 168 gr Sierra Match Kings. It was months before I got around to seeing my buddy again but I brought the stuff with me. He asked what I had in mind and I said I wanted to start with 46.5 gr of the 4064 powder. He said that was below the starting load in his manual but we loaded some up. We also resized enough cases to use up my Fed 210s. I took the handful of rounds with the 46.5 gr loads and they shot so well I decided to leave the load alone. We had used up the little bit of powder I had on the trial Match Kings. A couple of months ago I found a gunstore that had two pounds of 4064 powder. They would only sell me one pound So I took what I could get. I wasn't able to get anymore Match Kings but I did find some 165 gr Game Kings so this Monday I took them to my buddies house and we loaded the remaining primed cases with the Game Kings and loaded some Winchester virgin brass I bought with the remaining Match Kings with the same powder charge but using Winchester WLR primers. Long story short I took the loaded ammo out yesterday, set up a 200 yard SR target and fired off three of the Match Kings using my M1903A3 which in my hands is the most accurate milsurp I own. From the bench using a Caldwell rest. One was a called flier, SOP for me but the other two went into the "X" ring. I then fired two Game Kings. One was in the "10" ring just outside the "X" ring high left and the other was also in the "10" ring about 1 1/2 inches low right of the "X" ring. I think I'll leave that load alone.
I also have a caboodle of .303 British once fired cases and about 80 Mk VII projectiles I pulled from geriatric ammo I had gotten hangfires from lying around. I ordered a set of .303 British dies and got them last week, just in time for the Monday reloading session. The pulled bullets all Keynoch commercial about half with copper jackets and half with cupro nickel jackets. Because of the limited amount of these projectiles I had I decided to try about 39 gr. of the 4064; Manuals vary between a bit over 40 gr to a bit under 42 for this powder in .303 so I figured I should be in the safe zone. The cases were Winchester once fired military contract and the primers were the Winchester WLRs. I used my trusty No 4 Mk II which I bought "new old stock" in the mummy wrap. The report and recoil were very mild, I mean very mild indeed but it shot to point of aim at 200 yards with the battle sight setting and put 5 shots from the bench into 5 1/2 inches at 200 yards, usually can't shoot five without a flier but I'll take it. I think I'll leave that load alone too when I load the remaining .303 projectiles. If I find anymore ancient .303 Mk VII cartridges cheap I may buy them just for the projectiles.
Oh, all loads were done on a "Rockchucker" starting a few grains below the desired load and trickiling up. Brass was full length resized. After resizing and priming each case was charged with powder and the bullet seated before going on to the next primed case.
So far so good.