Matt
Active Member
I stumbled into something odd this morning while testing some loads in a 1903 Springfield.
The loads consisted of many times fired Remington brass, Federal large pistol primers, 9.0 grains of old Red Dot. The bullet is the NOE copy of the Saeco #315 plain base. The bullets are basically 20:1 alloy, sized to .311 with Ben’s Red in the two bottom grease grooves. The bullets are seated just to cover the lube.
I’m trying to develop a plain base match load for this rifle. As part of my “match” firing routine I lightly tap the case base on the bench 2-3 times prior to placing the cartridge in the magazine and then chambering it.
I was doing that this morning and was seeing vertical stringing with every group. I immediately thought it was a primer issue. After the fourth group averaging over 2.25inches I decided I needed to try something else, in this case a different primer. My fifth group was fired to get the brass empty and recover the bullets from the bullet trap. To my surprise the group was round and under 2 inches! I decided to shoot a “match” group settling the powder. Got a vertical and wind swept group exceeding 3.5 inches! The light went on, dimly. I started wondering if settling the powder was causing the stringing by packing powder in the flash hole and in the primer itself. I know that most pistol powders will leak out of flash holes when a primer doesn’t get seated during progressive reloading. I fired my last group with no settling and was rewarded with a group just over an inch.
I shoot a lot of cast loads in rifles using Bullseye and Red Dot with plain based bullets or not using gas checks. They are not “match” type loads, but a lot of groups are shot casually and I don’t experience stringing.
Going over notes I see that some serious accuracy attempts with the Ideal 308241 and Bullseye in M54 and M70 Winchesters showing vertical stringing, I’m sure the ritual tapping to settle powder was involved. I’m starting to feel that I’m inducing the stringing by changing primer performance by packing fine grained pistol powders in the flash home and primer cup.
I’ll test my theory, but I’m wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this. Photo shows results of alternate settling and not settling.
The loads consisted of many times fired Remington brass, Federal large pistol primers, 9.0 grains of old Red Dot. The bullet is the NOE copy of the Saeco #315 plain base. The bullets are basically 20:1 alloy, sized to .311 with Ben’s Red in the two bottom grease grooves. The bullets are seated just to cover the lube.
I’m trying to develop a plain base match load for this rifle. As part of my “match” firing routine I lightly tap the case base on the bench 2-3 times prior to placing the cartridge in the magazine and then chambering it.
I was doing that this morning and was seeing vertical stringing with every group. I immediately thought it was a primer issue. After the fourth group averaging over 2.25inches I decided I needed to try something else, in this case a different primer. My fifth group was fired to get the brass empty and recover the bullets from the bullet trap. To my surprise the group was round and under 2 inches! I decided to shoot a “match” group settling the powder. Got a vertical and wind swept group exceeding 3.5 inches! The light went on, dimly. I started wondering if settling the powder was causing the stringing by packing powder in the flash hole and in the primer itself. I know that most pistol powders will leak out of flash holes when a primer doesn’t get seated during progressive reloading. I fired my last group with no settling and was rewarded with a group just over an inch.
I shoot a lot of cast loads in rifles using Bullseye and Red Dot with plain based bullets or not using gas checks. They are not “match” type loads, but a lot of groups are shot casually and I don’t experience stringing.
Going over notes I see that some serious accuracy attempts with the Ideal 308241 and Bullseye in M54 and M70 Winchesters showing vertical stringing, I’m sure the ritual tapping to settle powder was involved. I’m starting to feel that I’m inducing the stringing by changing primer performance by packing fine grained pistol powders in the flash home and primer cup.
I’ll test my theory, but I’m wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this. Photo shows results of alternate settling and not settling.