.204 ammo - range report

S

spoogie

New member
Well, after a case of severe boredom lately and then looking into a few threads about reloads, accuracy/precision, playing with Sierra Infinity Suite and trying to get my scope dialed in for using mil-dots holdovers for a few hundred yards, I thought I'd post this thread.

I've shot mostly 3 or 5 shot groups to determine accuracy of handloads. I thought I'd stretch things out to 10 shot groups to make it interesting. At 100 yards, of course.

I am refering to threads like The Trouble With 3 Shot Groups and Mean Radius.

Gun: Piece-built .204 AR with a 1:9 24" Shilen barrel, 10x fixed Bushnell scope.
Rest: Front sandbag rest, off of a bench. No lead sled/vice, etc. ...same as prairie dogs off the truck cab, standing in the box.

Hornady 40 grain factory:

DSC_0499.JPG



TAC handloads:

25.7 gr. Benchmark TAC, new Winchester brass, Fed 205 primers, 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKings seated to Mag length, or 2.250"

DSC_0500.JPG




Varget Handloads:

26.8 gr. Varget, 2x fired Hornady Brass, Rem. 7 1/2 BR primers, 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKings seated to 2.250".

DSC_0501.JPG



I was kinda red-a$$ed that the TAC loads didn't group very well. It didn't seem like I was very settled in, so I dialed my scope over and down and tried to put 5 more rounds through the hole in the cardboard between the targets. Previously, I'd horizontal stringed TAC handloads.

DSC_0502.JPG


So, on one hand it was good to get to the range after the rain, and cool to dial my scope to shoot through a hole, but still not happy with the groups of handloads. Never happy.
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I pulled a dry boresnake through after every 10 rounds.

I had limited time between work and family obligations, so I didn't shoot any more groups and went to .22 practice. A person could throw a few of those "flyers" out, but you'd just be lying to yourself. Overall, I will spank a few prairie dogs with any of these handloads, but it'd be nice to beat factory load groups.

-S
 
Hornady factory loads through my D-Tech have been very hard to beat by handloading.

As in I haven't been able to yet.

You may learn something by running those aross a chrony and see what velocity you're seeing.
 
What trigger are you running?

The reason I ask is,because some of those groups look like they may be affected by trigger pull. Just my .02
 
No rear bag, just a front bag as a rest, and my other hand under the back of the stock. I could probably do better with 2 bags. I suppose the loads would be even better using a lead sled.

Trigger is a Spike's Tactical Enhanced Lower Parts Kit w/ Nickel Boron Trigger. Looks like this one:

Spikes_LPK301-2.jpg



Soon as I work up the funds to buy a chrony, I'll probably get one. Just another step in the endless pursuit. In the back of my mind, I think I need to work on my shooting technique/method; probably more than I need to work on more loads.

Thanks for the input.

-S
 
Well thats not too bad with just a front rest. With a rear rest they will probably be cut in half. I have a hard time shooting tiny groups without a rear bag sometimes. I always use 2 bags or shoot off a bipod and rear bag when doing load testing.
 
Originally Posted By: Widow maker 223...or shoot off a bipod and rear bag when doing load testing.

I've shot some very decent groups using that technique.
 
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