IAyoteHNTR
New member
I got the new barrel installed on my Savage 12 VLPDBM last Thursday (a CBI 26" varmint weight 1-9 twist match barrel) and loaded up my first few test/fire forming loads Saturday morning and got out to shoot them Saturday afternoon.
I had to go down to my gunsmith's shop to screw on the new barrel since I didn't have the 223AI go gauge and didn't want to wait on ordering one. He used the 223AI go gauge and then used the regular 223 go gauge as a no go gauge which makes for a very snug fit into the chamber with the 223 factory ammo and my regular 223 fire forming ammo but from what I understand this is the way I want it to be. There seems to be a very slight crush of the 223 brass as I chamber it.
The fire formed brass looks great coming out and I got better results than I expected but at the same time it was really what I was hoping for. The factory 50 grain V-max Fiocchi Extrema ammo I shot while fire forming shot a lot better than I expected. I got one 5 shot group that measured .640" and another that shot .520". The LC brass loads that I shot did quite well too. I loaded up 3 different charges using 53 grain V-Maxs and got groups of .490" with 25.5 grains of H4895 with an avg speed of3240 fps, .715" with 26.0 grains and an avg speed of around 3300-3325, and the final group using 26.5 grains of H4895 I got 3480-3525 fps and it shot a 5 shot group of .510". I am using CCI BR4 primers in everything.
The group in the middle is of my Savage 17WSM B-Mag using 25 grain ammo I hadn't shot yet, one sighter high and the next four after adjusting down 1 MOA. Close to 1" grouping for the B-Mag, but that's another story.
I also loaded up another 20 test loads using new Lapua Match brass and shot them @ 200 yards while fire forming and got right around 1" groups with those and got around 1-1/2" groups using the Fiocchi ammo. The Lapua Match brass had less case capacity then the LC brass I used so I just loaded up them with 25.5 grains of H4895 and got right around 3350 fps average. The Fiocchi ammo was running between 3050-3100 fps.
It now looks like I'll be easily able to fit 27.5-28.0 grains of H4895 into the fire formed LC brass and 27.0-27.5 grains into the fire formed Lapua Match brass w/o them being a crush fit. I'll be loading and testing some of the fire formed brass this week. It will be interesting to see how fast and accurate I can get 53 grain V-Maxs to go now.
I had to go down to my gunsmith's shop to screw on the new barrel since I didn't have the 223AI go gauge and didn't want to wait on ordering one. He used the 223AI go gauge and then used the regular 223 go gauge as a no go gauge which makes for a very snug fit into the chamber with the 223 factory ammo and my regular 223 fire forming ammo but from what I understand this is the way I want it to be. There seems to be a very slight crush of the 223 brass as I chamber it.
The fire formed brass looks great coming out and I got better results than I expected but at the same time it was really what I was hoping for. The factory 50 grain V-max Fiocchi Extrema ammo I shot while fire forming shot a lot better than I expected. I got one 5 shot group that measured .640" and another that shot .520". The LC brass loads that I shot did quite well too. I loaded up 3 different charges using 53 grain V-Maxs and got groups of .490" with 25.5 grains of H4895 with an avg speed of3240 fps, .715" with 26.0 grains and an avg speed of around 3300-3325, and the final group using 26.5 grains of H4895 I got 3480-3525 fps and it shot a 5 shot group of .510". I am using CCI BR4 primers in everything.
The group in the middle is of my Savage 17WSM B-Mag using 25 grain ammo I hadn't shot yet, one sighter high and the next four after adjusting down 1 MOA. Close to 1" grouping for the B-Mag, but that's another story.
I also loaded up another 20 test loads using new Lapua Match brass and shot them @ 200 yards while fire forming and got right around 1" groups with those and got around 1-1/2" groups using the Fiocchi ammo. The Lapua Match brass had less case capacity then the LC brass I used so I just loaded up them with 25.5 grains of H4895 and got right around 3350 fps average. The Fiocchi ammo was running between 3050-3100 fps.
It now looks like I'll be easily able to fit 27.5-28.0 grains of H4895 into the fire formed LC brass and 27.0-27.5 grains into the fire formed Lapua Match brass w/o them being a crush fit. I'll be loading and testing some of the fire formed brass this week. It will be interesting to see how fast and accurate I can get 53 grain V-Maxs to go now.
