So I am finally getting around to loading for the Grendel. I know this type of information has been beaten to death, and I'm sure not very many of you care about all of my details, but I want to share, so here goes.
I am going to try 8208, 123gr amax's and sst's and Federal 205 primers. I also have some remington 6-1/2s and a few winchester 6-1/2s but I have been using the Winchester in my 223 loads and want to conserve them.
I am using a Redding type S sizing die set with the competition Seating die. I spray all of my brass with Hornady one shot. I clean the flash holes out with a deburring tool, and clean the primer pockets with a uniformer.
According to my Sinclair Bump Gauge, using a 30A insert, my fired brass was 1.138" shoulder. I can still chamber a fired case and close the bolt all the way, with the bolt rotating completely closed, but the case is sticky to eject. I bumped the shoulders down to 1.133" and they chamber and feed perfectly. I pulled a factory round apart and the shoulders measure 1.130.
Next I measured the neck of a factory round. They are .289. I first used a .286 collet to neck size, but was only getting the brass down to .288. I then put a .285 in and got it to .287" giving me .002" neck tension. I like to have .003" for my 308, but I loaded some dummys at this anyway.
I loaded the four dummy rounds using a 25 cal (.257") comparator collet since the .264 went all of the way to the neck. .256" is shown as the Bore diameter on the SAAMI drawing so I think I'm doing well. My ogive dimension was 1.640 for three rounds, and 1.639 for the fourth. I then measured COAL of all rounds. Three were exactly 2.249" and the fourth was 2.248".
I then loaded them in a mag and fed them through my rifle a number of times. First with dropping them in the chamber, letting the extractor to touch and using the forward assist to close the bolt all of the way. Then by riding the charging handle down a few times. Then letting the bolt release go home full force a few times.
I took the rounds and measured them again and didn't have any setback movement. All of them measured exactly the same. I took the shortest round and squished it nose first into the loading bench to see if I could set the bullet back any. I pushed HARD. The COAL changed .001" but the ogive was still the same. I'm guessing I smooshed the plastic tip.
I am pretty happy with this and hope to get some good results.
From what I read here and on Hodgdon's website I'm going to load these charges
27.4
27.7
28.0
28.3
28.5
I'll start by shooting a ladder test at 200 and then groups round robin style at 100. This has always worked well for me.
Let me know your thoughts.
I am going to try 8208, 123gr amax's and sst's and Federal 205 primers. I also have some remington 6-1/2s and a few winchester 6-1/2s but I have been using the Winchester in my 223 loads and want to conserve them.
I am using a Redding type S sizing die set with the competition Seating die. I spray all of my brass with Hornady one shot. I clean the flash holes out with a deburring tool, and clean the primer pockets with a uniformer.
According to my Sinclair Bump Gauge, using a 30A insert, my fired brass was 1.138" shoulder. I can still chamber a fired case and close the bolt all the way, with the bolt rotating completely closed, but the case is sticky to eject. I bumped the shoulders down to 1.133" and they chamber and feed perfectly. I pulled a factory round apart and the shoulders measure 1.130.
Next I measured the neck of a factory round. They are .289. I first used a .286 collet to neck size, but was only getting the brass down to .288. I then put a .285 in and got it to .287" giving me .002" neck tension. I like to have .003" for my 308, but I loaded some dummys at this anyway.
I loaded the four dummy rounds using a 25 cal (.257") comparator collet since the .264 went all of the way to the neck. .256" is shown as the Bore diameter on the SAAMI drawing so I think I'm doing well. My ogive dimension was 1.640 for three rounds, and 1.639 for the fourth. I then measured COAL of all rounds. Three were exactly 2.249" and the fourth was 2.248".
I then loaded them in a mag and fed them through my rifle a number of times. First with dropping them in the chamber, letting the extractor to touch and using the forward assist to close the bolt all of the way. Then by riding the charging handle down a few times. Then letting the bolt release go home full force a few times.
I took the rounds and measured them again and didn't have any setback movement. All of them measured exactly the same. I took the shortest round and squished it nose first into the loading bench to see if I could set the bullet back any. I pushed HARD. The COAL changed .001" but the ogive was still the same. I'm guessing I smooshed the plastic tip.
I am pretty happy with this and hope to get some good results.
From what I read here and on Hodgdon's website I'm going to load these charges
27.4
27.7
28.0
28.3
28.5
I'll start by shooting a ladder test at 200 and then groups round robin style at 100. This has always worked well for me.
Let me know your thoughts.
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