Righto Ive had 2 quick range sessions with these OEP 103gr projectiles and a couple of things standout out.
Firstly they seem to want to shoot, I used once fired Hornady brass that I trimmed back a little too heavy in hindsight (1.515) as I noticed that the overly large waist pressure relieving groove along with the slippery lube meant loads that I used for 107gr SMK had the projectiles wanting to back out badly.
Only 1.5mm of bullet is contacting the neck either side of the groove, maybe 3mm total. Speeds were down as I just couldn't do my normal crush load
30.5gr of 8208 pushed the 103gr OEP to 2725fps, solid but I felt 2800fps should have been achievable. Case length was kept to 2.280
After chatting with a mate he suggested taking a thou off the neck sizing mandrel to help with neck tension. So I took it out of the die and I spun it in a drill against some sandpaper. 1 thou off, I loaded up the longest prepped brass I had on hand which was mostly 1.518/1.519. I also let the projectile out a little to 2.290, thou when I checked loads in the morning some had back out to 2.295 and up to 2.299. teh Manufacturer recommends 0.035-0.050 off the lands for best accuracy.
0.265 has obviously been done because there is very little billet touching the lands
Not ideal but I ran them all thru the seating die again but they didnt get fired for 5 hrs so I expect a few had backed out again, i didnt bother measuring again ...
Magnetospeed sporter was used for the session, Lee hand press LOL and RCBS scales at the kitchen table.
Howa Mini 20 inch HB Krytek stock, 1.5 lb trigger, 7 shot OEM magazine...
OEP 103 GR HP, 8208
Hornady once fired brass 1.518/2.290
30.0gr 2650 2675 2672 2662 2670
30.3gr 2714 2717 2706 2708 2688
30.5gr 2726 2723 2697 2723 2738
30.8gr 2740 2721 2730 2738 2731
31.0gr 2764 2790
No pressure signs were detected.
I plan on testing the 113gr BBT OEP next as I believe the weight, higher BC (0.475) and no massive groove might make easy to extract a better 500m hunting projectile load.
Firstly they seem to want to shoot, I used once fired Hornady brass that I trimmed back a little too heavy in hindsight (1.515) as I noticed that the overly large waist pressure relieving groove along with the slippery lube meant loads that I used for 107gr SMK had the projectiles wanting to back out badly.
Only 1.5mm of bullet is contacting the neck either side of the groove, maybe 3mm total. Speeds were down as I just couldn't do my normal crush load
30.5gr of 8208 pushed the 103gr OEP to 2725fps, solid but I felt 2800fps should have been achievable. Case length was kept to 2.280
After chatting with a mate he suggested taking a thou off the neck sizing mandrel to help with neck tension. So I took it out of the die and I spun it in a drill against some sandpaper. 1 thou off, I loaded up the longest prepped brass I had on hand which was mostly 1.518/1.519. I also let the projectile out a little to 2.290, thou when I checked loads in the morning some had back out to 2.295 and up to 2.299. teh Manufacturer recommends 0.035-0.050 off the lands for best accuracy.
0.265 has obviously been done because there is very little billet touching the lands
Not ideal but I ran them all thru the seating die again but they didnt get fired for 5 hrs so I expect a few had backed out again, i didnt bother measuring again ...
Magnetospeed sporter was used for the session, Lee hand press LOL and RCBS scales at the kitchen table.
Howa Mini 20 inch HB Krytek stock, 1.5 lb trigger, 7 shot OEM magazine...
OEP 103 GR HP, 8208
Hornady once fired brass 1.518/2.290
30.0gr 2650 2675 2672 2662 2670
30.3gr 2714 2717 2706 2708 2688
30.5gr 2726 2723 2697 2723 2738
30.8gr 2740 2721 2730 2738 2731
31.0gr 2764 2790
No pressure signs were detected.
I plan on testing the 113gr BBT OEP next as I believe the weight, higher BC (0.475) and no massive groove might make easy to extract a better 500m hunting projectile load.