Well I finally got all my reloading equipment bought and tested out. Got my first batch deprimed and cleaned. The frankfort arsenal rotary tumbler works amazing by the way. Im going to be loading 180 accubonds over hybrid 100v powder. My question is if any of you guys are reloading 180 accubonds what are you going with for an OAL. Nosler data says 2.83". Anyone tried anything different than that with better results?
300 wsm oal
- Thread starter usmc99
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libidilatimmy
Veteran member
Have you measured what the OAL is for the 180 AB where the bullet is touching the lands, and in turn what the maximum OAL will be allowed by the magazine box in your rifle to function properly? These are the factors that I consider when choosing a OAL to begin with. You'll notice that in all reloading manuals, that the OAL tested for any particular bullet is usually a few hundredths of an inch shorter than the SAAMI published maximum OAL for a particular cartridge. What you're really interested in as far as cartridge length goes is the distance from the bullet ogive to the lands, or start of the rifling, and it's corresponding OAL. This distance is the amount of "jump" the bullet makes before making contact with the rifling during the firing process, and to achieve the best accuracy you usually need to play with the amount of jump to see how the bullet reacts accuracy wise to different amounts of jump. If you can freely cycle and chamber a round with the tested OAL in the manual, then it will work fine for testing what powder charge for the powder you've chosen works best with your particular rifle and you can fine tune the OAL after you've determined your optimal charge weight. Remember to limit the variables when working up loads to one, powder charge or OAL etc., and to work your way up from mild loads watching for pressure signs along the way.
Thanks for the input. The factory ammo I have left measures anywhere from 2.804 to 2.808 and I had pretty good accuracy with that stuff. I think ill start about there and start with powder testing. Do you have any tolerance range at all with your OAL or do you make sure its dead on every time?
libidilatimmy
Veteran member
Factory ammunition is always loaded on the short side to ensure that they'll function in all, for the most part, production rifles. I load all of my rounds to an exact OAL. It only takes a hundredth of an inch or two in some cases to bugger up your accuracy. Like for testing the powder charges, everything about the rounds will be the same (OAL, case brand/length, primer) except for the charge weights. If you throw more than one variable into the mix, you'll never know which change in composition caused the good/bad results to appear. I was able to get good results with my 300 WSM using H414, Hy100V, and both IMR & H 4350's with the 180g AB so it looks like you're on the right track. When I went to the 200g AB, I got the best results with slower burning powders like IMR 7828 and H4831SC with 7828 being the most accurate in my rifle for that bullet.
Have you played around with the accubond LR at all? I have been shooting 180 accubonds since I got this rifle so I'm hesitant to go away from something that works so well. Thanks again for your help . I'm going to try to get some different charges loaded up tomorrow and hopefully hit the range next week.
libidilatimmy
Veteran member
I haven't tried the ABLR yet in the 300 WSM since mine is at the gunsmith currently getting rebuilt. I've got a box of 190g ABLR that I'm going to try out when the rifle gets completed. I have tried the 150g ABLR in 7-08 and am getting good results with them, but one thing that seems to be fairly consistent with those bullets is that they tend to like more jump than most others. I found the sweet spot in my 7-08 seating the bullets .08" from the lands.
Well I got the first batch loaded up today. Did 3 shells each of 62, 62.5,63,63.5, and 64 grains of hybrid 100v.I just seated them to the same depth as the factory ammo to start with until i narrow down what powder charge it likes. Too bad I cant get out to the range till next week though. Hopefully they all go boom!