Captain Obvious –
I do reload and find that the key to accuracy is shot-to-shot consistency. Many of my most consistent and accurate loads are just below maximum for a given combination of components. While I have often found very consistent and accurate loads at reduced velocities, these are generally of little interest to me as hunting loads. For example, 13.5g HS-6 behind a 300-350g hardcast in my .45-70 provides extremely accurate loads in the area of 1100fps, along with minimal recoil – about 7 foot-pounds. I have developed numerous accurate loads in the 1500-2000fps range using a variety of components, but my hunting loads are a heavy dose of H4198 and a North Fork 350g bullet for about 2183fps and recoil in the 38-39 foot-pound range when the scope is mounted. There is nothing mild about the hunting loads but they are also very accurate and are easily the most consistent loads I have ever developed – 4 and 5-shot strings usually exhibit Extreme Spreads under 10fps and often under 5fps with Standard Deviations as low as 1.8fps. In the bolt guns I use the same methodology to find my hunting loads – work up to max in 0.5g increments using 4-5 cartridges at each powder level, then compare accuracy and consistency for each powder charge. The loads I select will be almost always be closer to max than the starting charge. Accurate loads are where you find them but it is rare that an accurate load will be inconsistent.
My comment about the 175’s and 200’s stands. Yes, I know people use them, but when I ask people at the range or in the field what they are using it is invariably the 160’s or lighter for the 7mm and 180 or lighter in the .300’s. Has nothing to do with what I “like”, just an observation. A lot of 7mm Mag fans prefer the 150g weight and a lot of .300 shooters use 165-168g. When they use X and Failsafe bullets some folks go even lighter. The lighter weight bullets, regardless of construction, would not be my choice either.
“Shorter, lighter rifles are not necessarily an advantage in themselves.” Well, I’d say that’s up to each individual shooter to decide. The flip side is that longer, heavier rifles are not necessarily an advantage in themselves, but I’ll bet you don’t hump the mountainsides with a 26” heavy-barrel benchrest gun, do you? The Shorts do seem to be more efficient with mid-weight bullets and the reduced powder charge necessary to launch a bullet at a given velocity help offset any increase in recoil caused by the lower rifle weight. Roughly speaking, a 2 grain decrease in powder will reduce recoil about as much as adding a quarter-pound of weight to the rifle.
My comment about the factory cartridges was specifically about the Winchester .30-30 and .300 Win Mag, and I stand behind it. The velocity of the Winchester .30-30 loads I have chrono’ed are below that of my handloads, but the factory ammo has to be safe in every rifle, a qualifier I included in my statement. No way I would shoot my .30-30 handloads in older rifles or even in any other rifle other than mine. I will retract my statement about WW loading their 180g PowerPoints to faster than 3100fps. I was working from memory and thought they had chrono’ed just over 3100fps. Checking my records they chrono’ed just under 3100fps, but they are still about 40fps faster than my handloads. Also, checking my manuals, I found maximum data for both cartridges that are under the chrono’ed velocities for the Winchester loads. Federal 160g Nosler Partitions for the 7mm Mag seem to be in the same boat – faster than my handloads, faster than some max load data, slower than other data. I will also concede that handloaders can push the limits to achieve higher velocities than factory ammo because they are working with specific firearms. A case in point is my .257 Roberts, for which I started with “+P” data from several sources and developed my own loads using different combinations of components. Factory “+P+” data can’t touch my .257 Roberts loads when it comes to velocity, but I wouldn’t shoot my loads in any other rifle and, while I doubt my .257 Roberts loads exceed 52,000 CUP, I doubt they conform to SAMMI “+P” pressures of 48,000 CUP either – but my rifle is a 1989 Ruger not some converted relic from WWI. Again, the point is that factory ammo has to be safe in every firearm, while handloads do not, as my original statement indicated.
