LRx
New member
Decided to experiment a bit with my Remington UML to find a load that was legal for use in Montan's weapons restricted areas. This would mean no sabot's and the bullet must be of pure lead construction (i.e., no Hornady BP's, Thor's, etc). I'm by no means an experienced hand with ML's, but I wanted to share my findings in case it could be of use to someone else.
I initially started with 90 grains by volume (70 grains by weight) of Triple 7 FFG and a 460 grain No Excuses bullet. I've heard really good things about the NE's, both for accuracy and terminal performance. While I can't speak to the terminal performance yet, I'm quite pleased with the accuracy thus far.
My first five-shot group easily landed within 2" at 100 yards, and yielded an average velocity of approximately 1450 fps.
Next I tried 100 grains by volume (78 grains by weight), and although velocity increased to 1540 fps, accuracy severely deteriorated. Fortunately, I had a package of "Ballistic Bridge Sub-Bases" from MMP Sabots. It's a tip I picked-up from the guys over at Rokslide. These are basically just a dome-like plastic wad that allegedly serves as a gas seal between the powder and bullet when using heavier charges of powder. Bingo. Groups tightened up immediately and I'm quite satisfied with the day's results.
I've topped the UML with a Vortex Razor LH 1.5-8x with their BDC reticle. Unfortunately, the BC on the NE bullets is unknown, so Vortex's handy ballistics calculator can't be used to determine where the vertical hash marks fall for distances. No worries, I'll just plink away until I figure it out myself. More to come!
A couple take-aways from today's session that seemed significant to me:
1) Accuracy with all loads deteriorated after approximately 7 shots. A couple passes with a patch soaked with BP solvent brought things back in line.
2) After cleaning the barrel, firing a few primers without a charge of powder DOES make a difference. I experimented by not doing this and my first shots were fliers. Subsequent shots were spot-on.
3) Velocity fell off by approximately 140 FPS +/- after the 10th shot in a string, likely due to the heavy fouling? This and a deterioration in accuracy are all the motivation I need to keep things clean!
I initially started with 90 grains by volume (70 grains by weight) of Triple 7 FFG and a 460 grain No Excuses bullet. I've heard really good things about the NE's, both for accuracy and terminal performance. While I can't speak to the terminal performance yet, I'm quite pleased with the accuracy thus far.
My first five-shot group easily landed within 2" at 100 yards, and yielded an average velocity of approximately 1450 fps.
Next I tried 100 grains by volume (78 grains by weight), and although velocity increased to 1540 fps, accuracy severely deteriorated. Fortunately, I had a package of "Ballistic Bridge Sub-Bases" from MMP Sabots. It's a tip I picked-up from the guys over at Rokslide. These are basically just a dome-like plastic wad that allegedly serves as a gas seal between the powder and bullet when using heavier charges of powder. Bingo. Groups tightened up immediately and I'm quite satisfied with the day's results.
I've topped the UML with a Vortex Razor LH 1.5-8x with their BDC reticle. Unfortunately, the BC on the NE bullets is unknown, so Vortex's handy ballistics calculator can't be used to determine where the vertical hash marks fall for distances. No worries, I'll just plink away until I figure it out myself. More to come!
A couple take-aways from today's session that seemed significant to me:
1) Accuracy with all loads deteriorated after approximately 7 shots. A couple passes with a patch soaked with BP solvent brought things back in line.
2) After cleaning the barrel, firing a few primers without a charge of powder DOES make a difference. I experimented by not doing this and my first shots were fliers. Subsequent shots were spot-on.
3) Velocity fell off by approximately 140 FPS +/- after the 10th shot in a string, likely due to the heavy fouling? This and a deterioration in accuracy are all the motivation I need to keep things clean!
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