I tested the 107 MK's this morning and found a great BLC-2 load just short of 2700, H-414 did quite well also but is just a little slow burning for a 222mag size case. As I surmised earlier this barrel seems to prefer Sierra's, the next tests will be with a 75/25% blend of BLC-2 and H-414 to see if my goal of 2750 with the 107 MK's is possible.

Why do you want to shoot the bullets that fast for silhouette?

Jerry G wrote:Why do you want to shoot the bullets that fast for silhouette?

In highpower silhouette the rams are 500 meters downrange, they weigh approximately 60 pounds, in order for a hit to count they must me toppled off the stand, small calibers like 6mm are marginally successful at toppling them because of the relatively low bullet weight, to increase the power i.e. energy to make it more likely that a hit will knock the target off the stand the bullet either has to be heavier or the velocity must be higher hence my quest for higher velocity. Small caliber guns that shoot their bullets at high velocity have less recoil than medium sized rifles launching bullets at moderate velocities, in general the smaller calibers at higher velocities have less wind drift because the time of flight is shorter and the wind has less time to drift the bullet.
I had a screw put in my shoulder about 18 months ago to reattach a tendon, as luck would have it's right where the top end of the recoil pad contacts my shoulder, extended shooting sessions with 7-08 class guns are now completely out of the question.
Hope this answers your question Jerry,
Kevin

Yesterday after work I bedded the rifle into an old stock I used on my first silhouette rifle, no beauty queen but it will do. Love that Guns & Roses sticker!!! Tomorrow is game day at CRC, can't wait.



A few cases for comparison Trent, from the left, 223, 6x47, 6mm BR, 7mm BR, 6.5, 7mm, 30 IHMSA, 243, 7-08.

Thanks for the photos Kevin! Looking forward to hearing how she does on the animals.

Well I didn't exactly set any records today but shooting a new gun for the first time without established zero's your going to miss more than you would normally and that's understandable. On the plus side this little rifle is very pleasant to shoot, I kept having to remind myself that it has almost no recoil, and there's no reason to flinch. Two things really stood out on it's performance today, those little Matchkings really do a great job of bucking the wind, we had a moderate headwind that switched from 10:00 to 2:00 that had very little effect on them as compared to what I was hearing from other shooters. The second is how flat the trajectory is, chickens 0, pigs 1.75, turkeys 4.75, rams 9.75, that's very flat for a cartridge burning 27. grains of powder.
Speaking of rams...drum roll please, yes this cartridge is to small to take rams reliably-ta-da!, I knew that going into this project. I hit five but only two fell, of the two that fell one was hit on the edge of the butt the other one dead center low, of the three that rang two were hit solid in the butt and the other in the heart. My spotter and I were both surprised that the butt shots didn't fall but it was probably due to the wind from behind them, both were turned with half the foot hanging off the rail. I'm hoping to find a load that will topple 50% of the one's I hit, that would be acceptable to me.
Overall I'm happy with the gun, next test will be with 115 grain DTAC bullets if and when they become available, if anyone has 100 of them they would sell or trade for let me know, I have a lot of 7mm components.

I think the DTAC is your best hope for the rams. Question is, how much capacity are you going to lose with that long bullet, or is your chamber throated for them?

The throat is very very long in this gun, I had them cut it so a 107 is about halfway down the neck when touching the rifleing. 95grain MK's when touching are barely in the case. Nope,shouldn't be a problem, 8 more grains of lead is probably less than an 1/8 of an inch in 6mm. The guys were saying today that DTAC's are made by Sierra, given this rifles preference for them in the smaller bullets they should be accurate.

KB,

Check your PM's, got what you want.

Also, VarGet is probably the best powder for the heavy bullets. Weigh the charge and slowly drop-tube it into the case so you can get that extra grain or two of powder; and, just NK size the cases for your ram load. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to get close to 2,800 fps with the 107 SMK's. If you really want to go off the MV deep end, try N540, way past 2,800 fps me thinks.

Dan, what's your best guess on the top mv for the 115 in this little cartridge and most importantly are they likely to topple rams 50% of the time?

kevinbear wrote:Dan, what's your best guess on the top mv for the 115 in this little cartridge and most importantly are they likely to topple rams 50% of the time?

Kevin,

If you go to N540 you should be able to launch the 115's to 2,800 fps. As to ram reliability, that is too range specific to make a reasonable guess. At Raton, with no headwind holding up the rams, I'd say you'd be in the 80% range. Same for Phoenix and Avenal, CA.

I just poured some N540 into a fired 6TCU case. It held 30.0 grains (the N500 series of powders is very dense) with the powder just below the neck. I have about 1/4 lb of the powder if you're interested in trying some. I can't ship loose powder, but I can fill a bunch of 300 Weatherby Mag cases, seat a bullet and ship'em UPS ground along with the 115's.

Kev, You haven't told me anything new. I shoot a 6.5x47. I use a 142 gr bullet at 2650 for the rams. Works great. I use a 107 gr bullet for the other 3 animals. If I hit them, they all go down.

Jerry G wrote:Kev, You haven't told me anything new. I shoot a 6.5x47. I use a 142 gr bullet at 2650 for the rams. Works great. I use a 107 gr bullet for the other 3 animals. If I hit them, they all go down.

That's great Jerry!!! Sounds like you have a system.

Kevin looks to me like going from not being able to shoot to being able to shoot makes you a big winner even if non of those hard set SOB rams ever fall.....

Shoot on Brother!

Merlin wrote:Kevin looks to me like going from not being able to shoot to being able to shoot makes you a big winner even if non of those hard set SOB rams ever fall.....

Shoot on Brother!

That's kind of what I was thinking, thanks.