OMG..........are you expecting to need 200 rounds of ammo to bag a deer.

 

Marmots are on the menu as well. Lots of them. Maybe a badger or two.

So far it’s two cartridges, two deer.

 

I did some loading for my model 70 Swede The magic powder was R-22, which I am totally out of and is totally unavailable now. The new powder I tried was IMR4831SC and performance on a scale of 1-10 was about a 7. With R-22 it was a 10+.
I have only 5 rounds loaded with R-22 left and the is it,,,forever.

I had 7 rounds and fired two at the range just to check, They made a figure 8 at 1oo yards with my 4x scope that has been on it since i bought this rifle in the last century. Late 1990's

 

Don't say RL22 is unobtainable. My pet load for my 270 is RL22 based. I have enough to do another 100 rounds or so and I'm out.

 

Planning on a lot of misses?
Have fun with all the extra critters you're planning on.

200 rounds will last me the next 10 years for some of my rifles. For others that's a days worth of fun.

 

Good luck. I shoot a 6.5 creedmoor

 

DB. Try Hybrid 100-V. It’ll be your new powder. It really likes small cases and a small bore. Fill the case to the bottom of the neck and seat the bullet just touching the powder.

 

Thank you.

 

I wouldn’t be suprised to see RL 22 come back on the shelves, a pile of Retumbo hit the market last week.

 

I saw a couple others I thought were gone for good and grabbed a couple cans. It was a unique opportunity.

 

You are definitely "loaded and ready for deer" and a zombie attack! That's an impressive amount of ammo. I'm jealous of your reloading skills.

 

You should have seen the inventory in March! I load for family and we went rat/marmot shooting in early April. I loaded over 1k rounds leading up to the trip.

Lucky, though, 4 rifles but only 2 recipes.

This was about 2/3 of what we used:

Marmots at 500 yards are great practice.

Head shots only counted if you called them prior. Like billiards.




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Good equipment and custom ammo is the ticket.

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That's so cool. Looks like a ton of fun! A Great way to get the family together to practice their marksmanship!

 

@pharmseller Do you have a progressive press set up or "unlimited" time? asking for a friend trying to decide whether to jump into reloading mass quantities.

 

I use a progressive press but like a single stage, I took the indexing arm out. It saves quite a bit of time just installing new 4-hole turrets. Plus, I use a powder thrower for .223 instead of weighing charges. Remarkably accurate and consistent.

And I neck size instead of full-length.

 

Did you know that marmots are a staple food for the folks on the steppes of Mongolia? They are also a vector for Rocky Mtn Spotted fever, so clean em with nitrile gloves on before you eat em.

 

Crockpot marmot with taters and cream of mushroom soup. Meat just falls off the bone.

 

I am curious on the rate of twist for your Tikka? I can't get my .222 or 22-250 to shoot the Nosler 55gr E-tips worth a dang. The best bullet so far is the Nosler 40gr ballistic tip. I don't hunt deer with either, just predators. The 55's don't seem to stabilize in my 1:14 twist barrels and seem to hit the target sideways. I am picking up a couple of boxes of Nosler 40gr E-tips (lead free) this week. I occasionally hunt in N. CA. and they require lead free ammo.

 

bullet length is the critical measurement.1-14" is best for bullets under .800" which is why speer makes the 70gr semi pointed at .790.wichester makes the 64gr power point at .805 works in my 22-250 1-14 the .805 55grain ballistic tip is marginal if i push it hard. the perfect bullet length for 1-14 twist is like the55gr sierra flat base spitzer at .715" the 40gr is .696" so it is in that middle sweet zone for 1-14 remingtons 55gr flat base spitzer is .690 for a reason

 

Both of my Tikkas are 1-8”, which stabilize the 75 gr bullets well.

This was today, only 100 yards but 8 shots under .8” ain’t bad. Quite windy so I had a little more lateral dispersion than I like.

1-14” twist, what kind of rifle do you have? AR style?

 

I found this chart on another board years ago.

As you can see, the slower the twist the lighter the bullet. Monometals are slightly different, as Baltz said, since they tend to be lighter per length, so you can get away with longer (therefore heavier) bullets.

Velocity also factors into stability, so if you’re marginal, push it fast (safely, of course).

 

In general with a 14 twist .22, stay under 60 gr. With lead free bullets go even lighter. Some barrels just don’t shoot lead free well and seating depth can be very finicky to make them shoot.

 

Took my sons rifle out to assure it was on target since he is out of town working and will come into camp late Wednesday during season…and I brought my 7mm-08 that I took to Idaho to make sure it hadn’t got bumped. As I pulled up to set my target up I noticed 4-5 starlings had landed in a snag tree against the base of the hill. Seeing there was a safe backstop behind them…I grabbed my 7mm-08 and my rangefinder. 163 yards. I’m sighted in dead on at 200…so I load a round and rest off the back of my pickup and let a 140 gr Accubond go…feathers fell off the bird I shot at as they all flew off. Close. As I was contemplating the shot, two more flew into the same tree. At the next shot I dropped one out of the top of the tree. Wow…lucky shot I guess. I was about to put the rifle back and get my target out when another small batch of starlings lit in the same tree. Another round was ready and I settled back into the scope off the back of the truck. I’m shooting suppressed now…and at the shot I see the bullet impact the starling in the breast and he tips over backwards. Dang…I guess she is still sighted in. Savage model 11 Light…Leupold fire dot 4-12 CDS.

 

Both of my Tikkas are 1-8”, which stabilize the 75 gr bullets well.

This was today, only 100 yards but 8 shots under .8” ain’t bad. Quite windy so I had a little more lateral dispersion than I like.

View attachment 1074950



View attachment 1074951

1-14” twist, what kind of rifle do you have? AR style?

Both of my Tikkas are 1-8”, which stabilize the 75 gr bullets well.

This was today, only 100 yards but 8 shots under .8” ain’t bad. Quite windy so I had a little more lateral dispersion than I like.

View attachment 1074950



View attachment 1074951

1-14” twist, what kind of rifle do you have? AR style?

I mostly shoot an old Remington 788 in .222. I bought it in 1975 used for $125 with a 3x9 leupold gold ring on it. Over the years I have tricked it up a bit with a Timney trigger, Boyd's stock, Cerakote barrel (shortened), and suppressed. I also occasionally shoot a Olympic Arms AR and a Ruger 77 in 22-250. I have been calling coyotes since 1969 and can't possibly tell you how many coyotes that 788 has taken. I am always looking for the Holy Grail of bullets...minimal pelt damage and accurate. With CA going lead free (I live 45 miles from the border) and Oregon probably not far behind, I am looking for a lead free alternative. Nosler makes a 35gr E-tip (currently out of stock) and a 40gr E-tip that I have ordered. The 35gr E-tip shoots pretty well, I called in and shot a big tom bobcat in the head a couple years ago at 274yds. Bullet performance was impressive.
The first photo is 3 shots with the 55gr, you can see they don't stabilize and went in sideways and all over the target. The second photo is the 40gr Nosler BT. 3 shots, 100yds.you could probably cover with a dime.

 

Good Luck!

 

I have Red Death, the Mighty -08, as backup.

 

.300 win mag RL 19 165 gr Grand Slam bullet is my deer recipe this year.

 

View attachment 1075031
.300 win mag RL 19 165 gr Grand Slam bullet is my deer recipe this year.

Some of us are good enough not to need a 300 Win Mag for deer.

i mean seriously. Deer?

Here’s your pink panties.




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In alll seriousness have a great deer hunt Pharm and nice work on the handloads 👍🏻

 

Shot at 500 yards today. Varmint Cong was boringly accurate but the Mighty -08 did well also.

Shooting seated off my Primos Trigger Sticks tripod, hunting pack under my right arm.

150 gr ELDX at 2780 is no joke at 500 yards.

The X square is 4” across.

 

My brother’s 6.5 PRC

I load for him, too. 156 EOL at 2935 fps at the muzzle.

That’s about a 2” group at 500 yards.

 

I use the 75 ELDM in my 223AI for fun. I know the super-cool kids have long since moved on to other bullets in 223 for deer, but reports I saw several years ago were that the ELDM was a wicked deer bullet!

I’m sure you described it elsewhere but what did the terminal effects look like at 475 yards?

My daughter got her first buck last year using my 708 Mountain Rifle. Such a great cartridge. She plans on using it on pigs (her BF’s pharmaceutical
sales job (!) has her in NoCal for a while) and someday elk. I have the points for us both to hunt Hell’s Canyon, and my wife and I have backpacked fairly extensively there, so I’ve just been waiting for a May (when we put in for tags) when my wife’s health stuff wasn’t a **** show that makes it impossible to commit to such an adventure in November, if that makes sense. I’ll be rocking a 7 WSM and/or 6.5 GAP.

 

I use the 75 ELDM in my 223AI for fun. I know the super-cool kids have long since moved on to other bullets in 223 for deer, but reports I saw several years ago were that the ELDM was a wicked deer bullet!

I’m sure you described it elsewhere but what did the terminal effects look like at 475 yards?

My daughter got her first buck last year using my 708 Mountain Rifle. Such a great cartridge. She plans on using it on pigs (her BF’s pharmaceutical
sales job (!) has her in NoCal for a while) and someday elk. I have the points for us both to hunt Hell’s Canyon, and my wife and I have backpacked fairly extensively there, so I’ve just been waiting for a May (when we put in for tags) when my wife’s health stuff wasn’t a **** show that makes it impossible to commit to such an adventure in November, if that makes sense. I’ll be rocking a 7 WSM and/or 6.5 GAP.

Oh no, not a drug rep! Doesn’t she know about the evils of Big Pharma?

Here are some pics with the buck’s hide off.

Entrance

Internals. Top of the lungs.

Hit a bit high but exited. Wrecked him pretty good.

Exit.

He dropped at impact.





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