Mike,

  Interesting data you have there.

  One thing I notice is the temp. you're shooting in. This could be a cause of your not getting the accuracy you're wanting or expecting. From my experience the colder it is the more problems you have with good ignition with small charges of powder. I attribute this to the powder not being able to sustain a consistent temp. for an even burn. I've found if the charge is small enuf bloopers, hangfires and even misfires result.

  I've done a little shooting at temp.'s down to about 30 deg.'s F. but around here it's generally considered that accuracy starts going down hill when the temp. goes below 60 deg.'s F.

PETE

Pete,

I sort of anticipated the shooting season, normally I don’t shoot below about 50.  I never had any powder problems at these temps, more lube problems and dropping the primers because my fingers are freezing  .  As you can see by the chart wind is not my friend, that’s why I try to do testing on calm days. 

MP

Andy,

I’m not having any trouble with this rifle or the load development for it.  I was just posting  how I feel good record keeping tells me a lot and for me it’s a good tool in the search for the “One-Holer’s”. I’ll experiment until I can get around .7 MOA day-in day-out then I’ll work on something else. 

My friend John Wills and I designed the cartridge, somehow 33 PW did not sound right so we settled on .33 WP.  It’s nothing special, a 357 Maximum 1.6” long necked to .33 caliber.  I’m using a Ron Smith gain-twist .338 chrome-moly barrel.  Shooting fixed ammo I could do little better than MOA so now I’m trying breech-seating, new bullets and all that goes with it.

I use wads when I’m using an action that it’s hard to put the loaded case in without upsetting or spilling the powder.  With this rifle (pictured at the left) it’s a Ballard so the case slips right in. I use a wad when I’m using large grain powder like 4759 that will deform the bullet base.  Over the years I have shot schuetzen rifles with wads on the powder, off the powder and in the case mouth but always try to do it without a wad, for me this is always more consistent.  What works for me may not for others.  

I’ve had lots of request to stay in Alaska and a few to leave and none had anything to do with my shooting.   Regardless, I’m not a competitive person and rarely shoot in matches.  

MP

Quote:



Reminds me of the sign that once graced my office down at the nuclear plant:

"All visitors are greatly appreciated;
Some when they enter, others when they leave."

Record-keeping is excellent as a means of collating info. I too use an Excel spreadsheet for the bare-bones facts, but have also found that keeping all test targets is sometimes even better. For instance, group shape as well as group size is sometimes significant, as is group placement on the target.
Good luck, Joe

Andy, 
I try to keep my Schuetzen shooting above 50 if I can, just too cold  for all the bare hands work needed.   After I moved to town and lost my range I shoot at Birchwood, north of Eagle River, about a 40 minuet drive from the house.  The long-range BP matches (200-300-600yrds) are held on one of the Ft. Richardson ranges (Pindow sp?)   

MP