VSSF II 204 first day at the range and didn't get results.

[MickGibbo]

Took the VSSF II to silverdale on Saturday to run in and test my load and to say I was disappointed was an understatement.

After run in I was shooting 3 shot groups with Drew's pet load that thumbtacks at half inch minimum for him of 26.6gr of 2206H.

I could not keep the groups under an inch, there was now wind at all and I felt that I was shooting and holding fine on the targets.

Any ideas and suggestions would be great from people and their experiences with this Cal.

I know its early but just expected a bit more.

[Rinso]

MickGibbo,

You can use someone else's load but don't expect it to work your rifle .. if it does well and good but as a rule every gun is different and needs its own load development.

You may find that your rifle works better with a different bullet or different powder weight its all trial and error.

cheers
Rinso

[MickGibbo]

Totally agree and I do a fair bit of loading on my other cals. I would have just thought that it would have at least been a bit tidier than that and not spraying them.

[Rabbitz]

Mick,

I assume you have done all the obvious things?
Checked for barrel float
Checked for correct (and even) takedown screw torque
Checked scope mounts and screws
etc etc etc

Rabz

[Rinso]

MickGibbo,

I would have just thought that it would have at least been a bit tidier than that and not spraying them.

It is only a 204, you can't expect too much from it

Rinso

[trevort]

most 204s I have heard off perform best with relatively hot loads. Drew's is the exception as his is very mild. Mine was 27.9gns. Your rifle might be a more 'normal' 204 and you need to up the charge

[MickGibbo]

Ive been reading alot of stuff from the states and seem tio have come to the same conclusion, is there anyone else on here running with a VSSF II in 204?


Im going to take it to 27 and then 27.6 of 2206H and see how I go, hopefully that will bring them right in. Fire formed cases should improve the accuracy a little now as well.

[Model70]

Or buy a 25-06 Mick.
You heading out again this weekend?

[trevort]

max is 28gns in the manual from memory. i went to 28.5 in load testing but 27.9 won hands down

[MickGibbo]

Model 70 - Yes probably head out again, or maybe early next week.

Trevort thanks for the Info will definately be trying the hotter load. Hopefully that will bring it in considerably. Drew's load works so well in his I just imagined it would work straight up in mine, thats my impatients showing there.

Im supprised that the 26.6 gr load scattered so much.

[Model70]

I was going to go to Orange this weekend but cant, going to the range again on sunday to play with the .308 a little more and will probably take my press etc.

[wb243]

Dan Newberry (google him if you don't know who he is...) suggests that an Optimal Charge Weight can be found about 2% above a Scatter node.

What does this mean? Glad you ask.

If Drew's load is actually a scatter node in your rifle, then you may find that 26.6 + 2% = 27.1 grains is going to work well. Goes along with Trev's theory.

Just one theory of many. Here is a link if interested: http://home.earthlink.net/~dannewberry/ ... velopment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers

[MickGibbo]

Excellent read, thanks for that.

[MickGibbo]

Ok round 2 today, tried 2 loads 27.1 gr of 2206H and 27.6 gr of 2206H.

Both were pretty average with 27.1 yielding a 1 inch group at best and the 27.6 wasn't worth mentioning.

OK so now I'm getting very frustrated at this point and Drew had a look at what was going on for me, he kindly shot a group for me to see if it was just me sucking, he ended up with the same results.

So I end up talking to some a bench rest guy and described everything that was happening and showed him my targets but as soon as we got to the fact I was shooting off Bipods with a rear rest he stopped and said thats more than likely your problem. Can anyone explain this further for me. The thing was I could 100% guarantee I was holding perfect on the corner for each group, so it wasn't a stability problem.

I must admit that I do normally shoot off rests but the person I normally shoot with hasn't been wit me while I was running this rifle in. Would you expect that shooting off Bipods to cause the lack of grouping with my shots?

[Ned Kelly]

G'Day Mick,
shooting off a bipod can cause vertical in you groups, try holding (pulling) it down hard onto the bench to stop it "bouncing" when you fire. And avoid gripping the barrel with your hand. And a strong hold can help, i read somewhere that a tactical shooter in the US shoots tiny groups at 800+yds off a bipod, I think it was from the web site 6BR.com. look it up as his style was pretty good

Rear bags are a great help but remove any sling swivel studs as these will cause a thrown shot as the stud slides back between the ears of the bag.

Also, try 0.3 gn steps in your powder charges, smaller cases respond better to increasing the loads by 0.3gns than 0.5gns. When you get to something bigger than a 22-250 in case size you can try 0.5gns ie in a 243, 308, 270 etc but small cases like, 222, 223, 204, like 0.3gns and the really small cases like the hornet etc use 0.2gn steps.

Also try a different brand primer, sometimes this can help.

Are you seating the bullets close to the rifling or are they well away to feed from a magazine. You could try seating some just of the rifling and see how these loads shoot, you should find an improvement.

Try another bullet if you can, someone from the forum may beable to send you 10-20 to try without buying a whole box.

hope this helps.

Cheerio Ned