I have a Winchester Model 70 in 7WSM that I have had for years. It has always shoot decent groups with the Winchester MaxBond bullets, but decided to see what it would do with hand loads. The original stock has been replaced with a B&C stock, and had a "tune up" done by Bennett Custom Works.
I decided to work up a load using the 140 grain Nosler Accubonds. I used 64 grains of IMR4350, with a CCI magnum primer. OAL was 2.850. These loads shot okay, but weren't quite a good as the factory rounds. I tried stretching out the OAL to 2.950, which still fit nicely into the mag well, and was safely off the lands. Again, I didn't see any great improvement over the factory rounds. I am shooting about a 1 1/2" to 2" groups at 100 yards, using a shooting rest (very well supported). I feel like this gun should be shooting 1/2" groups, easily.
So, does anybody have a suggestion? I know every gun has a magic combination of powder and bullet, but I just wonder what my next step should be. I was thinking of backing off on the powder charge by a grain or two, or possibly a different powder.
Just curious to know what you more experienced loaders would try.
I decided to work up a load using the 140 grain Nosler Accubonds. I used 64 grains of IMR4350, with a CCI magnum primer. OAL was 2.850. These loads shot okay, but weren't quite a good as the factory rounds. I tried stretching out the OAL to 2.950, which still fit nicely into the mag well, and was safely off the lands. Again, I didn't see any great improvement over the factory rounds. I am shooting about a 1 1/2" to 2" groups at 100 yards, using a shooting rest (very well supported). I feel like this gun should be shooting 1/2" groups, easily.
So, does anybody have a suggestion? I know every gun has a magic combination of powder and bullet, but I just wonder what my next step should be. I was thinking of backing off on the powder charge by a grain or two, or possibly a different powder.
Just curious to know what you more experienced loaders would try.