My new rifle this year is a Ruger Mod 77 MKII RSI. I like this short barreled handy rifle and dumped a nice Buck with it. I had some wild bullet spreads with factory ammo so went to the bench to see what I could do to tighten the group.I found that high velocity, short barrel, and what ever the twist is are not a good combination for this rifle. I settled on 43.7 gr of H380, with a 165gr Hornady SST.New brass.WLR primers.Which will give me 1-2" if I do my part.Any ideas on what I may be getting for velocity and pressures. And, should I be using a filler..and also, what type do I use, as I have never use a filler before.My first post...I enjoy the forum.

Quickload thinks you'd be doing about 2050 fps at 25k pressure and a 73% fill. If this isn't a published load you found somewhere I wouldn't use it at all.
There have got to be some good loads out there that will give you better than 1-2" groups. I would recomend that you check manuals for start loads of I4064, varget or the 4350's if you like them on the mild side.

I played with fillers but didn't care for the extra work and the sometimes spooky things that happen to velocity (from which I infer pressure excursions). As Kraky suggests there is plenty of reduced load data available. Hodgdon has youth loads here http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Youth%20Loads.pdf Sam Fadala has a recipe http://findarticles.com/p/arti...g_2?tag=content;col1 Chuckhawks can help http://www.chuckhawks.com/reduced_recoil_reloads.htm and reminds us that Speer usually has reduced load data. Ken Waters Pet Loads has several combinations he described as 30/30'06 loads. I've also made careful use of data from the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. As for accuracy while we prize a rifle that shoots sub-MOA off the shelf most of the time that just doesn't happen. Several of my favorite rifles are 1.5 MOA shooters and none of the deer I've missed were the fault of the rifle...

kraky: Thanks for your reply. This load actually comes from my Sierra 2nd Edition manual. Sierra used a 26" test barrel for 2400 fps.I'm surprised that I'm at 2050. I contacted Hornady when i put this load togather and they stated min performance for this bullet was 1800 fps. My deer didn't complain. Retrieved slug from the butcher was a nice mushroom.I show no signs of pressure on primers or case head. I like the mild recoil. The case capicity appears to be about as you stated at 70%. Should I be using a filler?

The ballisticians at Sierra are very thorough. If they don't list a filler the data wasn't developed using any. With a 70% case fill I expect there's little to be gained.

Thanks nordrseta,I will look at those links. I hear you on the 1.5 moa..shots in the field are not shots in the bench house.I think I'll bump this load up to 45 gr to keep it above the 2000 fps threshold.

Just checking back on what you put down as your charge as it is really mild....you put down 43.7....just checking if you meant 47.3.
I did recheck ql and compared what it predicted to a load I used to shoot and it's on the money.
RE hornady's saying the bullet needs 1800 to open up....I'll bet that sucker will open easily down to 1600 as it is a pretty fragile bullet....I've seen what they do at normal veloicty....big holes.

Here are some faster burning powders you might try:

42.8gr. 3031

39.5gr. XMR2015

42gr. RL-15

43gr. Accurate 2230

However, in all probability your flawed repeatability will not be changed to the extent you need with powder selection or weight variance. The answer most likely is somewhere else. You might look to stuff like bedding, barrel floating ect. roger

Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..

There are allot of reduced 30-06 loads in the late 1950s early 1960s Lyman manuals.

They look allot like 10 gr Unique with this cast bullet an 10 gr Red Dot with that cast bullet.