Friday the 13th was NOT real lucky for me. I was testing loads at the range and had shot some 3-shot groups using the 35 gr. Berger FB HP bullets, Rem 7 1/2 primers, and Reloder 10X. Here are the three 3-shot groups I fired at 100 yards.



I was trying to find a load that would shoot these bullets at about 4,200 fps into an itty bitty group. The load of 27.3 gr. of Rel 10X gave me a 3-shot group of 0.390". The group with 27.6 gr. of Rel 10X was 0.480" and the group with 27.8 gr. was 0.890". There were extractor marks on the case heads on shots 2 and 3 of the 27.8 gr. group. TOO HOT!!!

I had three casings loaded up with 27.0 gr. of Rel 10X and 32 gr. V-Max bullets and three casings loaded with 26.2 gr. of Rel 10X and 40 gr. V-Max bullets. The 32 gr. bullets were really smoking along!!! The group probably wouldn't have been too bad but I felt myself doing the herky-jerky trigger jerk on shot #3 and it went flying to the left. It is still a 0.600" group though. I think these 27.0 gr. loads might burn up the barrel pretty quickly, but there were no signs of excess pressure.

Then I chambered one of the 40 gr. cartridges and fired shot #1. The shot was 0.843" high and just 0.053" left with a velocity of 4,054 fps. That looked promising. I put my right hand on the bolt to lift it up and it wouldn't budge!!!! I had to hit the bolt handle from the bottom with the palm of my hand to get it up. When I finally got the handle up and the bolt pulled back, I could see a little 1/8" steel ball and the spent primer laying in the bottom of the receiver. The primer had blown. I hand weighed each of these powder charges and had shot loads of 26.2 gr. of Rel 10X in the rifle the day before and even fired rounds with a heavier charge than 26.2 gr. with no problems, so I ruled out to hot a load as the cause of the mishap. I have come to the conclusion that the primer pocket may have been a wee bit loose as I do remember a couple primers that I thought seated rather easily, but didn't think the were seated too easily so they would give any trouble. I did throw away the 4 casings I shot with the Winchest 748 powder where the last load gave me 4,400 fps as all four casings there had loose primer pockets.

Anyway, I quit shooting for Friday the 13th after my 13th shot!!! Kind of weird. I was not injured in any way--praise the Good Lord for that!!! I was able to clean up the bolt head, extractor, extractor ball and spring and put the bolt head back together and am using the rifle again. Here's the group with 27.0 gr. of Rel 10x and the 32 gr. V-Max and the one shot I fired with 26.2 gr. of Rel 10X and the 40 gr. bullet.



I'll get busy and post the 3-shot groups from 8/17/2004 if I get time tomorrow. I think I found a great load for the 35 gr. Berger FB HPs

Silverfox: Thanks for posting the load results and yes thankfully YOU and your equipment were not hurt!
Looking forward to your future postings on this new cartridge!
Be careful!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy