Nice weather on Saturday so I packed up a couple Contenders and spent the afternoon at the range. First up was my 14" 35 Remington Very Improved with a 2X Leupold launching 180 gr Hornady SSP and Speer FP bullets pushed by 42gr. 748, 38gr. H322, or 40gr H4895. The most accurate load was the Hornady bullet coupled with 748 which produced a 5 shot group at 100 yards on just under an inch. The Hornady bullet did almost as well with the H322 and H4895 loads with the 5 shot groups measuring inder 1.5 inches. The 180 gr. Speer struggled to keep 5 shots under 2", with the H322 load delivering a respectable 1.75" group.

Next up was my 10" Bull barrel in 256 Win Mag topped off with a 4X Leupold scope. I decided to work up some loads using the 75 Sierra HP and 75gr Hornady V-max bullets pushed by Lil'Gun. I was fire forming necked down 357 Mag Starline brass primed with Fed 100 SP primers. This is one of those wonder barrels, as 14.0 gr of H4227 and the 75gr. V-max bullet shoots like a house a fire, printing the smallest group I've ever fired, 5 into less than 3/8" at 100 yards. I started at 13.0 gr. of Lil'Gun and started working upwards in 0.5 grain increments. The 13.0 grain load showed promise, with 5 under an inch, but 13.5 grains of LilGun pushing the 75 grain V-max printed a nice round cluster measuring less than 1/2". The group opened up back to about an inch with a load of 14.0 gr. of LilGun. I called it a day as the light was getting poor.

Just a matter of curiosity; what is a 35 Rem Very Improved? I have a 35 Rem Contender bbl and the cartridge has very little taper and already a shorrt neck. Where does the imrovement come from? I don't know if I would do this to my bbl as it is a very good shooter now. I like a fairly hefty 39gr of H322 behind a 200gr Hornady Spire Point. Once, when I held my mouth just right, I got a nice 5 shot group that is a 50 cal hole!
I also have a 256 Win mag. It is an older hexagonal barrel and it wont shoot worth a damn. Best is 2 to 2.5 inches with the 75 gr Sierra Spitzer.

The 35 Remington Very Improved was made by putting a 35 caliber pilot on a 30-40 Krag Ackley Improved reamer I had on hand. There's only a few thousanths of body taper, a 40 degree shoulder, and the shoulder was moved forward to the point that the when the bullet is seated out just short of the rifling, the base of the bullet is at the base of the case neck.

The powder capacity is about the same as a 356 Winchester case, but the main improvement is the better headspacing provided by the 40 degree shoulder.

My 256 barrels prefer the 75gr. V-max bullets, so that might be something to try in your barrel. As spendedly as this barrel shoots this bullet, it sprays the 60 gr. Hornady FP all over the target. So trying different bullets in your barrel might be the best thing to try.

Thanks, I guess I will keep the 35 bbl stock, but I will try a number of bullets, especially the V-max in the 256. It has been so bad on the bullets I've tried that I just sort of gave up. I hated to because it looks like such a great 100-150 yd varmint round.