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308 Bellm w/ IMR 4895

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10 July 2002, 10:44
Rich Jake
308 Bellm w/ IMR 4895
Mike & everyone else who may be interested.
I shot my best overall group & velocity so far with IMR 4895.

150 Nosler BAL Tip over 41.5 Gr of 4895 & Fed 210 primers, Gave the following results out of 5 shots 4 shot group of 5/8" & 5 shot group 1 1/4" at 100 yards with Ave velocity of 2317Fps. This is the group & velocity that I was hoping to obtain. [Big Grin] I did get a max velocity of 2350 fps with 42.0 gr of Imr 4895 groups weren't worth the velocity. Also please keep in mind this was with a 14" hunter barrel which has a muzzle break & 8 equal land & grooves in the barrel. Overall very good performance! Thanks Mike!

Rich Jake
10 July 2002, 10:57
Mike Bellm
Rich,
4895 is a solid powder in many, many applications in the Contender. Usually crops up as one of the best.

I take it the 5th shot opened the group to 1 1/4" if I am reading it correctly. Consistency on the rest is critical of course. I'd run some more groups with this load to see what it does.

For the record and for comparison, factory .300 Savage 150 gr. loads, which are supposed to be about 46,000 psi max., usually chronograph about 2350 to 2400 fps from S-14 barrels. So as you can see, you are in the ball park, using .300 Savage as a maximum allowable pressure benchmark to guage your loads by.

Some fellows are loading up around 2500 fps with 150s, but I don't condone it at all.

Have fun and keep us posted.

Mike
10 July 2002, 11:08
Rich Jake
Mike
I have two good loads one with 4895 & one with 760. Velocity difference about 40 Fps overall between the two powders. The one flier is my usual shooting. So I intend to load both of them again & shoot them. They both gave me around a 1/2 " four shot group & 1 1/4" five shot group. I think that either one will be good enough for hunting. I am very happy with results so far. I am surprised about the velocities that I have been getting(pleasant surprise).
Rich Jake
10 July 2002, 11:51
<wildcat51>
Mike,

The load I hunt with in my 14" 300 Bellm & Stewart averages 2410 with a 125 nosler ballistic tip. I use H322 powder. The load is a bit under max for 300 savage, 130 grain bullet, in the Speer #11 manual. Don't shoot it much because it is on the edge. Once a year, two shots to check the scope and one for the kill. Now that I am older, and hopefully wiser, I going to cut the back the speed to 2250-2300 so I can shoot more often. All the talk about the 308 Bellm has got me fired up.

[ 07-10-2002, 02:52: Message edited by: wildcat51 ]
10 July 2002, 12:20
Jules
1/2" 4 shot group at a 100? And you want to know if it's good enough for hunting???
Damn Rich, Whatcha huntin..Skeeters? [Razz] [Big Grin] [Razz]
10 July 2002, 12:20
Rich Jake
Jump right in ! I'm a long way from where I started a couple of years ago. I'm really enjoying trying things out. Once I have things in order I'll need a deer to cooperate to see the results.

Rich Jake
10 July 2002, 12:26
Rich Jake
quote:
Originally posted by Jules:
1/2" 4 shot group at a 100? And you want to know if it's good enough for hunting???
Damn Rich, Whatcha huntin..Skeeters? [Razz] [Big Grin] [Razz]
Jules

There's a big difference between hunting off hand & shooting off sand bags at the range. With a barrel printing that well if I miss it is me that's at fault. I can live with that!

As my friend likes to say it's the loose nut behind the trigger. [Big Grin]

Rich Jake
10 July 2002, 12:38
<Fireball221>
quote:
Originally posted by Rich Jake:
Mike & everyone else who may be interested.
I shot my best overall group & velocity so far with IMR 4895.

150 Nosler BAL Tip over 41.5 Gr of 4895 & Fed 210 primers, Gave the following results out of 5 shots 4 shot group of 5/8" & 5 shot group 1 1/4" at 100 yards with Ave velocity of 2317Fps. This is the group & velocity that I was hoping to obtain. [Big Grin] I did get a max velocity of 2350 fps with 42.0 gr of Imr 4895 groups weren't worth the velocity. Also please keep in mind this was with a 14" hunter barrel which has a muzzle break & 8 equal land & grooves in the barrel. Overall very good performance! Thanks Mike!

Rich Jake
Rich! you have a Private message from me
Fireball [Razz]
10 July 2002, 12:52
Jules
You'll do just fine Rich. Just don't try to count the points on the horns before you squeeze the trigger.LOL
10 July 2002, 13:06
Rich Jake
Fireball check your mail.
Rich Jake
11 July 2002, 18:53
Mike Bellm
quote:
Originally posted by wildcat51:
Mike,

The load I hunt with in my 14" 300 Bellm & Stewart averages 2410 with a 125 nosler ballistic tip. I use H322 powder. The load is a bit under max for 300 savage, 130 grain bullet, in the Speer #11 manual. Don't shoot it much because it is on the edge. Once a year, two shots to check the scope and one for the kill. Now that I am older, and hopefully wiser, I going to cut the back the speed to 2250-2300 so I can shoot more often. All the talk about the 308 Bellm has got me fired up.
Fired up to go shoot some more? With a .300 BS, I would not rush out to have it rechambered so long as it shoots well. Quite a few of these that I did were before I figured out what was going on with factory throats. But if accuracy is not what you would like it to be, then I would consider rechambering it. Ie., if it ain't broke, don't fix it. .300 BS is a great round, but .308 Bellm is a tad better overall.

For the record, yes, you can rechamber the .300 BS to .308 Bellm. Works fine. Jules' .308 Bellm was originally my .300 BS.

2400 fps with 125s should not be crowding things too much. You can do pretty close to that with 150s in the BS.

It's good to hear from a BS shooter, no pun intended. There are a lot to them floating around, but I don't hear too much about them anymore.

All the best, Mike
12 July 2002, 01:28
<wildcat51>
Mike,

When you rechambered the 30-30 chamber to 300 B&S you did comment on the paperwork that you had to straighten up a badly mis-aligned throat. Must of done something right at the time because it shoots better than me.

Rechamber [Eek!] Never [Razz] Sorry if I gave you that impression. Love this cartridge. The simplest cartridge to load for. 307 win brass simply resized in 300 savage dies.