300 WinMag reloading fail

[Army GI]

I used 150gr Hornady FMJ bullets over a charge of 61gr of IMR 4895. I understand that most books tell you to use a slower powder but that was for heavy bullets. I thought I should use the 4895 because I had a lighter bullet but it worked out horribly. I had hangfire issues on a few rounds.

So which direction do I go? Do I get slower powder or do I start using magnum primers?

We were having trouble keeping the gun on target. I'm thinking that when I seated the bullet I pushed it down to the cannelure when I should have seated to the max OAL in order to get the short bullet closer to the rifling. Thoughts?

I'm not trying to go for .5MOA here. But 2-3 MOA would be nice for general plinking.

My rifle is a Rem700 SPS.

[wildcard]

I currently use H4350 with a 155 gr Lapua Scenar and have used Reloader 22 in the past for 168 gr and 190 gr SMKs.

If you're in the San Gabriel Valley area.. I'll give you some components to try before you buy.

[pdq_wizzard]

If you ever get up to Sac, I have some RL22 I could give you to try

[JTROKS]

By "hangfire" you mean you pull on the trigger and you hear/feel the firing pin strike the round resulting in a delay in the boom?

Are you firing once fired brass from factory brass you shot from your rifle and if so are they all the same brand/lot? You need to check where your brass is headspacing. Either way if your rifle's chamber is within spec it shouldn't hangfire unless your primers are faulty or you're touching the lands a little, which is almost impossible with factory Remington rifle's long throat w/ 150 grain bullets. IMR4895 is good with 150 grain bullets for 300 Winnie.

[ivanimal]

I use H1000
From the website;
This very slow burning Extreme Extruded powder is perfect for highly overbored magnums like the 7mm Remington Magnum, 7mm STW and the 30-378 Weatherby. In addition, with heavy bullets, H1000 gives top velocity and performance in such cartridges as the 6mm-284, 257 Weatherby, 270 Winchester, and 300 Winchester Magnum. In a short period of time this powder has achieved considerable notoriety among long range match shooters. Available in 1 lb. & 8 lb. containers. Take the Extreme Tour.

http://www.hodgdon.com/extreme.html

[Army GI]

Thanks for the offers guys. I don't usually go north of Fresno much, but if I do I'll take you up on your offer.

By "hangfire" you mean you pull on the trigger and you hear/feel the firing pin strike the round resulting in a delay in the boom?

Yes.

Are you firing once fired brass from factory brass you shot from your rifle and if so are they all the same brand/lot?

I'm using brand new brass.

You need to check where your brass is headspacing. Either way if your rifle's chamber is within spec it shouldn't hangfire unless your primers are faulty or you're touching the lands a little

What headspace gauge do you use? Come to think of it, I did accidentally touch some of the primers with my bare fingers. I was unaware that there was a tear in my gloves until after the fact. I'm sure that's the reason not because I had a couple of duds, too.

IMR4895 is good with 150 grain bullets for 300 Winnie.

Thanks, I think I might give IMR4895 another try. I use it as the only powder for all my other rifle cartridges.

Should I still try seating my bullets to the max OAL, though? Do you use magnum primers with IMR4895 and 150 grain bullets?

[JTROKS]

4895 is faster than 4350 and in my experience I did not get much difference in performance when using magnum primers with 4350, maybe in 4831 loading 270 and 338 Win mag. If you can find another slower buring powder and get better load density, it may even give you better accuracy. Some magnum primers have the same ignition compound, just difference in the cup thickness to prevent primer flow of the the higher pressure loads. Make sure your primers are fully seated and uniform in depth. I hated loading belted brass, I usually like to headspace on the shoulder for better accuracy, it just lines up the bullet more centered to the bore for that initial jump.

[Snapping Twig]

Try IMR 4831 or 7828.

[ar15robert]

Have had good luck with rl22 in my 300 mag its been while since i have loaded for it but going to again soon.

I used the 190 grn nosler ballsitic tip and 71 grains of powder

[merritt]

Were your hands oily? if you transfered oil to the primer then yeah thats probably your problem.

it sounds like you are getting variable ignition, are there indications of light strikes?

if no light strikes I'd say load a new batch trying to keep the primers and primer pockets as dry as possible if that fails look for other causes

for plinker ammo I wouldn't think that the seat depth would make or break the round, sure its going to matter but factory ammo and chambers can make 1MOA reliably so customizing to your chamber isn't as big deal.

[r08ert209cali]

is the bolt hard to open after firing?

[scr83jp]

I checked loaddata 150gr sierra using imr 4895 56.9gr=2900fps;59.2gr=3000fps;61.5gr=3100fps;63.8g r=3200fps the powder i use in my sako finnsport is imr4831 and i've always had excellent results here's some data 70.9gr=3000fps;72.6gr=3100fps;74.2gr=3200fps;75.9g r=3300fps. 180gr sierra gameking,72gr imr4831,rem 9 1/2 mag primer used it on a huge mule deer doe in colorado at approx 625 yards leupold scope was on 9 power,never again we had to drag it across a valley and up a very steep talus slope 2 steps up and fell back 3 took us several backbreaking hours to drag it to my jeep,in the packing house in meeker everyone looked at the doe she was in my scrambler bed with her head and neck above the side boards & someone asked where I got it,w/o thinking I blurted the approx location not thinking I'd return the next year big mistake it was an unknown migration route I'd located for deer and elk.We went back the next year every square foot was occupied by campers,tents,trailers,motorhomes,vans,trucks,etc