Post by bigblue on Nov 14, 2006 19:04:14 GMT -6
I was able to get to the range after work today, my first with the Winchester Model 70. I had loaded the 7mm WSM ammo to try and was anxious to see how it would do. I used mostly 7mm bullets I had on hand, Hornady 139gr. SP, Speer 145gr. Grand Slam, Nosler 160gr. Accubond, Barnes 140gr. XLC, and a new Hornady 139gr. SST that I bought on Saturday. I tried three of each at 50 yards just to see how they would group and I cleaned the barrel between the different loads. The Barnes 140 gr. XLC and the Hornady 139gr. SST did the best so I tried three of each of those at 100 yards. They both grouped in the same area, about 2" high, and both gave me about 1 1/2" groups. The would do fine for deer, but I think I can tweak them to do a bit better. Meanwhile I loaded up enough of the Barnes loads for deer season and will play with the loads a bit for future range days. I was pleasantly surprised by the length of the blind magazine and the length of the chambers throat. It allows me to load the bullets a bit longer than most rifles would allow. That's important to the 7mm WSM which has a short neck and if I had to load them deeper into the case they would intrude on the powder space.
Don
Don