Testing new Long Range rifle.

[OldmanFCSA]

OldmanFCSA,

I do have a question, what is the reason for heating your ammo? I try to keep mine cool and out of the sun so as not to run into over pressure problems. See my picture bellow from the Fullbore match at Harris. My ammo box is under the white towel.

Cold works to but has more variability when cartridges are loaded into a hot chamber.

The whole game is to reduce any and all variables that you can control.
I fire 2-5 rounds during sight-in period which warms the rifle chamber.
When range is called HOT for Record Fire, I load a WARM cartridge into Warm chamber.
I repeat loading warm into ever more warming chamber until done with my 5 Record rounds.
This process allows for least temp changes during record fire affecting pressure.

I also use VV 20N29 powder which is classified as a Cannon Powder, very SLOW burning and very temperature sensitive when used in a 50BMG behind a 800+ grain solid brass bullet.
I an currently experimenting with Reloder 50 in a 50BMG with 800+ grain bullets - there is little or no reloading data currently available for this powder. It fits between VV 20N29 and H50BMG powders for burn rate.

Sorry for not answering earlier - was busy!

[Rip Van Winkle]

Cold works to but has more variability when cartridges are loaded into a hot chamber.

The whole game is to reduce any and all variables that you can control.
I fire 2-5 rounds during sight-in period which warms the rifle chamber.
When range is called HOT for Record Fire, I load a WARM cartridge into Warm chamber.
I repeat loading warm into ever more warming chamber until done with my 5 Record rounds.
This process allows for least temp changes during record fire affecting pressure.

I also use VV 20N29 powder which is classified as a Cannon Powder, very SLOW burning and very temperature sensitive when used in a 50BMG behind a 800+ grain solid brass bullet.
I an currently experimenting with Reloder 50 in a 50BMG with 800+ grain bullets - there is little or no reloading data currently available for this powder. It fits between VV 20N29 and H50BMG powders for burn rate.

Sorry for not answering earlier - was busy!

That's interesting, I would think the size and capacity of the 50BMG would make it less susceptible to a hot chamber than one of our sub caliber guns. One of the early lessons one learns is to not leave a cartridge in a hot chamber.

Congratulations on your 50 cal shoot! It looks like it was a good time.

[OldmanFCSA]

That's interesting, I would think the size and capacity of the 50BMG would make it less susceptible to a hot chamber than one of our sub caliber guns. One of the early lessons one learns is to not leave a cartridge in a hot chamber.

Congratulations on your 50 cal shoot! It looks like it was a good time.

Due to the distance that we shoot, the reading of wind conditions for each shot, the amount of torque that each sdhot generates on rifle and setup, --- the rifle needs to be adjusted almost every time we shoot a shot, sometimes it is minimal, sometimes it takes awhile, sometimes the pit people take too much time to reset the target, we are trying to shoot quickly in the same conditions so we load soon after ejecting the last, if after loading the next shoot the target is not up we wait, after it is up we may make minor adjustment to our setup maybe pit person did not raise to full height, maybe wind changed,. maybe ....................................................

Do you get the idea - not every shot takes the same amount of time - causing cartridge to stay in hot chamber longer than planned. If it is already hot, warm, less pressure change will have occurred from last shot. Doing so keeps Standard Deviation between shots to less than a value of 7. (Assuming you have properly prepared your target ammo.)

Yesterday at the 50 shoot, I explained to another shooter the approximate 40 steps I do to create Match brass from once-fired military surplus brass. I think he was baffled at the amount of precision we build into the brass itself. He then asked how many loadings we get from that brass, I explained how one of our top shooters has fired his brass 47 times without a failure.

[OldmanFCSA]

Back to heating your ammo. Everyone is trying to get away from the practice, as it is such a pain to do. That's why I am testing different powders.

[Rip Van Winkle]

Do you get the idea - not every shot takes the same amount of time - causing cartridge to stay in hot chamber longer than planned. If it is already hot, warm, less pressure change will have occurred from last shot. Doing so keeps Standard Deviation between shots to less than a value of 7. (Assuming you have properly prepared your target ammo.)

I understand perfectly having to wait out or adjust for changing conditions and poor pit service, what I don't understand is why load than wait. In Highpower we call this "laying on the rifle". Is there more involved in loading one of your 50 cal rifles than dropping a round into the open action and closing the bolt?

[RAGGED]

I'm with RIP here, not sure about the heating thing, when I shoot I toss a round in the action but I do not close it until the target comes back up or at least I see the frame starting to move up. If a big wind change happens and it spends more then a few seconds in there I pull it, cycle that round to the end of the string, put a new round in the action and wait till the wind returns to the known conditions, I then chamber and close the bolt. I have shot many 10 round single digit ES string over a chrono, have never heated a round.

[OldmanFCSA]

A lot of it depends on the powder being used.
The canon powder we use works best when heated.
I am not the only one doing this, I learned this from the other shooters doing much better than me.
I want to get away from the heating process, which is why I am testing new powders that are suitable for the 800+ grain brass bore-riders that most of us use.
When shooting 750 grain AMAX, I use H50BMG powder which has been proven over time to be very temperature stable.
Your shooting techniques are correct, and I wish my rifles would chamber a round with little or no bolt pressure, but the current design prevents that, which I hope will be corrected in near future. If I spent over $2000 for just a single shot BAT action (no barrel or stock), I may be able to achieve that level of quality of actions.

Do you guys shoot 50BMG's competitively?
I know one of you has one.

[Rip Van Winkle]

The canon powder we use works best when heated.

Ok, I can understand that, why didn't you just say so in the beginning.

Do you guys shoot 50BMG's competitively?
I know one of you has one.

Not me, NRA Highpower is my game, mostly Service Rifle.

I toyed with the idea with 50 cal when the Barret semi auto first came out but was turned off of it by ammo cost and a lack of local ranges which allow them.

[OldmanFCSA]

The canon powder we use works best when heated.

Ok, I can understand that, why didn't you just say so in the beginning.

I did - at top of page 6.

[OldmanFCSA]

A clean reloading bench is the sign of a miss-prioritized life.

Okay, now that somebody else has made excuses I can use...

Seriously, you don't even begin to know the meaning of the word clutter until you've seen my mess.
I've got a "gun room" that has my safe, shooting and reloading stuff. Except that things have spilled out and are taking over the rest of the basement.

A desk and a bench:

MVC-043F.JPG

MVC-044F.JPG

Here's a press attached in easily removeable fashion to a shelf unit:

MVC-045F.JPG

And another press that's made an escape to a workbench in the next room:

MVC-042F.JPG

Sorry - went back to find this and saw where you had commented on the original post, and I attributed the picture to you owning a 50BMG.
To Others, this is a picture of the RCBS AmmoMaster II with a 50BMG reloading die, which I wrongly attributed to a person as owning a 50BMG rifle.

[LongRange]

Alot of good info here mixed with the rediculous, I dont think I really need to say anything more, and no sense in keeping this "know it all" thread alive, here is for the people who actually wish to LEARN. I think my pill speaks for itself.

[Stradawhovious]

Alot of good info here mixed with the rediculous, I dont think I really need to say anything more, and no sense in keeping this "know it all" thread alive, here is for the people who actually wish to LEARN. I think my pill speaks for itself.

No offense, but that must be some really funky light there or something.... Those rounds all appear mangled at the shoulder in that photo.

[LongRange]

lol i can assure they are not, just highly polished

[RAGGED]

Very cool, they look much bigger than 120gr, must not be very much tung at all, whats the length of those badboys?