Got out today with 100gr "87gr weighed" American Pioneer 2F, Winchester W209 primers and the 300gr Powerbelt Platinums. The rifle loves this load and shoots it extremely well at 100 yards.
As usual with American Pioneer, i swabbed between shots, oiled with Barricade and followed up with One dry patch to mop out the excess oil.
For the first Three shots, i used the Ultimate Range rod for consistent seating Depths. On the first shot i most likely did not get all of the muscle into it that it needed.
1827
1935
1915
Avg 1892 FPS - 108 ES
Breaking into the 1930's in velocity was pretty awesome i thought for a 300gr Bullet. The 245gr Powerbelts will not shoot this fast with the same powder charge. American Pioneer just does well with nice heavy bullets like the 300gr Platinum.
I took note of the gap between the Bore Guide and Charge height indicator. Once i felt the bullet touch the powder, I used my tape measure and measured a gap of 1/2" . That's how much you can compress this powder! On shots 2 and 3, it took a bit of a grunt for the
BG &
CHI to touch each other. This is what i missed doing on shot 1 and of course, the velocity fell off.
We can't carry fancy gadgets like the Ultimate Range Rod in the field with us, even though we've thought about it! So i went inside and got the Accura V2's Ramrod, along with a longer Bullet Seating Jag that came with the Ultimate Range Rod and screwed that into place on my Ram Rod.
So in order to reproduce an actual field hunt, i loaded up with the factory ramrod, a longer bullet seating jag and the BK Palm Protector. For better consistency in loading pressure, i use what i call Thumb pressure for reasons seen in the picture LOL.
Running 3 more shots through the chronograph, cleaning and oiling between shots and reloading with the thumb pressure set up, my first two shots were the following:
1464
1439
On shot #3 i used Two thumbs " one over the other" and was able to seat the bullet a small amount tighter than the previous One thumb seater. That shot chronographed 1512 FPS.
In the field reloading " Ramrod" i lost well over 400 FPS.
It's just impossible to compress that powder the 1/2" it wants to give high - consistent velocity, with the normal ramrod and a palm or thumb"s".
American Pioneer's reverse crud ring in the muzzle of the Accura V2. I know, before anyone says, The oil caused it!! I'll completely remove all traces of oil from the bore tomorrow and shoot one shot to show you if there is a difference or not.
I just thought this picture was cool. LOL
Chronographing American with the 300gr Platinum
They will probably even take the compressed powder and pack it carefully in little white styrofoam packing so it doesn't get uncompressed in shipping.
