Realistic accuracy expectation with .327 & 4.6" barrel

[oddshooter]

My own experiences with the 327 showed me that I needed to drive the 327 a little harder than I normally thought might work. Your 1000fps plus load seems very light for that caliber.

Mine started to tighten up above 1300fps and even up to the 1600fps rocket loads.

Prescut

[larry44]

Thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions! I was able to get to the range again and shoot with some new loads for my .327 Federal Magnum. I think I'm improving!

This target was shot with 11.0gr of IMR 4227 at 25 feet (like the one above) using the 115gr Badlands FN. I tried an improved way to more securely rest my forearms and wrists. That's a 5-round ⅝" group CTC! Velocity was calculated on Quick Load at 1256 fps.

[bagdadjoe]

Now yer talkin'!
Nice shooting!!

[Squatch]

Good shooting!

[ddixie884]

Yes, I'm impressed and a little help and a lot of concentration seems to have payed off.....

[oddshooter]

So what was it?
The velocity increase?
The recipe using 4227?
The different hold?

Nice shooting. Of course you know the next step is to start moving that target out and keep doing the testing you're doing now.
I'm sure your story reminds all of us of our own quests for the riddle of steel. Good technique and processes will keep you moving toward that goal. I'm pretty sure it's the journey we all find so fascinating.

My first giant step was trying to remove myself from the variables list. I read everything David B. wrote and tried to keep growing as a shooter. What surprised me was after a couple of years of becoming more consistent with grip, hold, sights, and breathing; I discovered I was able to really more easily see results from my handloading.

Handloading became a hobby all unto itself. Discovering the very best load for a particular hawgleg became a real rush filled with the joy of accomplishment.

Kinda what you must have felt when you saw that tiny little group of holes.


Prescut

[larry44]

All of that, and more.

Certainly the velocity increase. My very first reloads for the .327 (and the 25-odd reloads for .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum) were all with Trail Boss. Being new at this I was trying to duplicate very light loads and find the best recipe for accuracy (3.4gr of Trail Boss at 7 yards with a 100gr SWC cast boolit was a very good load). I found though that as I increased the distance the groups spread out. I tried then to find the best powder for 15 yards at around 1000 fps. That was OK, but wasn't happy with the consistency of the groups. So as suggested I increased the velocity of the most promising loads.

I also improved my reloading skills. I replaced my Lee Expander die with the Lyman Neck Expanding M die and added the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die. I believe this helped.

At the same time, I was testing with the barrel resting on a rest and got vertical dispersion. It was recommended that I not rest the barrel. So I found a position to rest just my wrists. Then someone suggested that I rest my whole arm from my elbow to my wrists. My range setup doesn't lend itself to that (shooting behind a waist high bench (sitting in a chair is _way_ too low) so I did find a way to better support my forearms only by leaning over on top of a Caldwell Tack Driver rest.

Then I did a ladder test with the 4227 shooting 10.0gr, 10.5gr, 11.0gr, and finally 11.5gr. That approached max loads. On the way I shot that posted group - as you said, I felt a great deal of accomplishment!

Finally, I focused more on the fundamentals. Grip, sight picture, focus, breathing and trigger squeeze.

Together, they all helped me improve.

Thanks for your comments!!

[oddshooter]

It's nice to read about success.


Prescut

[xgbx]

Nice progress. When I first found this site, I stumbled into Mr. Bradshaw's photo volumes in the Gallery. I read them all and made page after page of notes, then hit the range. A LOT of what's there is about tiny nuances that start to matter once you can really nail the fundamentals on demand. It all helped, but you really have to go to the range and work on things to get the full benefit of his wisdom.

Shooting from a rest or bench is a completely different skill set than any other type of shooting. My inexpensive Remington 700 in 308 went from making occasional 1.5 MOA groups with a variable scope set to 8x to making consistent 0.5 MOA groups with a 4x hunting scope because somewhere in there I learned to shoot from a bench. Now I need to do something hard like shooting offhand.

Also bear in mind that shooting is a perishable skill. If you take a few weeks (or, God forbid, months) away from the range, you'll lose some ground. This is natural, but it comes back.


XGBX