First loads really sucked

[longnkrnch]

Shot my first loads this weekend. 6ea at 37.5 grns lil gun, and 6ea of 38 grns. 240 grn XTP mags, 2.06 col .474 taper crimp. Both loads gave about 3.5" groups at 7" above factory round poi. Really sucked. Not sure where to go from here. I studied and studied and loaded them based on every thing I learned. Guess it's back to the drawing board.

[Hoot]

Shot my first loads this weekend. 6ea at 37.5 grns lil gun, and 6ea of 38 grns. 240 grn XTP mags, 2.06 col .474 taper crimp. Both loads gave about 3.5" groups at 7" above factory round poi. Really sucked. Not sure where to go from here. I studied and studied and loaded them based on every thing I learned. Guess it's back to the drawing board.

That's not much of a sample base to develop despair over.

Not to invite the ire of the XTP Mag enthusiasts upon me, but that bullet has not been inherently accurate for me either, especially compared to the three FTX weights. For me, a good 240 XTP Mag group was more the exception than the rule. Don't be discouraged. That's the joy of discovery.

There's a second part to that expression that "Experience is the Best Teacher". It's also the "Most Expensive".

Pick up a box of 225gr FTX. They cost the same as the 240gr XTP Mags. They'll shoot the pants off of the 240gr XTP Mag using the same 38gr charge of Lil Gun. Great for building your confidence and a feel for what to expect from the rifle.

Hoot

[longnkrnch]

Thanks Hoot, my next venture will most likely be the standard 250 FTX. I'll plat with the XTPs some more but might just develop some of those for 50 yrd hog rounds. I also had a problem with the feeding. Loading 3 in the mag and the second would not fully chamber. If I hit the mag release and dropped the mag, the round finished chambering.

[Hoot]

Thanks Hoot, my next venture will most likely be the standard 250 FTX. I'll plat with the XTPs some more but might just develop some of those for 50 yrd hog rounds. I also had a problem with the feeding. Loading 3 in the mag and the second would not fully chamber. If I hit the mag release and dropped the mag, the round finished chambering.

You need to perform the classic "lip tweak". If you didn't see my reference to it recently in a thread. Measure the distance between the lips at a marked spot. Stand the magazine up on the lip end on a hard, preferable smooth, even slick surface. Grasp it firmly and press down causing the the lips to move toward one another a little. Re-measure. If they didn't get closer, repeat with a little more force until they do get a little more closer and stay there. Try cycling your rounds. If you still "bolt-over" the next round in a stack, repeat with them closer still. Try to keep the lips so that the case is almost parallel to the bolt, perhaps with a slight tip upward slant. Very slight. Also, make sure you don't have too much follower spring tension pressing upward. I've taken one entire wind off the bottom of the spring and it still reliably feeds the last round, but with less upward pressure when the magazine is full.

The XTP Mags have a reputation for not feeding the smoothest also. the blunt nose stubs against the ramp as it goes forward. After shooting a mag of them I can look at what started out as a clean ramp and see a dot of copper where each round collided with the ramp as it fed, before deflecting upward and continuing to feed. With the FTX it's more of an even copper streak.

Somewhere on Youtube is a video demonstrating the "lip tweak" process.

Hoot

[TacoTaco]

Start off with the 250 FTXs. They may not be cheap, but they sure as heck are accurate. Good way to build your confidence.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

+1 on what Hoot says. Don't despair. We all have our days. Mine was my very first loads using 230 Gr Mag Tech FMJs using 38 grains of LilGun. Crimped them to .475". Had some spooky hang fires. I have the video somewhere. But by tinkering and adding the Le Gendre crimp, and continuing to work up, the hang fires disappeared and look what I'm doing with the FMJs today! I'm not saying you need the side crimp, I'm just saying don't give up. Keep us up to date and follow strict safety guidelines.
Just out of curiousity, what primers are you using?

[longnkrnch]

How weird. My next batch of the same 38 grn loads gave me a nice tight 1-1/4" group printing about 7" above factory loads. Only thing I changed was COL to 2.08" to keep it in the cannalure. Did the "lip teak" and removed about half of the bottom spring wad and no more cycling issues. Just to see if it was me, fired off a string of factory ammo. One ragged hole removed the bullseye.

[longnkrnch]

Oh yea, Sheepdog asked about primers. Using Rem 7-1/2.