200 FTX reloads

[mnhornet]

Got my dies and loaded up some 200gr blems. I loaded ten at 32gr lilG and ten at 35gr of lilG. I'm pretty happy with the results, as they will knock the diamond out of the center of the target at 100yds. One of these, probably the 32grainer, will be my deer hunting load. I'm loving the accuracy of this rifle.

[Hoot]

That's below the optimum charge, but certainly do-able as they expand reliably down below 1k fps in jugs of water. I assume you already read This Thread. 36gr of Lil Gun fills up the case more, which is always a good thing, along with shooting 4-shot cloverleafs of .5 inch, with the obligatory flier at 100 yards out of my 20" barrel. There is another accuracy node up at 40-41gr of Lil Gun. I'm no fan of loading a round strictly for velocity, with no regard for accuracy, but there's no need to underload them either, unless that's your preference. Just food for thought.

Up west of Duluth, where I deer hunt, I will in all likelihood never get a shot beyond 100 yards, heck 50 yards would be a stretch so there is no need to load them as flat shooting as possible. Before my experiments with the Barnes 200gr XPBs, I loaded the 225 FTX over 38gr of Lil Gun for deer. In fact, they're still in my deer hunting gear from last year. No reason not to use the 200s, other than the fact that last year, the 225s were half the price and that 38gr load was highly reliable at any temperature I shot them at. I too bought a box of the blem 200s, for no other reason than the price, as I have an unopened box of them from when they were not on sale. When deer season gets a little closer, I'll load up 20 of the Barnes and sight in for them.

Hoot

[mnhornet]

I did not read that thread. And honestly wish we had more info like that stickied. I pretty much looked at the Hornady load sheet for the 250, and loaded the 200 for what I figured would be around 2000+ fps. I didn't see any reason to overdrive the bushy since I used to hunt deer in the Cloquet valley, with a 44mag deerslayer. I had planned to tweak these loads but they were scary accurate. Proof once again, that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

[Hoot]

...snip...I used to hunt deer in the Cloquet valley...snip...

Interestingly, my dad's stand is about 130 yards from the Cloquet River and mine is about 350 yards from it. We hunt about 8 miles north of Twig, MN.
Great minds think alike.

Hoot

[mnhornet]

My grandpa owned 80 acres on the Carol trail. My folks had a "farm" property just off the tracks in Brimson.