Another guy drinking the Form kool-aid

PanhandlePilgrim

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Messages
260
I dont share much on here but I feel this is worth putting out. Take this information however you like, but this worked.
I wanted to do some tinkering with my elk rifle. It's not a rifle I particularly care to shoot in large volumes ( not to mention it's expensive to feed.)
The rifle is a 30 Nosler, 22" Bartlien Barrel throated long and a +P chamber on a weatherby action sitting in a McMillan carbon stock.

I have been on a mission to streamline my reloading process, i was sure it doesn't need to be as complicated as all of the reloading processes you can find on YouTube simply because there is getting to be factory ammo that shoots in most guns - berger, hornady, etc.

Having seen a lot about the hornady podcast that blew everyone's mind about shooting bigger groups and listening to their process of picking a load, I noticed it was similar to Form's method. Listening to the Shoot2Hunt podcast, I also noticed Gunwerks has a similar way of going about finding a load that works.
I decided that I would do a bit of a hybrid process and this is what I wound up with. Take note that I have a +P chamber, these loads are HOT.
Since there is little to no data on 30 Nosler, let alone with this type of chamber, I started with a pressure test at a near max load of N570 for a standard chambered 30 Nosler. The data I got is as follows:
81gr-2687fps
82- no read
83- 2739
84- 2750
85- 2807
86- 2837
87- 2881
88- 2951
88.5- 2992 started getting nervous, went down to 1/2 grain increments
89- 2994
89.5 - 3020
90- 3023 Slight cratering on primer decided to stop.

Noticing the slight cratering and the velocities not making significant jumps with each step I decided to stop. I picked 89gr since it was 1 grain off slightest sign of pressure.
20230823_183828.jpg

Precision Rifle blog has lengthy article about deeper seating depths and not being as sensitive to throat erosion so I gave it a shot. I want to use 225 ELD-Ms since i have a lot of them. I Started at .040 off the lands, wound up at .060 as the winner.

I loaded 10 and went to group. ( No, not 30, I'm a hunter, not a math nerd and this load was shooting well enough I didn't feel the need to shoot that many.)

20230823_182640.jpg

I shot 5, made a 1 min adjustment right and shot 2 more ( the 2 with the black x's are not from this group, i had to re-zero the rifle from swapping rings.)
I saved the remaining 3 of this combo to shoot at distance. 2 at 400 on a 10" plate and 1 at 500 on a 8" plate all hits. Planning on loading more and going to bigger distances next week. If made you it this far, thanks for reading and I hope you found it worth while.
 
Last edited:
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PanhandlePilgrim

PanhandlePilgrim

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Messages
260
I noticed that. I'm not sure if it's proving the point that I should have fired a 10 round group and within the accuracy of the gun or maybe my scope wasn't level when I shot. Both are possible and I haven't been able to test further. Scope is an ATACR that has proven to be mechanically sound.
 
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PanhandlePilgrim

PanhandlePilgrim

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Messages
260
This rifle actually had a Mark 5 on it that went belly up. I loved that scope up until then. Leupold sent me a new one and I sold it for the ATACR.
 

GoatPackr

WKR
Joined
Jan 5, 2023
Messages
363
Pretty interesting.
I shoot a 30-28 Nosler 28" Lilja
215 berger @ 3050 with 86.5 grn N570 I've got a little room to go more and not at pressure yet but it shoots single digit ES and groups great.
With 84 grn RL26 I was shooting good over 3100 fps and single digit ES but when it got warm out I was getting to much pressure.
I've kicked around going with the +P but planning a new barrel in a few years and probably try a different chamber. Probably a 30-338 Rum.

I typically run upto pressure and back off a little if my ES is good and it groups good I'll stretch it out. I'm not a fan of all the ladder testing. Waste time and money.
Since shooting with my Labradar it has saved me a lot of screwing around burning unnecessary powder while hoping to stumble on something good.

Kris
 
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PanhandlePilgrim

PanhandlePilgrim

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 22, 2018
Messages
260
30-338 RUM that's interesting. That's gotta be really close to the 30 Nosler and nearly identical to your 30-28 Nosler isn't it?
 

nobody

WKR
Joined
Sep 15, 2020
Messages
2,066
Do you have any links? Never heard of Form?

Welcome to Rokslide FNG, “Form” is Formidilosus, the guy who started this thread linked above. His load development process has since largely been corroborated by Hornady in their 2 part podcast “your groups are too small”

If you already reload, be prepared to have all of your “truths” turned over on their heads. Read and listen with an open mind and you might just learn something interesting and new.
 
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