Hey all, posted this over at The SRDC message board, but figured I would also add it here in case it was of any use to someone looking to try a similar load:
Well today's Vermont weather was downright terrible, but we toughed it out anyway, and I sure am glad we did!
Have been working on handloads with the SMK 175 and RE17, and am certainly getting somewhere with em. I should preface this by saying I am a novice, to say the least, at both shooting and reloading... I've only truly tried to shoot groups at 100yrds (if you can call them groups) about 3 times, maybe 4, so I am no pro, but happily getting more and more skill under my belt as I go along.
Anyway, today I went out with some rounds loaded over 50.0g of RE17, seated to 2.955", and sent them out to 100yrds.
Lighting was terrible, wind was random and gusty, and the iron sights fought me quite a lot as I was trying for a 6 o' clock hold which is new to me and slightly funky...
The top group is my first group of the day, nothing special to see there... the second group was on a different target, and was a LITTLE better, but not worth posting... However the third group, five shots in total, went right into a surprisingly nice little cluster for me!
The five shots went into a 1.12" group, okay okay, not strictly a 1 MOA group, but for me this was amazing and quite an accomplishment, I am only frustrated that I didn't have a cardboard target backer, as this was stapled to plywood, the paper was essentially annihilated by splinters, making three of the holes a downright mess, but they are all there I promise
Also, for a fun little plinker I put together a few NOE-k31 mold bullets over 14.0g of AA#7 powder, wasn't exactly swinging for the fences accuracy-wise, but they clustered well I thought given that I wasn't really doing my part: