Range report for sierra Pro Hunter 125 spitzer

[TygerAR]

Hope this helps anyone looking to load a more cost effective round for plinking or hunting. I loaded some Sierra Pro Hunter 125 spitzer (Sierra # 2120) using Hodgdon data for the Nosler 125. The Sierras are $24 for 100, the Noslers are $18 for 50 and the V-Max are $27 for 100 (From Midway).

I loaded 10 rounds at 17 gr, 10 at 17.2 gr, 10 at 17.4 and 10 at 17.6 gr. Loaded at 2.060 COL with H110

Dies were Foster and a Lee FCD was used. Case was new Remington 300 brass.

Rifle was a LAR side charge with a Wilson 16 inch 1-8 recon barrel. Spikes ST-1 buffer with JP spring. And standard GI mag. I had 100% reliable cycle.

Optics was an EOtech EXPS2-0 with 3X magnifier. And a lead sled was used.

At 100 yards and a mild cross wind:

17 grain was ok groups. 17.6 was all over the place, not good at all. Both 17.2 and 17.4 had holes touching. I've decided to use 17.3 for my loads from now on. Sorry no targets posted, I was playing hooky from work today. I'm planning to load 100 rounds and go back out in a month. I will post the targets for sure and no lead sled next time.

Sierra Pro Hunter 125 grain
17.3 grains H110 @ 2.060 COL

[Gun-fun]

Thanks for the report, I have some sierra's I haven't got to yet and will keep your data in mind.

[Hereld]

I'm trying to build a solid hunting round for my 16" blackout, and my gun really seems to favor this bullet. I think because it has a flat base and thus more/longer neck contact area I can seat them out a bit farther... But whatever the reason it shoots them about MOA.
My problem is finding a suitable powder to use... I have tried Lil'Gun and H110 so far, and hope that someone could point me in a better direction. I know most people seem to be using short(er) barrels, and these super fast burning pistol powders are nessasary... But I was hoping someone might have played around with some slower stuff... Like maybe BL-C(2) or AR Comp or anything that would give me more velocity without the big pressure spike.
To get my velocity where it needs to be for my preferred energy minimum for ethical kills on deer out to around 200 yards, I'd like to hit 2300-2500 fps... I find H110 to be to finicky. Possibly due to the common position sensitivity... But whatever the cause my standard deviation is unacceptably high. I've worked up a load that gives me 2300 fps with minimal/moderate pressure signs, but for whatever reason is inconsistent as hell. I worked up slowly from 17g up to 19g, velocity was 2100 to 2300, and SD increased proportionally with velocity.
I liked Lil' Gun much more, unfortunately the bulk density prevents me from cramming enough powder in a case to reach my desired velocity. I started at 18g and worked all the way up to 22g with a nice even incrimental velocity gain along the way. At about 19.5g or so I started getting a compressed load, and even though I expected negative results the more I compressed the better SDs and nice consistant velocity gains resulted! I finally got to the point where I physically couldn't fit any more powder in the case... 22g totally fills the case to the brim. My starting loads were right around 2050fps, and the max 22g loads were right at 2200fps with the lowest SD I've seen out of this gun (but not the most accurate).
The most accurate load was 21.0g of Lil'Gun at 2100fps, like right around 1/2" to 3/4" five shot groups at 100 yards if I did my part.
So I really dislike the erratic nature of H110, and Lil'Gun just isn't quite fast enough for me... Any ideas?

[jswbga]

I havent loaded and shot enough to provide wisdom on this, but am interested to see where it goes.

I'm loading 18.5gr of H110 under Sierra 125's too.

havent done much accuracy or velocity testing yet. I got it shooting to point of aim, and my boy took a good pig with it in April.

shane

[Hereld]

Mine is partly academic curiosity, and partly because I'd like to see if approaching from more traditional long gun/slower powder will result in any velocity gain for us 16" barrel guys.
If no one has any ground work to this end, I'll start my own... Varget, BL-C(2), one of the new Alliant Power Pros, or whatever suggestions we come up with.
I'd really like to optimize this ballisticly to take advantage of my rifle length barrel.

[jblomenberg16]

I shot a few last weekend. I was trying to get some quick and dirty load data to fine tune, so had a wide distribution here and was looking for consistent velocity vs. outright accuracy at this point. It was also 95deg outside, so take that into consideration.

I think it has some potential. I noticed it was a bit harder to load due to the flat base, maning you have make sure you have deburred the case sufficiently. I didn't and had a few that clearly shaved copper from the jacket.

Control Group:
17.0gr H110, Win SR primers, Mixed Brass, 147 Pulled FMJ

Avg vel: 2000FPS (50 fps faster than my original test data for the load)
STD dev: 9
ES: 31


Test 1:
17.0gr H110, Win SR primers, Mixed Brass, 125 Siera Lead Tip, 2.045" OAL.
Avg vel: 2049FPS
Std dev: 28
ES 81


Test 2:
17.5gr H110, Win SR primers, Mixed Brass, 125 Siera Lead Tip, 2.045" OAL.
Avg vel: 2130 FPS
Std dev: 18
ES 50



Test 3:
18.0gr H110, Win SR primers, Mixed Brass, 125 Siera Lead Tip, 2.045" OAL.
Very poor data...think I need to reshoot this.

[Hereld]

I shot a few last weekend. I was trying to get some quick and dirty load data to fine tune, so had a wide distribution here and was looking for consistent velocity vs. outright accuracy at this point.

From what I've been finding I think you might be better off with Lil'Gun, around 20-21g in my load was giving that same velocity spread 2050-2150 fps, but I was getting some of the lowest ES/SD's I've seen out of my Blackout. That is a compressed load, which I think is the reason for such consistant ignition. I'm not using anything special, CCI small rifle primers and mixed formed brass.

[jblomenberg16]

I shot a few last weekend. I was trying to get some quick and dirty load data to fine tune, so had a wide distribution here and was looking for consistent velocity vs. outright accuracy at this point.

From what I've been finding I think you might be better off with Lil'Gun, around 20-21g in my load was giving that same velocity spread 2050-2150 fps, but I was getting some of the lowest ES/SD's I've seen out of my Blackout. That is a compressed load, which I think is the reason for such consistant ignition. I'm not using anything special, CCI small rifle primers and mixed formed brass.

Thanks for the tip!

[Hereld]

Trying some preliminary experiments with BL-C(2) today! Hope it works... I love that powder in my 308 and 223.

[Hereld]

I thought I could trick my BLK into acting more like his 308 big brother, since i'm using a "long" 16" barrel I could use slower powder and get more velocity with less relative pressure. The sierra 125 SP is the lightest bullet that seem to shoot well AND be constructed tough enough for my purposes of deer/hog hunting, so ALL TESTS were done with this bullet. My thought being trying to get enough velocity to acheive bullet performance/expansion out to my effective hunting distance of about 250 yards, and have 1000 ft/lbs of energy, this made my target velocity 2500 fps.
I tried IMR 4227, IMR 4198, Reloader 7, and BL-C(2) which are all a few places progressively slower down the burn rate chart I use (http://www.reloadbench.com/burn.html) I tried each from a starting load incrimentally up to a compressed load, and got worse and worse results as I tried the next slowest power. (Silly I tried that many, I know, but I wanted BL-C(2) to work SOO badly because it is so awesome in my 308 and 223, meters so well, is clean, and CHEAP!)

IMR 4227 at least burned all the power, but gave a top velocity of ~1700fps, with only moderatly horrible extreme spread.

IMR 4198 left some unburnt powder residue, top velocity was ~1400fps, didnt bother to shoot more than one.

Reloader 7 did ok at lower charge densities (when the case was about 2/3rds full), but peak velocity was ~1600fps and got lower as I approached 100% case capacity, also didnt burn the entire charge.

My beloved BL-C(2) did horribly. It gave a top velocity of ~1100fps, and left tons of unburnt powder/residue all thru the gun.

So my half day for experimentation ended up being more of a "What DOESNT work" list of slower powders. I tried a couple of faster powders just because I had them and I had the chrony all set up, but didn't find anything that worked better than Lil'Gun (best extreme spread EVER!) or H110 (best velocity I've gotten out of my BLK so far)

Alliant 2400 gave me a top velocity of 2398 fps right around 100% load density, but my temporary excitement abated when upon loading a string of 10 the average fps was 2240, with a REALLY high extreme spread.

Blue Dot was HORRIBLY dirty, and gave ~1800 fps. Only shot the one.