THE HANDLOADING BENCH
308 Winchester Rides Again Part 2 By Laurie Holland
The Palma Match shield is topped by a stylised eagle and wreath emblem as reproduced on the Sierra ‘Palma’ MatchKing bullet carton. This is one of the very few products allowed to use the name and image.
important of these factors as they start the whole process going. What I found over the years is that there is a large variance in ignition using large rifle primers. Not just from brand to brand but from lot to lot within the same brand. No big revelation here, I’m sure we all have experienced this. Using small rifle primers I have found very little to no variance between lot to lot within a brand and minor variance from brand to brand. This equates to a much easier time developing a precision load and sustaining that load over a long period of time. Other factors affected by this are the reduced need to stock up on a certain component (primers can deteriorate over time) and less barrel wear wasted in testing.
...So, what’s the point? It is not 3-5 fps better ES (although I have found it to be better than that), nor is it that this case will produce ammo more accurate than the best LRP case loads (a great load is a great load no matter what you use). The big gain, in my opinion, is that it is much easier to find that great long range load with these SRP cases than it is with LRP cases.
79
Everyone has access to this case now use it if you want or not, the choice is up to you.”
The US Palma team reported that the SRP brass reduced velocity spreads (ES) by around 30%, sometimes more, with its standard load of the 155gn Sierra ‘Palma’ MK over Hodgdon VarGet. 15-round strings recorded ES values of 12-18 fps and SDs of 4-5 fps. The sole downside was a reduction in the MV but this could be rectified by adjusting the charge weight.
Four SRP brands were tried, purchased over the counter in ordinary gunshops and all performed well with little lot to lot variation. Low temperature questions were faced head on by placing SRP ammunition in a freezer overnight and test firing it over a chronograph immediately afterwards which was done without any serious or safety related problems such as hang-fires, although a reduction in the average MV was (unsurprisingly) recorded.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102