This thread will be an ongoing thing....likely spanning most of next year but it will be where I post the results of OCW load tests on my new Model 70 Ultimate Shadow....along with a few modifications to the rifle. Winchester says these rifles will shoot 1 moa out of the box, I hope thats true because my plan for this rifle is a 600 yard "capable" hunting rifle...I'm gonna see if I can get her down to .5 moa (or less) for 3 shots...thats just a tad over 3 inches at 600 yards. Hopefully a stiffer, well bedded stock and some carefully tailored loads will accomplish that.

So far I have the rifle, scope bases (Warne)....and thats about it I still gotta get reloading dies and everything (powder, brass)...I do have bullets and primers, 168 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips and CCI BR2's. I'm gonna try H4350 powder first....

I plan on putting a 4-12x40mm scope on it, not sure which one yet but I've been checking out Leupold, Minox, Vortex, and Nikon.

A plain sling, I don't like a big, thick, fancy, padded sling...I like thin, plain, and comfy.

I'm also gonna replace the stock for a stiffer one...probably McMillan, but not 100% sure yet.

This will serve as a "before" pic...brand new, fresh out of the box. And when I'm done, hopefully by this time next year, we'll see what these new Model 70's are made of



I am going to hunt with it here in a couple of weeks...I have an old scope and some old rings that I'm gonna put on it when I get home. The scope is a Nikon 3-9x40 that I've had on several different rifles, the rings will be whatever is taking up space in the drawer at home....hopefully I have a complete set, I have accumulated a few "strays" over the years, LOL. the new scope and stuff will come along when income tax returns roll around (February, maybe March)....then things will get interesting.

My new M70 needed a tad of work, the stock was contacting the barrel on one side...about 10 minutes and some sandpaper fixed that. My sons was A-OK right out of the box.



Both rifles shoot pretty good...all factory ammo today, and a mix of it at that. My son and I just bought what they had on the shelf at Wally World...sorry but no pics, we were too busy shootin

The results are as follows...

Winchester Super-X 165 grain (silver box) = These reminded me why I reload, they shot terrible in both rifles with 3 shot groups hanging around 3" and 100 yards/

Winchester Super-X 180 grain (silver box) = These were just as bad as the above.

Remington 180 grain CoreLokt = These grouped right around 1" at 100 yards in both rifles.

Winchester 180 Power Max Bonded = This is great ammo for the $$$, they shot very good in both rifles with groups running between .5" and .75" This is what we ended up sighting in for.


When we first started off with the 165 Super-X ammo I was getting kinda worried, and after we tried the 180 Super-X I was worried. But after switching to the Remington 180's I felt better and when we tried the Power Max 180's I was genuinely pleased with how the rifles shot. Both rifles shot all the 180 grain ammo to the same point of aim, no scope adjustments needed. We shot them at 100, 200, and 300 yards...300 yard groups with the Power Max 180's were running 2.5 to 3 inches and 3-4 inches with the Remington 180's, except a single freak group that came out of nowhere using the Remington ammo... 3 shots that you could cover with a quarter, even though it was a freak it still looked good on the paper.

Messin around with some loads today...

Supeformance powder doesn't like 168 Ballistic Tips.

The load:
168 Ballistic Tip
Win brass
CCI BR2 primer
58 grains of Superformance
OAL 3.34"

2,618 fps (24" barrel, Win model 70, 30-06)

The velocity was terribly low and the pressure was too high...it left ejector marks on the brass. It was also TERRIBLY dirty, left lots of crud in the barrel.

Another load I chrono'd today:
Same as above except the powder...57.5 grains of H4350 chrono'd 2,825 fps and the brass is fine. 3 round group was a neat cloverleaf...

I'll stick to the "old standby" powders.

EDIT TO ADD:

I tried a couple more loads today...I think my rifle likes 58 grains of H4350 a tad better, the groups were still cloverleafs but the ES and SD numbers are a bit lower than with the 57.5 grain load.

2,850 fps average for 3 shots (small sample I know...but I'm just tinkering, LOL)

These went through my sons rifle (same as mine)...He wants me to see what the Berger bullets will do.

175 Berger VLD
55 grains of H4350
Win Brass
CCI BR2 primer
Bullets seated .005" off the lands (appx. OAL is 3.370", the tips of these bullets vary EVER SO SLIGHTLY)

2,650 fps, this was just a start load...Berger says MAX should be around 56.1 grains.

These grouped just under an inch at 100 yards...but Berger bullets sometimes don't "settle down" until around 300 yards.

I have to get into this hobby of reloading. Thanks for sharing Ridgerunner

GUNNER_D wrote:I have to get into this hobby of reloading. Thanks for sharing Ridgerunner

What are ya waiting for?



A lil blurry...but here is the bullet selection (this ain't all of them, just the ones I keep on the bench)


Powders (again, not all of them)


Ammo I loaded today...some 45acp, some 243, and a few more test loads for my 30-06.

Awesome I Love these things, now i have no excuse not to start reloading.If you don't mind me asking why 2 powder measures one for rifle and one for handguns? And which one do you like better the Lee or the RCBS.All i need to start is the powder measure and scale plus the components and powders and I'm good to go and a lot of questions. Oh and dies

GUNNER_D wrote:Awesome I Love these things, now i have no excuse not to start reloading.If you don't mind me asking why 2 powder measures one for rifle and one for handguns? And which one do you like better the Lee or the RCBS.All i need to start is the powder measure and scale plus the components and powders and I'm good to go and a lot of questions. Oh and dies

The Lee press is only used for pistol and small rifle rounds (223), the RCBS is for rifles.

You can load anything on the RCBS press, but its slow for high volume rounds (we got AR15's and several 45acp handguns)

What are you gonna be loading for and how much do you shoot?

I was asking about your powder measures and why you had both.(it was nice to know about the presses Thank You ) I have the Lee 4 Hole Classic Turret Press & the Lee Pro Auto-Disk Powder Measure
The rounds that I would most benefit from would be. |

Rifle
.444 Marlin at $2 a round the first on my list
.35 Rem
30-30 Win
.270 Win

Handgun
45 Auto
.357 Magnum
.38

The powder measures are used with their press (red with red, green with green)...you'll need another measure to use for the rifle rounds because I don't think the Pro Auto disk will throw enough powder even with a double disk kit.

Boy am I ever slacking on this...but its not without just cause...I'm just workin alot lately. I have not been home since Jan. 3rd.

I didn't expect work to pick up this much...I'll get to it before deer season though