three rings. Hornady .257 JDJ die set. One hundred .225 Win. cases.
but due to a problem in our Product Test Software Partial Reviews cannot be read.
Part II will follow later.
The .257 JDJ barrel arrived April 30, 2001 after being requested on April 11, 2001.
It is a 14" blued SSK Shilen match barrel. Included with it were 100 .225 cases,
a set of Hornady dies, T'SOB matte finish base and three black T'SOB rings of the
new vertically split type. I think I liked the older horizontal split type
better than the new ones but JD's source on them dried up. There is a very minor
surface blemish in the bluing which caused it to be a reject for sale to
customers but being a finish blemish it sure isn't going to affect the shooting
of the barrel.
I hadn't received the bullets when I first got the barrel and so that delayed
me starting the testing until June 11, 2001 when I too it out for the initial
case fire forming session. I didn't have any of the 117 grain bullets recommended
for fire forming so I made do with what I had. The mud was pretty deep those last
10-15 yards getting to the 100 yard line. I only got in two groups with it before
the bottom fell out. Yeah RAIN! Real rare stuff don't ya know, I think it had
missed raining 3 days in the three weeks prior to that day. The entire year of
2001 was a really wet one down my way.
Any way enough of the hardships of life in the south. I fired the first shot at
25 yards and the bullet was about 1.5" left and 2" or so low. Made what I hoped
would be an adequate adjustment to be on paper and moved to 100 yards. I did
change bullets as I wanted data from the chronograph and target for a full five
rounds but didn't get it. First shot was way low and one inch right. Made another
adjustment and the next shot was 1" high and 1" right. Didn't make any lateral
adjustments just vertical. That looked acceptable so I fired the other three
rounds I had and the group looked pretty tight. The load was Winchester .225 Win.
case sized to .257 JDJ, CCI-200 Primer, Hornady 100 SP bullet over 34.0 grains of
W748. Group measured an even inch and the chrono read 2392 fps about 15' from the
muzzle with an SD of 39. I followed that up with another load just like it except
it used the Sierra 100 BTHP and five shots with that one also measured an even
inch at 2353 fps with an SD of 59. At this point the rain ran me inside.
Comments from my log that day read as follows: "Yeah I think it's gonna be a shooter.
JD has me hooked on those Shilen Match barrels. They DO make a difference. Not
only were these not loads worked up specifically for the barrel they were fire
forming the cases when I fired them."
SSK produces a wide variety of barrel configurations
on a daily basis. These are all Contenders.
My next range session was the following day June 12. Here is a log entry from that
day. "Well in spite of the additional rain yesterday I went back out again today.
Yeah the mud WAS worse today and got more and more sloppy as I walked up there to
reset the targets. I was shooting the same three guns again today alternating them
to keep the barrels cool."
I finished fire forming the rest of the first 50 cases each five loaded with
different powder/bullet combinations. Some did really well but none quite as good
as the day before BUT close. Some didn't do real well at all. No specifics as they
were not JD's recommended fire form load but just something I cobbled together with
what I had on hand because I didn't have what he says to use.
Lesson learned: Use what JD says to fire form your cases.
Additional Lesson learned: Some of those combinations worked REAL well and now I
think I have some feel for what bullets and powders the barrel likes and have a
basis for starting load development in these fire formed cases. The barrel has
now been fired 50 times with cleaning between each five shot group.
Farm chores kept me off the range for a few days. I finished up testing of a 6 TCU
barrel and moved the Burris 3-12 AO scope from it onto the .257 JDJ barrel for the
next round of testing. During the first 50 rounds it had worn a Burris 2-7 scope.
On June 17 I reloaded the 50 fire formed cases using W748, AA2520 and RL7 powders
and Hornady 100 SP, Sierra 100 BTHP, 100 BTSP and added Nosler 100 BT this time.
This brought me up to the time of year my blueberry farm takes just about all of
my time and getting out to the range is sporadic but I did continue to test when
I could. The next report I made on the barrel was posted on my Forums on Dec. 1, 2001
and covered several shooting sessions of various lengths. It read as follows:
RL-7 is NOT for this barrel. No way. Pressures are way too high before decent
velocity is reached. So far I've not found a happy combination of accuracy and
velocity with the 87 grain bullets so I've spent most of my efforts on the 100s.
I've used the Hornady 100 SP, the Nosler 100 BT and the Sierra 100 BTSP and
100 BTHP in this weight range.
I've tried several powders with both these 100 grain bullets and the Hornady
and a Sierra 87s.
I did the fire forming with AA2520 powder using 35.0 grains with the two 87s
and 33.0 grains with the 100s. None of these seemed too hot during initial
fire forming and accuracy was excellent. The Nolser wasn't used at this point
as they are so expensive and I had only 100 of them.
Next up in the once fired and fire formed cases was both AA2520 and W748 using
the 100s from both Sierra and Hornady. Accuracy varied from outstanding to pretty
darn good except with the Sierra 100 BTSP which my barrel so far seems to hate
with a passion. The W748 load was 34.5 grains and the AA2520 load was 35.0 grains.
Velocity with the W748 ran around 2450 fps and with the AA2520 around 2650 fps.
Loads using the Hornady 100 SP were the most accurate with both powders and with
AA2520 under a half inch wasn't a big problem.
Next I tried RL-7 CAUTION DO NOT USE THIS LOAD. IT IS TOO HOT! I loaded 31.0 grains
under the Hornady and Sierra bullets and got velocity in the 2625-2675 fps range
but loads were WAY TOO HOT and accuracy was nothing to write home about. I figured
I was at least 1.5-2.0 grains too hot and since velocity was only about what should
be normal for the round I decided to abandon further testing of RL-7. I recommend
you DO NOT use this powder in the .257 JDJ.
I went back to the AA2520 load of 35.0 grains under the same 100 grain bullets and
this time added the Nosler 100 BT to the mix. Didn't know at the time what changed
but pressure seemed too much. Most cases exhibited sticky extraction so I stopped
this one immediately and pulled all bullets and dumped all powder back into the can.
I had no good explaination at that time as the load had seemed fine before. These
were fired during July and it was HOT! I wondered if that was the reason. The ONE
and ONE ONLY 100 Nosler BT fired went 2722 fps. The Hornady load went 2645 with an
SD of only 15 and should have been fine but extraction was sticky and didn't seem
fine on that day. I fired the Hornady 87 SP over 36.0 of AA2520 and got 2723 fps
and an SD of 50 with a five shot group of 1.8". Nothing to recommend it to me as a
load to live with. The only explaination I've since been able to come up with is that
the firing pin bushing had worked loose on the new SS frame I was using and that I think
is the reason that extraction seemed to be so sticky. I reality it was just in the way
of the barrel opening. Yeah I should have noticed it sooner but in all my years of
shooting TCs I've never had that happen before. Now it has happened to BOTH of my new
SS frames and now I watch for it.
After that I laid it aside for about a month and worked on some other projects while
thinking on this one. I did find a stock of the powder in same lots as I was using
before stored away that I had forgotten I had during this time. Still not being sure
of what happened at the 35.0 grain level I decided caution was this time the better part
of valor and dropped back.
Next loads were put up using only 34.0 grains of AA2520 and the same cast of bullets to
include the Nosler 100 BT. I did however drop all the way back to 33.0 grains under the BT.
That Sierra 100 BTSP just doesn't perform in my barrel. With this load it only gave me
2395 fps and groups from 1.6" to 3.4". Like I said the barrel don't like that bullet. The
Hornady 100 SP gave 2530 fps and MOA or better accuracy. The Sierra 100 BTHP gave 2581 fps
and accuracy similar to the Hornady but this isn't a hunting bullet as I understand it.
The Nosler 100 BT delievered only 2481 fps over the 33.0 grain charge but with excellent
accuracy. The Hornady 87 SP over 35.3 grains gave 2649 fps and 1.4"-2.0" accuracy. I just
can't find anything it likes with this bullet weight to this point.
So I decided it was time to go back to the W748 and explore that some more. This time I
used 35.5 grains the same as I use in my 7-30 with the Sierra 130 SSSP as it works so well
there and it seemed a safe place to start here. Well it was a bit much. Accuracy was uniformly
great with all the bullets in the 100 grain weight except you guessed it the Sierra 100 BTSP.
Velocity ran from 2560 fps to 2612 fps but mostly hovered real close to the 2600 fps level.
These are all 15' from the muzzle. I don't try to correct for muzzle velocity. Many were a
touch sticky on extraction. Just for grins I decided to try some IMR 3031 under the 87 grain
bullets as it works so well in my .243 LW Model 1885 Browning with light bullets. YUCK! Didn't
even make 2400 fps and accuracy about 2". Forget that combination!
So next up was Hornady and Nosler 100s only over 34.9 grains of W748. Velocity hovered around
2550 fps and accuracy was nice especially with the Nosler 100 BT.
So hunting season caught up to me and testing stopped there. So what did I load for hunting
season with it? Ya'll never guess. WW reformed and many times fired cases. CCI-200 Primers.
Same throughout all loads. Nosler 100 BT over 35.2 grains of W748. Velocity is right at
2600 fps and accuracy under an inch and more importantly no sticky cases this time. Since
these were to be used in the cool/cold of December and January hunting season I figured they
would do fine for then.
More testing and more results to follow.
SSK Industries
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Wintersville, OH 43953
Phone: 740-264-0176
FAX: 740-264-2257
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