6.8 SPC II and 115 GD's

Schneeky

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Rifle is a PSA 16" upper (FF forearm, SPC II 1:11) on a RRA lower w/Gieselle. DD collapsible for the lil flat that fits well in the rear bag. Game to consider is smallish (<200#) NC deer and hog that are mostly <250#. Ranges are from 'right there" to as far as ya feel froggy for. But I hate bad hits so I'm keepin it down to <300yds with this gear.
Been reading and reading on the 115 Gold Dots for 6.8 anywhere I can find. I've tried a quite a few different loads, but nothing is really standing out except for the fact that nothing is standing out just yet.
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Been working mostly with 120gr SSTs and 115 GDs. Got a pile of the SSTs around, but for some reason I wanna run the 115GDs instead. Prolly cause those 125 SST's in the 308 have been so damn messy and ruin a lotta meat. Velocities have been fine (2300-2550ish) Not so concerned with that for the l'il yardage involved. But most groups are from just over an inch to 2" @ 100yds. Can't say I'm using the best bench technique (or bench), but reasonable enough I'd expect better.
Got a few powders on hand- H322, H335, CFE-223, H4198 etc). Gobs of H335. Everything BUT the AA2000 which seems to be the most popular. There's prolly a reason for that.
Been tryin different OAL's. Brass is properly prepped, weighed and matched. CCI primers. Crimp and no crimp. Yadda yadda.
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Just wonderin if I'm missing something or is AA2200 just THAT good with this cartridge as opposed to most others. Thanks.. d:^)
 

Jhop

LSB Active Member
SUS VENATOR CLUB
I had been shooting 120sst's with h322. Had good accuracy. However them bullets started getting expensive. So when Speer release the Gold Dots in 90 and 115 gr I tested with both of them. I also switched to the new 16in ARperformance 3R barrel. 32.1 grains of WC844 was the sweet spot for the 90gr pills with a O.A.L of 2.270 inches. I was getting .9 inch group at 100 yards with a Dead Air armament Sandman S mounted. Had pretty good performance on pigs. The bullets held together and didn't come apart like the SST's did. I just worked up a load for the 115gr Gold Dots using the same rifle. Using the same exact lot number of WC844 powder the 115's were pretty consistent from 28.4, 28.7, 29.0, 29.3, and 29.6. All these loads shot right at 1 inch using 2.265 O.A.L. However I could hear a difference when firing the 29.3 and could see and hear a difference at 29.6. Although no flattened primers or other signs of too much pressure. I have not shot the load over a chronograph yet, but I will. I went with 29grains of WC844 since it was bang in the middle.

The brass is Federal(trimmed to minimum) and I'm using CCI 450's

It'll be the first weekend of next month before I can go pig hunting with the 115's.
 
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Schneeky

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Can't remember the exact reasoning, but somehow we ended up with 5 or so boxes of the 120gr SST's when Kris got the 68.
Seem to remember reading somewhere that TLM tried the 90gr GD's and didn't care for'em much. Not sure how that bodes for the 115's. Haven't seen much about their performance particularly. Also have some of the 90's and they're showing a lil promise.
Had a few pounds of 322 leftover from some long gone project years ago. Same with H335. Got a few kegs.
Did ya mess around with OAL much for effect? In particular going long?
IIRC, WC844 has a commercial counterpart.. d:^)
 

Jhop

LSB Active Member
SUS VENATOR CLUB
The commercial counter part to WC844 is H335. Of course the standard load at your own risk etc... Applies.

As far as OAL affecting the accuracy, I didn't see any significant effect. I shot groups from .9-1.1. they all printed in the same spot. So I'd assume the difference was shooter error I only tested 29gr at 2.260, 2.265, 2.270, 2.275, and 2.280. I use PRI 15 round magazines. It seemed to me the 2.265 rounds feed the best and loaded easily in the mags.
 
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Jhop

LSB Active Member
SUS VENATOR CLUB
I'm guessing Todd Huey was probably using the Federal loaded 68gd rounds. While they shoot reliably in my rifle, the accuracy isn't there. A friend shot the Federal Fusion 115gr rounds and they performed pretty good on pigs out of an ARperformance 18" 5r barrel. He took a couple deer with them as well.
 

Schneeky

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Thanks for the testimony on the 115's.
I loaded some 150's and 90's up last night after posting at different seating depths to see what would happen. From 2.26 to 2.29. What the hey, it's just more shooting. Hehehe. Some of the loads are the same with SD being the only difference. A couple that were well below max were jacked up .5gr-ish to allow for the larger capacity created. I've seen references from the short 2.26ish to a long 2.3+. IIRC. d:^)
 

Schneeky

LSB Member
LoneStarBoars Supporter
Ended up finding really nice, repeatable loads with 90gr GD's @ 2800 fps (H322, 2.290).
Got ok (~1in) loads with 115 GD's @ 2450 (H322, 2.260) and 95gr TTSX's at 2780 (H4198, 2.24).
This 16" PSA barrel shows a definite preference for the shorter bullets. The 115-n-95's did poorly seated long.
The 90's are seated way out but the longer bullets did better seated to standard spec per Speer and Barnes reload info. Go figger, eh?
Luckily all 3 have essentially the same POI so I can try them all this hunting season. Neither 115 or 95 are more than .5" from POA for the 90's which are sighted in 1.25" high @ 100. Very much lookin forward to trying these and hoping the 90's will work just fine. The ones I've found in the dirt behind the target have held together very well considering they're hitting hard red clay at that speed and I've received some input from others that they work just fine with proper placement.
In this environment it's pretty thick so one well placed shot is the norm. Ya might get a few opportunities if ya get the matriarch and have a wide enough FoF, but that's situational.
Very rare would be those runnin sounder shoots ya see in the Texas videos (yes, I'm jealous!) d;^)
 
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