Discussion Forums

Daniel Schindler

Greetings.

The following updates are submitted humbly. I offer them solely for information purposes. The updates are from my experiences, not just opinions or speculation. I hope they prove helpful to someone.

FWIW…while I don’t have the time to be at the reloading bench or range as much as I’d like, I do take my reloading and shooting very seriously. I’m meticulous and stay inside the reloading manual data. If I had the time and means, I’d visit with Nathan and take up all his time showing me how to SAFELY develop better ballistics outside of the manuals. I greatly respect that skill…which I don’t have.

First, a bullet update. On certain cartridges, I know Nathan’s second edition LR book chapters by heart. The pages are covered with my personal notes. And, for a very long time, he’s been kind enough to respond to my questions. As I was preparing for a recent hunt…Sept 2023…per Nathan’s recommendations…I settled on the Sierra 168 gr TMK for my .308. The SA Waypoint 2020 put this handloaded bullet (5 shot groups) under .5 moa at 100 yards, consistently. Just me personally now…reasonably or not…I expect this from my rifles and loads. The rifle and load did not disappoint at the range, nor did it fail to meet my expectations on the hunt.

While one man’s single shot can not establish any future expectations or guarantees on a bullet’s performance…the deer I killed was dead before it hit the ground. The bullet performed as Nathan predicted it would. To say I was pleased would be an understatement. Thank you Nathan. I will be using this rifle and load combination again, hopefully in the near future.

A rifle update…

For some folks, rifle choices can be very personal. I am one. For me, accuracy comes first. I’m willing to do the work, reloading to extract that accuracy. MOA is acceptable. Better is my personal goal.

I cannot afford custom rifles so must choose a factory rifle carefully with accuracy at the forefront. I recently acquired a Savage 110 Classic rifle in .243. That its wood stock is “old school” appealed to me. At the range with my 75 gr V-Max, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover just how accurate this rifle was / is. Trigger set to its lightest setting, the rifle / load produced something very close to one-hole, 5 shot groups. The stock’s adjustability features means a perfect fit for me as I do not meet the “average” shooter profile. A real plus for me.

https://www.riflemagazine.com/savage-model-110-classic

I am a 7 Rem Mag fan. For many good reasons, have been for a very long time. That my Classic .243 rifle brings home so many advantages for me personally, I have another Classic incoming in 7 Rem Mag. Will update after having spent some time with it.

Hope this finds you well and in good spirits.

Cheers,

Dan

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