IndyArms 10,186 Posted January 1, 2011 Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 SO I got bored today... and havent spent the time in the reloading room that I should be... so I decided to kick it like its the last day of the new year and load up some interesting things... I had a few hundred rounds of .223 brass to tumble today... was a good day scrounging at the range... I also loaded up a handful of .243 I had primed, but nothing in them... those got 95 grain ballistic tips... I LOVE the purple Nosler uses for them in that caliber! Then I began to get creative... I started by pulling the bullets out of 20 rounds of Wolf black box 122 gn. HP's... I was THINKING about loading them with something REALLY interesting... Like 168 grain Barnes triple-shok X bullets... or Tipped-TSX's... but decided to keep THOSE rounds in the .311 caliber... and I really NEVER plan to use the AK for anything TOO serious of hunting. So I loaded those with 150 grain Sierra Match King soft points. I think I went with BL-C(2) powder in those. Haven't shot any yet... But I am sure in ANY AK they will shoot just fine... So then I had 20 rounds of .311 122 grain hollow points to do something with... SO I dug out some virgin X54R brass ( 30 of them ) and decided to go nuts with that... After verifying case spec by full length resizing, I loaded all 30 rounds with CCI bench Rest primers. Then I took 10, and filled them with 60 grains of BL-C(2), and the 122 grain Wolf pulled HP's. Seated to an arbitrary depth... and they are ready to rock and roll. All 10 are a TAD shorter than I would like... so I hope they feed properly out of the magazine... I have 10 more I loaded with 155 grain Nosler Custom Competition Hollow points... Now those are just .308... so I am not sure how accuracy will be out of the PSL with those... but only 10 rounds... nothing to lose there... I went with the IMR XBR8208 which I really like for a versatile all weather powder... it has virtually ZERO temperature variance when shooting at either below zero or 120 in the shade... I didnt have any "specific" load data for it, but it is VERY close to Varget... and I dropped the max loading by a grain, and went with that... Should be just fine... I will know after the first or second round by looking at the brass and primers if there are any pressure issues... I am doubting there will be anything amiss... AND...They look nice... but not as nice as the final 10 I loaded up... X54R loaded with 168 gn. Hornady Moly coated AMAX bullets. yeah, yeah... the PSL is designed for 150 and less weight bullets... I loaded 10... Its not gonna bash the gun all to hell... Those look BADASS!!!! The grey Moly coated rounds, to a really nice sharp point... Gotta love AMAX... Again, those are .308... so I am not sure how accuracy will be with those either... but I figure I will shoot a group of 10... and see what happens... Again, these are loaded with the 8208, and a full grain and a half less than the Varget data... Again... should be no problem... With it as cool out the barrel will not take long between shots to stay cold... and hopefully POI will remain VERY CLOSE!!! And if this load works in the winter... with 8208, nothing will change when shooting them in the summer!! Anyways... happy shooting folks... and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IndyArms 10,186 Posted January 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2011 I got to the range today... tried out the loads I made up last night... here are my observations... The 122 grain HP's with 60 grains of BL-C(2) are a little hot... Out of 5 rounds fired I had two that the primer strike was almost completely punched through... There was no discernible raised ring around the primer strike, though... Accuracy wise... not all that impressive, either... maybe a 4 inch group at 100 yards... The 155 Grain Nosler Custom Competition rounds... primer strikes were fine, no pressure signs... Accuracy was still not very impressive. maybe a 3" group at 100 yards. Now we will talk about the 168 grain Moly coated AMAX loads... THOSE shot EXCEPTIONALLY WELL!!!! See for yourself... about 2 inches low of point of aim... I put the top of the chevron on the top center of that circular ring... Also, I am using the illuminated POSP 8X optic. Those are 2" squares... No pressure signs, very mild recoil, so I know they arent banging the hell out of the rifle. When I can find a good large sized tripod I will run them through the Chrony to see how fast they are going... I would estimate them from the load data at about 2700 FPS.. Not super high velocity, but no slouch either... Thats at 100 yards, shot two, waited till barrel was cold fired three... That load is certainly a keeper at about a .741" spread... I will take a 3/4" five shot group out of my PSL ANYTIME! I would be VERY happy and confident with that load for deer, hog, coyote, or any other 4 legged critter on the north American continent... Would even be good for squirrel, if they sat still and stood up for you!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
conundrum 1 Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 not much left of that squirrel after taking a round from a psl Quote Link to post Share on other sites
YARP 300 Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I got to the range today... tried out the loads I made up last night... here are my observations... The 122 grain HP's with 60 grains of BL-C(2) are a little hot... Out of 5 rounds fired I had two that the primer strike was almost completely punched through... There was no discernible raised ring around the primer strike, though... Accuracy wise... not all that impressive, either... maybe a 4 inch group at 100 yards... The 155 Grain Nosler Custom Competition rounds... primer strikes were fine, no pressure signs... Accuracy was still not very impressive. maybe a 3" group at 100 yards. Now we will talk about the 168 grain Moly coated AMAX loads... THOSE shot EXCEPTIONALLY WELL!!!! See for yourself... about 2 inches low of point of aim... I put the top of the chevron on the top center of that circular ring... Also, I am using the illuminated POSP 8X optic. Those are 2" squares... No pressure signs, very mild recoil, so I know they arent banging the hell out of the rifle. When I can find a good large sized tripod I will run them through the Chrony to see how fast they are going... I would estimate them from the load data at about 2700 FPS.. Not super high velocity, but no slouch either... Thats at 100 yards, shot two, waited till barrel was cold fired three... That load is certainly a keeper at about a .741" spread... I will take a 3/4" five shot group out of my PSL ANYTIME! I would be VERY happy and confident with that load for deer, hog, coyote, or any other 4 legged critter on the north American continent... Would even be good for squirrel, if they sat still and stood up for you!!! WHOA! .741 out of a PSL! is this an out of the box PSL or one that's been sent off? What is your normal group with x54 ball ammo? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IndyArms 10,186 Posted January 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 This particular rifle is OUT OF THE BOX... Shooting wolf black box, I have been able to put 10 shots almost under a quarter at 100 yards, allowing the barrel to cool completely between shots... I am VERY pleased with the way this one shoots... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DHunter 1 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 (edited) Well if your feeling like working up interesting things, how about a subsonic round using jacketed bullets for the PSL. I'd be very interested in a good recipe for that one considering I'm now waiting for a silencer that will be going on my PSL. I've been looking for such info, but only found a couple of loads using cast bullets meant to be fired from MNs. Edited April 2, 2011 by DHunter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott Kenny 144 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 Would a stock PSL even cycle with subsonic rounds? I chrony'd some Wolf(?, been a while) at 2700fps. Speed of sound is (roughly) 1100fps, so you're talking about throwing a slug at less than half the designed velocity... .300 Whisper uses a .240gr slug at close to sonic velocity, but a 7.62x54R is designed for a 200+gr slug at ~2500fps (not in a PSL, though). I think (dangerous habit) that you'd need a much slower-burning powder, in order to stop the gas expansion close to the muzzle at that low velocity. Can someone with more reloading experience back me up? You can suppress a full-speed round, but it 'only' hides your muzzle boom. No muzzle blast makes it a lot harder to locate shot directions. More importantly from my POV, it saves your ears! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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