Re: New Member / New Rifle
I've had great results with either the CoreLokts(PSP) and the Federal PowerShocks(SP) in 150gr the best. Both will give me a bullseye the size of a Quarter at 100yds for up to 3 shots. After that the barrel is too hot and gives a barrel whip and opens up the grouping to around 5 to 6 inches. While still a killing shot for Deer, Elk or other large game, you have to know the rifle's limiting abilities when throwing downrange lots of bullets. Besides, it's usually never more than 2 rounds with a COLD BARREL anyway to drop that Deer. I've had all my Deer or paper targets die on the 1st shot. I've tried 165 and 180 grain factory shells and my rifle just doesn't like them and will throw a shot pattern up to 8 inches between 1st and 2nd rounds. However ALL rifles can be amazingly different in the loads they like best. Some may like 150gr while another rifle will like 200gr the best. What I mean by "BEST", is how well a rifle will group a (slow) 5-shot series of shots for the best pattern with that firearm, AND the ammo brand and bullet used. You'll know with 3 shots if rifle likes a particular ammo brand and bullet by how it groups those shots. Fire slow and let barrel cool down between shots, as these take days to gather info and not just a few hours. Don't forget to do a barrel break-in for rifle to shoot it's best, if you haven't done so. If you don't know what barrel break-in is, do a search or just repost a new question, so others can chime in with their experience(s) with this procedure, as this itself is time consuming, and requires lots of cleaning/shooting in the way it's done and how different it can be from different shooters'.
Del