doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com 300 Sherwood loads

Does anyone have a 300 Sherwood load they particularly like? What I have is OK but not fantastic.

I purchased the Accurate Mold for 140gr .300 bullets that's been recommended and those work quite well. I just am not a fan of casting, and only did it the one time to get a stash of these projectiles.

More recently I purchased a box of Missouri Bullets #2 Whitetail LFN bullets. These are .309" 135gr bullets, Brinel 18 hardness with some sort of blue lube in a single ring. Less than $40/250 bullets. I used a Lee breach lock sizing die and converting ring for my Redding press, to take these down to .300". Other than being 5gr lighter, the shape is remarkably close to the Accurate Mold bullets.

Results with 12.5gr of IMR4198 and these resized bullets are decent and good enough to practice with, but I think I'm driving them too fast. Period sources say this is a 1400fps cartridge with 140gr bullets and I'm at 1500fps. No difficulty extracting in my WR martini, nor pressure signs at the primer.

I'm going to try a lighter load and see if that helps shrink the groups, but would love help if anyone has some.

FWIW, I need to keep to lead bullets for now (no jacketed projectiles like the 7.3 Carcano bullets.)

Chris

I have had great success in other cartridges using the recommended Reloader 15 in the ratio of 1.19 times the Cordite load to match velocity and the sights. So the original Sherwood load of 8.5 grains Cordite with the 140 bullet would be 10.1 grains of R15. Worth a try.

I'll have to get some. I've got Reloader 22 but alas no R15.

It will take some looking and some luck since Reloader 15.5 came out (Note - 15.5 is a different powder so no guarantees). Some small shop somewhere must still have a can or two of 15 in stock. May have to advertise want on one of the sites like Gunbroker etc.

IMO Reloader 15 is too slow for mild cast bullet loads. I would lean toward Unique, 4227 or 4198.
AA#9 or 2400 may also prove satisfactory.

I would also say that best accuracy might be obtained using 20:1 lead tin alloy and a bullet slightly oversized.

YMMV,
KN

Cordite burn rate does depend on the thickness of the threads loaded but the idea of it is to prevent sudden increases of pressure in the barrel hence relatively slow. I found this: "Comparison to Smokeless Powders: As a rough modern approximation, cordite is often compared in performance to medium-burn rate powders like Reloader 15 (RL15)". in my 300 Rook I was not trying to duplicate a factory load (if you could even find one) so I tested all the usual suspects but found the most accurate by a long shot (is that a pun?) was 3.3 grains of AA5. In my 32 S&W Long the most accurate powder was H108 (is that the one that is compared with AA9?).

Ken, I’ve used 4198 for the Sherwood. Accuracy is good but I believe should be better. Although these are irons and my eyes just celebrated their 60th bday. I will order a .302 sizer and see how that goes. And since I’m just trying results on paper, I still need to resize and try some of the 110gr pills I bought that were made for the M1 carbine.

H108 was a surplus magnum pistol powder similar to AA#9. I used a lot of that (when it was available) for cast bullet loads in my military 03’s.

If you don't find anything else that works for you, you might try Unique. I have good luck with it in 310 Greener, getting factory velocity (1200 fps, 120gr heeled bullet) with the same charge weight as the factory charge weight of nitro powder.
Mike

Chris,

People posted in the Sherwood Forum that 4198 is the best powder for the 300 Sherwood. Based upon those comments, I developed a load of 12.5 gr of 4198. I have sized cast lead pistol bullets to 0.302" (115 gr GC and 120 gr PB) and also used 130 gr jacketed (BAC 296 130) with good success. Like you, my eyesight isn't the best and my Sherwood doesn't have a tang sight. However, I was pleased with the groups (considering my eyesight, barrel iron sights, and light weight rifle). Velocity was around 1450 fps. Considering that these bullets are substantially lighter than the 140 gr Sherwood bullet, the load seems correct.

BTW, which Accurate Mold so you have? They list 4 molds: 30-140 A, L, R, & S.

Like you, I don't like casting bullets. For my 300 rook, I traded a very nice tang sight for casting a large supply of .300 rook and 9.3 bullets. Of course, the 80 gr .300 rook bullets are too light for the Sherwood.

If there were a good source of cast 140 gr bullets, I would buy some to try.

On a separate subject, does anyone hunt with a Sherwood? I think the Sherwood would be adequate for coyotes; however, it is too small for even small whitetail deer. What are your thoughts?

On another separate subject, for 300 rook, like HalfaDouble, I use AA5. I tried recommended loads using Bullseye and Unique and got wild velocity variations.