Quote Originally Posted by Jasperza View Post
I got a lot out of this thread thanks to all, I did a lot of research into this starting on this thread. A friend gave me some remaining MP200. I was pretty nervous about using it- the can was purchased in 1985.

I use the following recipe (not sure how much of this makes a difference):
MP200 - 8.2 grains - its a tiny amount of powder that takes up about 15% of the case volume
Sierra SP 180 grain pro hunter bullet.
Winchester magnum primers.
.308 brass, various brands, mostly PMP, COL: 69.4
"batting" filler (dacron?), purchased in a big sheet from the fabric shop, its used to make duvets, cut it into 1cmx1cm cubes and weigh each one out at 1grain as accurately as you can.
When stuffing, stretch the filler out vertically, then stuff it into the case so it reaches from the powder to the base of where the bullet will be seated. I read this on some forum - they said not to wd it down hard against the powder because then a wad of filler can strike the base of the bullet, it must keep the powder pushed up against the primer if the cartridge is tipped.


At 8.3 grains i got a small sonic crack, at 8.2 it sonic crack dissipated and there was virtually no noise, people continued their conversations while we were shooting.
You can hear the delay between firing, and the bullet striking, even at 50m.

I went down to 8.0 grains and there was even less noise but decided to stay at 8.2grains

I started at 15 grains of MP200 but it was too much - the bolt was sticky to open, so i presume pressure was too much. I never got a bullet stuck but didnt go below 8grains of MP200.

Here's my FPS results over a chrony:
8.2 1074 Sub sonic
8.2 1079 Sub sonic
8.2 1085 Sub sonic
8.2 1088 Sub sonic

The first shot out of a cold, fouled barrel has a terrible drop - 15cm drop at 50m, 50cm drop at 100m , after that i was getting about 2 inch grouping at 50m.

As mentioned by treeman above, the bullet does not fragment at all , I shot through a 20cm diameter log, the bullet went right through and pegged into the log behind it with no deformation. I could only get it to mushroom by shooting a brick.

Got to work on accuracy now and as mentioned above, compensating trajectory for different distances, and also figuring out how to handle the cold barrel drop problem. Thinking of cast lead bullets but I cant find them for a reasonable price (less than ZAR5.00 each) and can't even buy the mold if i wanted to make them myself.
I've got some cast lead bullets if you're interested.

54 Cast PC 215gr
54 Cast PC 150gr
4 Cast PC 165gr
5 Cast GC 215gr
1 Cast GC 165gr
3 Cast GC 150gr
26 Cast GC 100gr
Total = 147 = R400