Low es/sd load that won’t shoot?

Jakeweb09

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2020
Messages
1,595
Location
washington
anybody ever have a load with amazing ES/SD but just can't get it to shoot? I've got a load that's getting an ES of 5 and SD of 2 but can't get a group under 1.5 MOA. I've got other loads around .5 now but really wanted to get this working. I've tried seating depths twice and no fix yet? This is a 6.5 creedmoor with Peterson brass cci 450s and rl26.
 
Last edited:
Yeah...had two recently in New 65248...
14/7....one hi..one medium velocity...neither shot good..
Reloaded to next down and mixed it up a touch and shooting good....numbers eventually dropped too....clean rifle produces 4 of 5 shots within 10fps.....hate that fact....i like dirty rifles....
 
I have had the same, numbers should never be the deciding factor. I once had a 6 creed load that produced ES of 1 for 10 shots, it shot all of 12" at 500 yards.
If you try anything, try a reg primer, like a 205M, personally, I think it will even out your burn.
 
I have just been doing load dev at 200. My load with h4350 I've stretched out to 900 and hit plates pretty easily, at 500 it's definitely still around .5 MOA. But haven't taken this load out past 200 since I can't get any decent groups at that range anyways
 
It's because es/sd does not indicate a load that is tuned to your barrel.

well obviously it's not just random..I found the low es/sd and as mentioned above have tried every seating depth I can on it to get it to shoot with No luck. Only thing left to try would be non mag primers.
 
I never let E.S and S.D decide on the load.
Paper tells the story.
If you run the numbers 20fps is .5" at 500.
Now after that it starts adding up.
I had a similar situation as yours with my 30-28, 3122FPS all 3 shots and one of the worst groups the gun has shot.
 
I just experienced this last week with a .300 Win Mag I've been working with. SD/ES numbers were great (Magnetospeed) at a velocity @ 3100fps (Berger 210's/RL 26) but I kept getting a lot of fliers that would open the groups up 2" or better at 200 yards. I just figured the harmonics/barrel were not agreeing at that speed so I dropped it about 100fps to a lesser node and loaded in the middle of it. Numbers stayed good and the rifle started shooting into a half-minute with no fliers. Still fine tuning, but it's looking very promising...
 
well obviously it's not just random..I found the low es/sd and as mentioned above have tried every seating depth I can on it to get it to shoot with No luck. Only thing left to try would be non mag primers.
Have your better shooting loads displayed a lot of vertical spread at extended distances? Why chase a tight es unless targets are telling you
 
Magnum..curious...es was 100..what was sd
I actually do not recall, but it would have had to be in the high 30's.
At the time I just thought it was a misnomer with the chrony, but several tests with the same load proved it to have a ES of 100fps.
I still remember the load, RE22 @ 56gr with 100gr BT's @ 3356fps average over 10 shots, my notes haven't got the SD in them, just the ES.

Cheers.
 
It's because es/sd does not indicate a load that is tuned to your barrel.
....or a good barrel......or a good bedding job ...or a good crown etc. Go back to the rifle basics and work from there. So many times I see guns prepped by so called experts and the customer has no idea how to confirm what or how well the job was done.
 
Last edited:
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top