Noob reloading process question

[Anthrops]

Hi all,

Full disclosure, I have read/watched a fair bit about reloading, but have only done it a few times with the help of experienced family members. So I have some of the concepts down, but lack experience. Bear with me if this is common knowledge. My question is about how you what variables you adjust first when doing load development. Here is what I mean.

Let's say you have chosen a selected bullet that you want to develop a load around for a new rifle. So you're starting from scratch. You choose a powder, seating depth and do your initial load development. You get groups that are roughly around 1" to 1.25" at a 100 yards. Not bad, not great and you want to do better. Let's assume the SD/ES varied as your powder charge increased but was also in the not bad/not great range. In this situation, which of the following would you do?

1. Try a different powder.
2. Fine tune seating depth
3. Experiment with neck tension
4. Something else completely.

Assumptions: Precision and consistency, not ultra high velocity are the primary goals. Hopefully this question makes sense, if not please let me know what additional info you need. Just generally trying to understand what variables people change first and why.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Seating depth. BUUT as you mention velocity isn't a concern, some guns/bullets shoot better slower. If ES is not good, you may be trying to push it too fast.

Are you mag feeding? Does it matter?

If single feeding or mag allows, I start at .010" off lands. If it is tight, I will go .003", .006", .009" off lands. Sometimes I will go as much as .010", .020", .030" between to get potential, then go with .003"

If no potential, I get more aggressive with seating by about .050" off and so on. Some rifles will jump a long ways and do well.

By thirty rounds or so, if no potential, I look to another powder.

 

[Stammster2]

A word of caution - just because you get a small group statistically doesn't mean it will repeat itself.

Here is a made up example:
Powder (gr) - 3 shot group (inch @ 100 yds)
55gr - 1.2"
55.5gr - 1.9"
56gr - 0.5"
56.5 - 1.3"
57 - 0.8"

So which one do you chose?

Maybe you can find a sweet spot, but 9 out of 10 times the 56gr load will not repeatably give you 0.5"… and if it does it will be a very narrow window.

I also look for POI changes. I'd be more inclined to go with a load that shot a similar POI at +/- 0.5 gr than one that was the smallest group that had shifts on either side.

So to answer your question, if I can't get a repeatable result by powder tune alone and nothing seems to be falling in place, change powder, then bullets. IMO seating depth tweaks won't make a crap load shoot good. They are basically like powder charge changes.

Hornady and independently Bryan Litz / Erik Corrina both had recent interesting Podcasts on the subject.

 

[xsn10s]

When I first started loading I looked in the Sierra and Hornady manuals for their accuracy loads. Later on I found that Nosler and Handloader Magazine also listed their accuracy loads. Once the internet came about I'd look for combinations that people found to be accurate, but compared those to reloading manual loads. That's where I would start. You can adjust seating depths and other variables as time goes on. You can try to do it all on your own but that might be overwhelming.

 

[Anthrops]

Thanks guys. I'm working with the assumption of not changing bullets unless absolutely necessary. Given that parameter, do most folks change powders if their initial power test of various charge weights doesn't produce the desired results or do they try to fine tune seating depth?

I have a micrometer seating die and access to roughly 4 or 5 powders so either option is possible for my scenario. Just wondering if either is more efficient or if it's dealers choice and everyone has their preference.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Hi all,

Full disclosure, I have read/watched a fair bit about reloading, but have only done it a few times with the help of experienced family members. So I have some of the concepts down, but lack experience. Bear with me if this is common knowledge. My question is about how you what variables you adjust first when doing load development. Here is what I mean.

Let's say you have chosen a selected bullet that you want to develop a load around for a new rifle. So you're starting from scratch. You choose a powder, seating depth and do your initial load development. You get groups that are roughly around 1" to 1.25" at a 100 yards. Not bad, not great and you want to do better. Let's assume the SD/ES varied as your powder charge increased but was also in the not bad/not great range. In this situation, which of the following would you do?

1. Try a different powder.
2. Fine tune seating depth
3. Experiment with neck tension
4. Something else completely.

Assumptions: Precision and consistency, not ultra high velocity are the primary goals. Hopefully this question makes sense, if not please let me know what additional info you need. Just generally trying to understand what variables people change first and why.

I'd try adjusting the seating depth before doing anything else. Berger recommends starting .015" off and moving further away in .015" increments. If you locate a good seating depth, then you can further fine tune in smaller increments around the original "good node".

IME, most bullets can be made to shoot in most rifles. It's just a matter of finding the right combo of powder, charge weight and seating depth. That's about all it takes to acquire reasonably good hunting level accuracy in a rifle that is capable of decent accuracy. Shooting "bug holes" is an entirely different animal.

 

[newmexkid]

You listed 4 options to change...I would strongly suggest you only change one at a time.

 

[Longtine88]

Do you have access to 600+ yard range or a short range would be my first question to ask you

 

[waveslayer]

How about this, we will all save you time and money...

What are you shooting? What bullets, brass, primer, rifle, powder, etc...

Most calibers already have a load developed and those we can share. Then you can tweak it to YOUR rifle.

 

[bomberodevil]

I handload pretty much for hunting only (I practice with the hunting recipes), so my benchmark is under .500 moa. Most of my loads are in the .350-475 moa range, and I'm very satisfied with that. Not being a bench competition shooter, I'm not spending hundreds of dollars chasing thousands of inches.

My first selection is a bullet that delivers the terminal performance I'm looking for. I don't take 600-700+ yard shots at game, so super high BC bullets aren't necessary. I'm usually looking at Nosler BT and AB, and Hornady ELDX or SST.

After I've selected a bullet I want, I look for powders that have historically worked well in that cartridge and bullet weight. I can find that with a Google search on about 3-4 web forums, this one being the best.

So I've got my bullet and my powder, and I always use the Federal 210 primers. I also start my depth at .030 off the lands. If I can dial in a recipe with that depth, I'm good. If I can't get below .500 moa at .030 off the lands, then I'll play with the seating depth.

Then I start loading three-round groups at .3 powder charges. One charge will be lower than others, so I'll then do a 5 load of 3 rounds, .1 grain apart.

Using a common stable powder, with bullets and primers commonly used will get you in the ballpark.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

You probably need to change bullet or powder to significantly effect the group size. And even then, you might just be at the mechanical accuracy of the rifle. What is your set up and load recipe?

 

[59FLH]

#1

 

[purpledragon]

You listed 4 options to change...I would strongly suggest you only change one at a time.

Yes to the above.........Loading is just like tuning/trouble shooting a high performance race engine. One thing at a time, if ya do more than one, you don't know which step really works....... And got ya where ya needed to be.

 

[Turpentine21]

Oversimplified I know but if groups over your entire spread are so-so. Try a powder change.
If groups are running consistently enough that you are close to your goal and stats are good. Try varying seating depth. For instance. Im looking for a wide node where point of impact is the same for 3 consecutive charge weights if I'm upping .2 grains. If I find that. I'll get in the center of that node and vary seating depth.
Example 27 gives 1.25 group. 27.3 about same, then 27.5 hits .8, 27.7 hits .65, 27.9 hits .8, 28.1 goes back above 1". I'll go to 27.7 and vary seating depth. Once I find the tightest seating depth I'll run several strings of that particular load to make sure it is consistent group and stat wise.
This certainly isn't the only way and I've given thought to running ladders at 4 to 600 but it works for me..
I went thru 5 different powders and 3 different bullets with my AR 10 and found some decent loads but nothing great. Just on a whim i decided I'd try one more powder before replacing the barrel and "Woop, dare it Wuz".
I'm finding generally the better the quality barrel I buy, the less I spend in load development. Nothing revolutionary to most but I'm slow and it takes me a while.