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What reloading components affect accuracy the most in rifles?

Thanks

358win

Wow-40mins. and no response. "358" I think ya stumped em !

I'd say the question is too broad to elicit a reasonably brief answer.

Withdrawn.

It's a mystery to all of us here. You may want to check out another website.

Steve

Any reloading components can be a freind or foe to YOUR rifle.I have seen more changes with "primers" in MY guns.....

Bullets.

Seating depth(base to ogive)....not a componenet, but overlooked quite often.

In components I think the bullet is the biggest factor, it has to be well constructed with center of mass exactly coinciding with center of form.

The case is perhaps next - the neck should be concentric all around.

In construction of loads, load straight ammo. Load it straight with as little runout as possible and suddenly a lot of different component combinations shoot straight. Cases with an even neck thickness all around contribute to that.

There are other things that do make somehwat of a difference, and I'm sure other folks have megabytes of data on intricate spreadsheets showing .29% higher significance for Factor X, but that's the gist of what I've learned.

One way to think about it is if you start with a lousy bullet, nothing else really matters.

Of course, from everything I've read, nowadays many bullets are more accurate than their equivalents years ago were.

I'm one of the "others�.

If I had to pick one component... it would be the bullet


But I don't believe you can pick one component.

I'm going to go with........

#1 Bullet ... and in particular bullet weight - then bullet type.

#2 Powder ... appropriate powder type and charge weight.

It's pretty tough to find an accurate load without these two things being right - in a given rifle.

Then there's the rest of the list.

Without a doubt the bullet.

For a couple of years I used a Juenke bullet comparator, that uses ultra-sound to test the balance of bullets. Unless a bullet is well-balanced (the center of gravity being as close exactly the same as the center of its diameter) it doesn't have much chance of shooting well.

Now, individual rifles will shoot better with certain bullets. But another lot of the same bullet may not shoot as well--because it isn't quite as well-balanced (or, at any rate, SOME of that lot of bullets aren't as well-balanced).

Second would be brass, where uniform neck thickness is the biggie, followed by consistent weight. Primer pockets and flash-holes can be fixed. If you don't have balanced bullets and decent brass, you can try all sorts of powders and primers and not get much of anywhere.

Third would be powder, with primers last.

Isn't powder used to produce a volume of gas and when that gas meets resistance 'bullet' pressure is produced. pressure will be contained or follow the path of least resistance, that's the bullet travelling down the bore.
SO, does it really matter what 'kind/brand of powder' you use to produce the 'gas' as long as it provides a volume of gas that moves the bullet along with out over pressurizing other components in the system?

Not if all you want to do is shove the bullet out the muzzle. But if you're interested in accuracy, especially over a wide range of temperatures, then the type of powder definitely makes difference. It affects barrel harmonics, muzzle pressure (which can also affect accuracy), fouling, etc.

thanks, I find the bullet, its speed and its length compared to rate of twist has a big influence on accuracy as you have stated

THanks. I was thinking along the same lines that bullet and brass would be most important.

358win

After reading this thread, I happened to be re-reading an interesting article with a ton of data in it on the .250 Savage, obtained over several years, evidently, in a Ruger 77R with a 22", 1:10" twist factory barrel. The rifle was bought new in 1974.

The article is ".250 Savage, Newton's Original .25", by Steve Gash, and appeared in Handloader #246, April, 2007. The rifle was basically factory stock, with a same-vintage Weaver K-4 scope. This is a basic deer hunting rifle that Steve bought for his wife. This rifle wasn't modified or improved, as we loonies like to do, and it is not a tack-driver.

Tested with Winchester 100 gr Silvertips with a claimed velocity of 2820 fps, the rifle produced 2542 fps and a five-shot 100 yd group of 1.9". (More evidence that everyone should have a chronograph).

All Steve's handloads were tested at 100 yds with a minimum of three 5-shot groups. He tested 18 different bullets from 75 gr to 120 gr., and 20 powders for a total of 77 different combinations. Over 1,155 rounds, fired into over 231 groups. Now that is a lot of data. Here is what he found:

The average group size of 231 groups: 1.64". The group avg. sizes ran from .70" to just over 2.5". Since I am a fan of the .250 Sav I noted that the overall winner was the 100 gr Barnes TSX, H-414 37.5 gr, at 2835 fps.

Now to the question that the OP asked, what component is most important, accuracy-wise?

Eleven of the 77 combinations produced group averages of 1" or less. This could have been one bullet with eleven powders, or vice-versa, but it wasn't. Not even close. First, let's eliminate two other variables, the cases and primers. Steve used mostly Win. brass, but also Remington, and got small groups with both brands. He used 3 different primers, and again got small groups with all three. That leaves the bullets and the powder.

Six different bullets fired small groups, but the eleven best loads used eight different powders. Only 3 of the powders produced small groups with two different bullets. And only three of the bullets produced small groups with more than one powder. You might want to read this paragraph again.

The best powder with bullets of 100 gr and over, by a small margin, was H-414, but with two of the bullets tried it was the worst powder giving 2.5" groups.

If I can draw any conclusion from all this, it is that each rifle is a unique individual. And it appears that each bullet/powder combination can be a bit unique, too. A great load in your gun may be a real dud in mine. Or not.

There are many factors that must affect how well a particular factory gun will shoot. Testing several bullet/powder combinations will usually turn up a "pet load" that works pretty well in that rifle. That has been my experience.

If you really want to use a particular bullet, try lots of different powders. If you realy want or need to use a particular powder, try lots of different bullets. I have had several very average rifles that became excellent shooters once I finally found just the right load for them. Have fun.

Does Steve mention in the article if he tested all those loads for bullet run-out? If he didn't, the data isn't worth anything.

No he did not.

So, while trying different bullets, make sure to keep a close eye on bullet run-out, I guess.

Load straightly, so you may shoot straightly.