Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Reloading resources and overthinking things- jbm ballistics

Moved this from General forum- political stuff overflowing so thought I would put it here because I think it has some useful stuff.

JB Resources - if you haven't visited, you owe it to yourself

I know many have heard or used the valuable JBM resources - an incredible collection of calculators, charts and lists for reloaders. Thought I would l write a post to
A) share that link and
B) muse if others behave so ...overthinking-ly when it comes to reloading.

I have been round and round on rate of twist of my 260 Rem - agonizing on bullets, examining results, trying new powders when what I had was already working perfectly .

Greatest, most consistent , on game, performance I ever got was from the 140 Gamekings at modest velocity out of the 1-10" twist in my 260.

I can hear the collective gasp.... 1-10? Impossible. They will fly sideways.....then of course- Sierra Gameking ? You gotta be kidding me.....

As a result of said gasp I stopped believing my tight groups and dropped critters and went to other bullets that although they worked, seem to have a hard time exiting decent bucks or big hogs.
Couple that with the 'brilliant' idea that consolidating all cartridges I load for into a single powder would add a measure of safety from the bench has for some time now left me longing to get back to where I was.
Anyone else do this?

Just for grins today I went to the JBM stability Calculator page ( one of many tools they have for use) and plugged in the formula for the 140 Sierra- the site will even list the length of most bullets you might use. Handy enough in itself!

Plug in bullet weight, length of bullet, take a wild guess at ambient Temp and Pressure, stab at velocity and see if your results come back in red, green or yellow. Surprise! My slow load for that 140 Sierra in my 1-10 came back GREEN.

I did use the 120 Prohunter on a 400 yard head shot on a hog- my best ever- but at my new lease a 400 yard shot ain't ever happening. Loading for environment again using what has worked for me over what I read "should" work.

Flame on.

Anyway- hope some who haven't accessed the great resources give it a try and get something from it.

I overthink a lot of my handloading but that's because what I like to shoot is old cartridges in old rifles for which there has never been any data published. For the cartridge you're shooting...that shouldn't take much effort as data is everywhere. In my case, I don't want to blow up an expensive rifle, or me!!!!

As far as JB Resources...I was blissfully ignorant of the site. Wow!! So many "calculator's" that I was still doing by hand. I'm glad I opened this thread and thank you for posting the link. I have bookmarked it. I didn't see a calculator for pressure of a load. Do you know if they have one or a source for one? I should probably just buy Quickloads.

Thanks! I've reloaded for over 15 years and didn't have a clue about this site.

Thanks guys- this post was completely ignored on the campfire thread so I copied it here. Too wordy probably.

I others find it useful too. Funny how having some other source tell me my lying eyes...aren't....should not matter but DOES make me feel better.

Sharps- in all honesty I have just explored the tip of the iceberg on that site so can't say yet if they have pressure charts etc... I hope you both will share any other info that gets you excited.