Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How many reloads before you settle on a load?

When you are rifle shooting as a recreation, you are always reaffirming your load of choice. That way you learn what is you and what is your rifle throughout the good and bad days.

Also, some cartridges have generic or loads that across a variety of rifles tend to deliver similar and decent performance.

When starting with a new rifle or bullet, obviously, a good group is a place to start. Reshooting confirms fluke or good fortune.

Don't lose sight, that a .308 that shoots as accurately as a .30/30, still makes a decent deer and elk rifle.

A lot of good info above, I tend to stay away from the high pressure speedy loads myself as long as I can achieve desired results. Once I get a bullet powder combo that works I fine-tune the accuracy by adjusting the Ojive. I learned a lot of great tips from watching videos by Eric Cortina on YouTube.

It just comes down to how many primers, powder, bullets, and fuel you want to burn reinventing the wheel finding a load. Those are better used actually shooting than load development.

Find your lands, find pressure quickly, and move on with your life. Good bullets and known loads really help.

I went over book max once and my stupidity bit me in the ass, so never again.

I live out of town a ways so I can test velocity whenever I want. I consult different sources then work up to pressure signs, usually ejector marks in the brass, then back off. I chronograph while I’m looking for pressure to check velocity against my sources.

Then I use the Berger method to find accuracy.

https://bergerbullets.com/getting-the-best-precision-and-accuracy-from-vld-bullets-in-your-rifle/

This format works well for me and those I load for.





Not gospel by any means but I ain’t the only one doing it.






P

I guess it all depends on rhe rifle. I picked up a neat Mauser 98 custom chambered to the .35 Whelen. Not too bad with Remington factory ammo but nothing spectacular. I got lucky and drew tags for the wife and I for the Kaibab Nat'l. forest one year and they asked hunters to go copper. The state even provided free bullets for each rifle so ended up with 100 225 gr. Barnes TSX to try. First time out working with RL15 and at the max, .50" and 2710 FPS. Easiest load work up I've ever done.

When I started playing with a 7x57, I was reading on another site where a gentleman was getting som fabulous velocities from his M70 FWT. I contacted him and asked what he was using and when I worked up to the same level of speed with tight groups, called it good. Three trips to the range IIRC. and done.

My Ruger M77 RSI tanger was a complete cluster "F" from the start. Guy I bought it from said he could not get it to shoot. Came with scope, brass, bullets and dies. $200. Long story short, it took a little over two years to find a reasonably consistent hunting load. 1.5" at 100. Later I did a bit of tinkering with that metal nose cap and now it does about 1.25" about half the time and no more than the 1.5" from before. That little rifle has accounted for a hell of a lot of deer once I found a load that worked. I figure it was worth the effort.
PJ

Which book? They are all different.

Some so different that the Start load in one manual is more than the Max load in another.

Same Cartridge, same Case, same Primer, same Bullet.

Ramshot TAC, using Ramshot data. 75 gr ELDM, .223 Rem.

And kind of waaay over.

Like, head up my ąss over.





P

It doesn't take long at all. Especially with a rifle that is properly glass bedded, and mechanically sound. I can generally find a good load in one range trip. By good, I mean 5 shots into moa or less. YMMV from the sounds of it.

I just about allways look at the top 2 or 3 powders producing the highest velocity and start down a couple grains work up. The results justify this approach for me. Mb

I do that as well, and also if the book lists load density, I shoot for the most dense load. Sometimes I'll chose a powder that gets more velocity with less grains as well. I also know how certain powders work, from experience, and I'll chose a powder that tends to shoot more accurately, or maybe one that is less temp sensitive. Or with some cases, I want a powder that meters very well, so I can just drop it in the case and be done. No trickling, just keep it simple. There's a little bit involved, in choosing the right powder. IMHO..

I used the Sierra manual... picked their "Best" two loads (hunting and accuracy) and started there.

Worked out well about 80% of the time.

But every rifle sings a different tune... so good luck.

Me and two other guys bought 105,000 rounds of rejected AMERC 5.56/223.

The brass was fubar beyond belief as 5.56/223.

Ammo was DIRT CHEAP.

Harvested the powder and very very carefully worked up .308 loads with 150s.

In the end... it worked out just fine.



My .308s typically hate 150s...

Rokslide painless load thread

This should ruffle some feathers

Welcome to my world. I never seem to find that load. But, I like reloading and I like the shooting. The search continues.

kwg

Not to me it doesn't. To me it illustrates a common theme of inconsistent reloads. Once I figured out some tricks to make consistent ammo using what I have, RCBS and Lee dies mostly, not mandrels or bushings, my what the heck was that moments pretty much disappeared.

I don't trust a single 3 shot group as absolute gospel, but generally a very tight group is close on subsequent tests. Sometimes it's a rifle that is causing inconsistency, but barring that my ability to quickly find a good load and repeat it, went WAY up when I figured out some tricks to make repeatable, very consistent ammo.

That can work. Its worked for me. But the audette is what you do to follow it up when it fails. Its scientific. Works well. Requires very few rounds.

WTF is a slipped turret? This slang crap is just another sign of the times.

And if my custom tube doesn't shoot with one bullet and load, I'm not giving up... sounds like a partial dumbass.

That said if he is having barrels replaced and a competition shooter one would EXPECT the same loads to work time and again for the most part with a bit of verification.

Wonder what he does when accuracy falls off as the barrel ages? Toss it? Or check MV and up to load to match after firing a few fire lapping rounds and bingo back to normal again for some amount of rounds.

Some calibers have a magic node like 30/06 with 165s and 55-56 gr of 4350 or 270 with 130s with 4831

Slipped turret = zeroing out the turret once poa is poi.....exactly what it sounds like.

If the "accuracy falls off as the barrel ages"....I think it's time for a new barrel.

The inherent issues with shooting these "audette" things is unless you are shooting 10 or more rounds per increment, it's statistically irrelevant. The results are random.

Read this- then realize that trying to shoot teeny-tiny groups when the wind is blowing is a waste of time and components.
https://precisionrifleblog.com/2013...house-lessons-in-extreme-rifle-accuracy/

I have changed my philosophy over the years. When I got started I was always chasing the prefect load. I went through a lot of components seeking the elusive .01 inch improvement. Today I decide what accuracy and velocity I will settle for and start working toward it. I usually check a couple of manuals and also Mule Deer's loads that work. Using that as a guide, I start about .05% low and work up using 4 shot groups until I see pressure or reach the max load. Then I pick the most accurate charge and tinker with depth. If the load meets my desired goal, I am done.