Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Who has handloads with .5 grain charge increment?

In other words, instead of rounding up or down to the next charge level, why did you go with 1/2 grain (45.5 vs.45.0 for example). Was it a pressure thing? Can't imagine accuracy would be a factor, and + or - a few fps would not amount to anything.

With 308 size cases and up I use 0.5gr increments. On smaller cases I use 0.2-0.3 gr changes. With cases such as the Hornet, I have gone as low as 0.1gr changes. I usually will try small changes on either side of a good load. I have seen changes in group size in 30/06 with 0.3gr changes.Rick.

All of the above. Unless you're using very large cases I think 1 grain increments are a little too big if you're trying to find optimum accuracy. Half grain increments allow quite a bite more fine tuning. In small cases a lot of people work up .2-.3 grain increments.

You would be surprised what a .5 grain or less increment can do for accuracy.

I generally always begin testing with .5gr increments, but once I see a good load I'll bounce around on both sides of it with smaller increments until I'm satisfied.

My rifle loads are in .5 grain increments. I had never really thought about why they are, I just settled on that at some point. My pistol (using Terry's definition) loads are in .1 increments.

+1 I might jump a grain at the lower end to the middle, but no more than a 1/2 at a time when working with new loads from a mid range to max. To many different guides with to much conflicting information. Just today we were starting a load work up with H-4350 in a 300WSM and we found Max charges from 65 to 67.5 depending on where we looked. I never try a new load without a chrony and the speeds max loads are suppose to give you on my load sheets. When I reach that speed I start looking closely for pressure signs. I've hit those speeds well below max with some loads.

A half grain increment is an easy to comprehend measurement. It's just human nature. Everything ends in 0 or 5.

When working up loads I try and vary the charge weight around 2% of the max for the powder I am working with, to the nearest even grain. Once I find a couple good charge weights I will do smaller charges on either side of the good one to see which will do the best.

Going up with .5 grains of powder from min to max is a waist of my time and components. Sometimes going up in 1 grain increments is a waist. Lets be honest If 50grains of X powder and 51 grains of X powder will not shoot out of a rifle then 50.5 will be right there with it.

Yeah, that's what I was focusing on. The other replies made sense to. I did not take into account case capacity.

I have about 30% of my loads for many different rifles and calibers that are at the .5 gr.

One favorite Whelen load is 57.6gr IMR4064 with a 200gr Hornady SP.

WN

For me it depends on capacity and where I am in the development process.

For example, I just got started with RL15 and 120 grain Ballistic Tips in a new 7mm08. This is my first go-round with this combination.

Looking around I found maximums from different sources from 44 to 45.5 grains. So I made test sets at one grain intervals starting at 40 and topping out at 44. I was looking for pressure indications and roughly locating accuracy nodes.

The group for 41 grains suggests a good accuracy node there or quite nearby, but the load was very mild as indicated by rounded primers and a little soot down the neck and half the shoulder. The next groups above that charge level were not as good, but at 44 grains things were tightening back up.

The 44 grain charge was beginning to flatten the primers a little, and the soot was gone, but max is still up a bit. So now I'll cut down to 0.3 grain increments and run 44.3, 44.6, 44.9, 45.2 and 45.5 to find max and get a good location on the sweet zone. I say zone rather than spot since I don't care for sensitive loads and I like to throw charges straight from a powder measure.

When I have the zone located I'll set the powder measure for the middle and mass produce for practice and the hunting season.

math, have you tried Varget? I load 45.0 grains with the 120 NBT, and it is sooo sweet accuracy wise and deer killing wise.

I did try Varget, but I was getting pressure at charges well down from 45 grains. And this is with a known lot of Varget that is well behaved in 223, 308 and 250 Savage.

I may revisit it though because it appears the factory barrel is starting to smooth up and act right after 100 rounds and a couple of JB cleanings.

This may be the barrel that gets me to try UBC. Even so, it's nowhere near as bad as a Savage barrel I tangled with a while back.

Amen.
Same here.

Pretty much the same here as well.

How rounds are you firing at each charge weight?

Well, here's my reason for some loads being XX.5gr -

I mainly shoot in 75-95F temps (6 months+ of the year here in Houston). So when I am testing and see 2-3 loads that have the same POI (assuming similar accuracy). For example, let's say 58.5, 59.0, 59.5, 60.0, 60.5, 61.0 - and the 59.5-60.5 loads have good accuracy and similar POI, but the 58.5, 59.0, and 61.0 were also good accuracy but lower POI, I use the one at the top end of the accuracy/POI range I like - in this case 60.5gr. That way, when the temp's are lower (hunting mainly), and my load loses a little velocity, my thought is that I should still have pretty much the same POI. I do test this in colder weather, and, with powders that are "temp insensitive" this holds true for the most part since the velocity loss is small (similar to 0.5-1.0gr of powder difference in the hot temp's).

That make any sense?

He he. Yep, clear as mud.

I go a grain at a time until I get close to max then I drop to the .5 grain charge when I am looking for an absolute max loading,which is seldom these days..

However in many cases your best accuracy comes with max loadings..Keep a watchfull eye for cratering, ejector marks, sticky bolts, flashed primers, any of these things can be a sign of high pressure and should be used in coordination with a chronograph.

I do like Ray � only go to � grain increments when you get near what you figure is going to be max.

And I have seen some loads where � grain either way does make a definite difference in grouping. But after finding a load powder charges are thrown so that carefully determined, exact 59.5 grains of H4350 in the �06 may actually be more like 59.3 to 59.7 grains within any particular box of 50 rounds. And for some reason, even with those sloppy tolerances I never seem to have trouble actually hitting stuff. At least nothing I could blame on a +- .2 grain variation in powder charge.