Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters "Most Accurate Load" - Really???

I've been ruminating on this question for some time now - and the more I think about it, and the more people I ask about it - the more confused I get. The question? How reliable is it to believe a re-loading manual's "most accurate load" data?

Here's the thing. It's always been my understanding that when you pull the trigger you unleash a torrent of powerful forces. Differing makes and models of rifles all have differing "lock times" - the time between you pulling the trigger, and the firing pin striking the cartridge. These many makes and models of rifles all have differing vibratory patterns when 40 to 60 thousand pounds of gaseous pressure tries to force a bullet down a barrel - think of it as a a plucked guitar string and you get a pretty good idea of what happens. Some guns use upward stock tip pressure on the barrel to dampen the vibrations, some use partial free floating, and some rifles use fully free floated barrels. Differing rifle manufacturers also all use differing taper profiles for their barrels, and most use barrels that vary in length between brands. Yet still, the majority of re-loading manuals I have list what they call either "most accurate powders", most accurate loads or "preferred loads" - not a one of which in my lifetime has ever been the most accurate in my own guns. Am I unique in this observation? With all of the variables between differing rifles of the same make, not to mention all of the variables between differing makes of rifles - how can a load be "inherantly" more accurate than another? Doesn't it really mean that said load was only really more accurate in the one rifle in which they tested it? How can it possibly apply to all the differing lock times, barrel diameters, barrel lengths, differing bedding techniques and action types? It makes absolutely no sense to me - can anyone help me out on thinking this one through? I'd like to understand it in actual terms - as well as theoretical terms so I can actually "get it". So far, with my own friends - no one has beenable to answer this question in a way that even slightly makes sense to me. So...I turn it over to the centuries of collective wisdom on this list, and politely will await your responses. Thank you.

When I met my friend Ed Matunas about thirty years ago, one of the first things I said to him was "I've got a bone to pick with you!"

I'd found that the .458 Winchester Magnum load that he'd listed as "most accurate" with my 500-grain cast gas-check bullet in the Lyman manual key-holed and wasn't accurate from my rifle at all.

Ed laughed and said that he'd listed that load as the "most accurate" because it was the only one that had hit the paper.

Brian,
You seem to be really getting your panties in a wad over nothing. All the "Most Accurate Load" means is that it was the most accurate in THEIR test rifle. It's really no different thatn you offering someone load advice based on your experience with YOUR rifles.

One of the books that listed a "recommended load" or some such thing, did so based on their findings of the lowest velocity SD.

I am confident that most experienced handloaders know that their results will vary somewhat from those found by professional labs just as they will from other handloaders.

I see no problem at all with a lab passing along loads that they had good luck with. I do the same thing for fellow loaders, and have had the favor returned to me several times. I was told a long time ago, that I should expect good results in the 270 from a 130gr bullet over a stiff charge of H4831. Guess what, the load manuals, writers, and fellow loaders who gave that advice were right on.

What CAS said BC. The manuals are based on one rifle or pressure barrel. It is going to be different in yours. Now like the 270/130/4831 that has been tried in a lot of rifles by a lot of people and it does good for most all of them. It isn't the best in mine but it will do good.

Look at the most accurate load listed in the manual as a start point and try it. You may be happy with it but the chances are equally as good there is a better one for your particular rifle.

BCR

The ultimate "most accurate load" � i e, the load that's the most likely to be accurate in the most rifles � is the factory load.

Think about it.

If you have to ask this question ,you have a lot to learn about reloading.With all of the variables in barrels,chambers and components it is not reasonable at all to belive that one load will be the most accurate in all rifles chambered for that cartridge.The same can be said for trusting the velocities printed in reloading manuals.

Dang, fellas! Ease up on ol' Brian. Whatever happened to "the only dumb question is the question gone unasked?"

I think if you'll read between the lines a bit, you'll see his real question was: Why the heck do they publish "most accurate" loads when they know that such is conceptually impossible for all the reasons Brian listed and horse-hockey, in general?

The answer lies in the key words "recommended" and "tested."

RSY

Just a WAG - but I'd bet that the manuals list a "most accurate load" in part because the customer service people got really tired of answering the thousands of phone calls from Joe Shooter asking, "hey, what's the most accurate load for my huntin' rifle?"

So now instead of reciting all of the esoterica regarding the many variables inherent in working up a "most accurate load" they can merely respond "RTFM, Joe!"

Thanks RSI
I was trying to illustrate, what seemed to me to be a rather meaningless endeavor - on the part of the reloading manual writers. If it's as wrong as I've found in my own life (more than 30 years) reloading...I just coudn't imagine it was beneficial to others - hence, quite useless information. I just wanted to compare the experience of others with my own before I made a habit of telling others to just ignore it. You never know, unless you ask, whether your own experiences in this game are the norm, or the exception. That's what I was hoping to find out. Thanks.

Several of you miss the point entirely. "The most accurate load" listed is the load that the test shooters deemed the most accurate of the loads that they tested in the test rifle and is presented as such because presumably the odds are better than even that it'll also be accurate in other rifles as well.

The first thing about loading manuals to get straight in your gourd soup is that the data therein are descriptive, not prescriptive. They describe results of certain test firings. They do not prescribe loads for any other rifle. Any load data in any manual merely report test results � they do not predict or pretend to predict performance.

The whole over-all point is simply "These data are the results that we got � your mileage may vary, but the odds are good that you'll get similar but not identical results."

Also, the compilers of the manual data have to list loads with all or at least several of the powders that their customers are likely to try, including many powders that aren't optimum for that bullet in that cartridge. "The most accurate load" indicates which powder seemed to be the probably best choice among all those that they tried.

Ken, if you happen to speak to Mr. Matunas, give him my thanks for all he taught me. His "Metallic Cartridge Reloading" was my first, and is still my favorite, reloading manual. I had large parts of it memorized before I reloaded my first round.
Maybe his writing style just happens to line up with how my brain works, but when he explains something the light bulb comes on and I think "oh yeah, that's got to be right"
I don't know how he compares with others in technical skills, but he's a great communicator.

I hear a lot of bad-mouthing aimed at Ed by readers, all of which proves that none of those mud-slingers has ever met Ed. He's not only one of the most knowledgeable and experienced writers among us but also one of the most likeable. When I met him, he was a big shot at Winchester. Then he went to Activ for a lot more money, only to have Activ dissolve under his feet. I needed a shotgun writer for Handloader magazine at the time and asked him to give it a shot as a member of my staff. I'll never forget his surprise and comment when I suggested that he also send me articles on rifles and handguns. "Oh, that opens-up whole new worlds!" How right he was about that!