First shot at reloading

[brownchristian]

Just picked up a rebarreled rifle in 7-08 and started load development. 140 gr accubond and Blc-2 powder.

Started at 40 grains and went up in 1/2 grain increments to 42.5.

This was 41.5 grains. Measured 0.624 MOA. I think that should work just fine.

[bear]

Better than me and I have been doing it a few years now. Good work

[Bowyer]

That was too easy! Try it again with a different bullet and powder. [emoji18]
Nice shooting.

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[wsteffen]

Nice. Took me a lot longer. I like BLC2 though.

[Outbreaker]

I got turned onto BLC2 and CFE223 during the great Varget famine. I have not gone back to varget.

[Horitexan]

That's a great group! It isn't usually quite that easy. What sort of velocity ES/SD are you getting? If it were me, I'd play with you're seating depth a little to see if you can close it up even more. That's the fun of reloading. Chase the lands a little in small increments and see if it doesn't close up a little. If it were me, I'd try a couple groups at +.2gr and -.2gr first, though. It doesn't take much to alter a group significantly.

If I go up or down .2gr on a couple rifles it'll open my group as much as .25". A little refinement of powder charge followed by some seating depth experimentation has one of my factory rifles shooting a consistent .3 and another shooting .4 - but I'm not finished with the last one.


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[Drycreek3189]

I got that lucky....once ! Great group, now go hunting !

[brownchristian]

That's a great group! It isn't usually quite that easy. What sort of velocity ES/SD are you getting? If it were me, I'd play with you're seating depth a little to see if you can close it up even more. That's the fun of reloading. Chase the lands a little in small increments and see if it doesn't close up a little. If it were me, I'd try a couple groups at +.2gr and -.2gr first, though. It doesn't take much to alter a group significantly.

If I go up or down .2gr on a couple rifles it'll open my group as much as .25". A little refinement of powder charge followed by some seating depth experimentation has one of my factory rifles shooting a consistent .3 and another shooting .4 - but I'm not finished with the last one.


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Regarding seating depth I have learned a bunch today. The shots above where slightly longer then the book but we didn't think it mattered. But when we loaded another test round we made sure the OAL was correct and now the accuracy was not near as good. So tomorrow the plan is to try and extend the length until we find the sweet spot.

[Horitexan]

First shot at reloading

Regarding seating depth I have learned a bunch today. The shots above where slightly longer then the book but we didn't think it mattered. But when we loaded another test round we made sure the OAL was correct and now the accuracy was not near as good. So tomorrow the plan is to try and extend the length until we find the sweet spot.

That's not surprising. Forget the "book" OAL. Go back to the length you were using for those groups. Then, in gentle increments, seat bullet longer to see if your groups improve; and keep an eye out for pressure signs. If going longer doesn't improve things, try shortening your length slightly. One way or another, you SHOULD see some improvement. Unless you just happened to get so lucky that you stumbled into the perfect combination by accident.

Do you have a Hornady OAL guage and modified case in your caliber; and a Comparator set to measure with? If you don't have one, I can't recommend one strongly enough! It's absolutely indispensable IMO. They are not crazy expensive but worth their weight in gold! I don't even look at a manual for length - I base my starting length off the particular rifle and what it takes for the bullet I'm working with to contact the lands at the ogive of the bullet - BTOL. Then, I back off .010-.015. The only time I use COAL is to check whether a loaded round I've come up with will fit in a magazine, if it's magazine fed.

Here are some terrific articles regarding base to ogive measuring - why it's so important and superior to COAL.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2013/05/berger-article-on-cartridge-overall-length-and-base-to-ogive/

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2014/10/berger-article-on-coal-and-cartridge-base-to-ogive-part-2/

Here's a video showing how to get the measurement (essentially) that I'm talking about without the right tools. I don't recommend it but if you just can't afford the correct tools, it'll work. However, I would start with a length of .020 (or more) from the length (in this method you WILL be going by COAL) you get. In other words, 'jump' your bullet by .020 or more to start with. The reason being: this method will likely give you more of a "jam" length than just contacting the lands. To make sure that you're jumping the bullet at least a bit, during charge weight experimentation, you'll want to shorten your length a little extra. Again, I recommend using the Hornady OAL gauge with a modified case and measuring it with a Sinclair comparator body and caliber specific comparator insert. But this WILL work in a pinch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE_Cn22qJ3c&sns=em

IMO, seating depth is actually more important than charge weight. If you don't have it, I highly recommend Mic McPherson's book Metallic Cartridge Handloading - http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/...mic-mcpherson/ This book will teach you more about reloading than any source I know of. I think it belongs on every handloader's bench, whether they're learning or loading for benchrest competition.

Hope this helps a little.

Nick



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[bboswell]

That's a great group! It isn't usually quite that easy. What sort of velocity ES/SD are you getting? If it were me, I'd play with you're seating depth a little to see if you can close it up even more. That's the fun of reloading. Chase the lands a little in small increments and see if it doesn't close up a little. If it were me, I'd try a couple groups at +.2gr and -.2gr first, though. It doesn't take much to alter a group significantly.

If I go up or down .2gr on a couple rifles it'll open my group as much as .25". A little refinement of powder charge followed by some seating depth experimentation has one of my factory rifles shooting a consistent .3 and another shooting .4 - but I'm not finished with the last one.


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X2