Picked up my rifle from the smith yesterday.  Brand new Rock Creek barrel, full blueprint, all the fun stuff.

So I need to start working up some loads for it.  I wonder how y'all begin the process.  I have a chamber print and an ogive OAL gauge.

I just went through this with my new 6 X 47 Lapua. After prepping the cases, sizing from 6.5 to 6 mm and trimming the neck to -.002 to the chamber, I seated a bullet where I knew it was long. Chambered the round (no primer or powder of course) Ejected the round and measured how far the bullet set back further in the case. Now keep in mind, I was lucky in the fact that the bullet didn't stick in the riflings and made it easy to check after I ejected the case and bullet. I measured this, and seated a new bullet in a fresh case to +.005 to what the bullet measured, chambered and ejected and saw just a small mark where each one of the riflings touched. I started seating the bullet back in .001 increments until there was no markings from the riflings and recorded that number for that bullet. I repeated this process for each different style and weight of bullet I used. Now for the next few hundred rounds, it's easy to set the bullet wherever I want, mine prefers about a .005 jump from the riflings. Some may say I got too in depth, but I know exactly where each bullet needs to be seated to touch the riflings. You will have to repeat this process as the throat starts to erode on your barrel. Good luck and hope this helps.

Depending on what caliber you have, you could start with published loans. I started running a 6.5x47 a few months ago. I found a loan on the hide, seemed popular, and gave it a shot. It was under listed max so I felt confident with it. After zeroing the scope I shot a 5 shot group at 100 yards. Measured 0.411".

That was also after I found roughly how far my lands sat. I seated three different depths and found the longest jump, 0.015, was the best.

For more in depth reloading questions. You should be reading the FAQ's (first) then post over there>
http://www.ar15.com/forums/f_6/42_Reloading.html

This is perfect, thank you.

 

You are welcome. It was quite a process, but well worth it. 1/4 Moa so far at 500 yards with 105 grain Berger target hybrids over 38.5 RL-17 and a cci 450 primer.