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Posted: 5/31/2008 3:54:49 PM EDT
| I have a question for everyone. I would like to know how close you are able to get and what you think is acceptable for deviation from the established data for a given load. For example, a load of 11.5 grains with a COAL of 1.575. How close would you deem acceptable for charge, 1/10th in either direction, 2/10th... What about COAL, .005 in either direction, .010.... Just trying to get a feel for whether my equipment and technique are adequate |
| The rounds I was loading were .357 for target and plinking, not overly concerned with performance, mainly safety. My Dillon RL 450 had some variation in charge weight while I was loading (checking at intervals) and Lee seating die had some variance as well, I thought it was probably from the bullets. 11.5 grains blue dot with 125 grain FN from rainer. |
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I'm actually more particular about charge weight variations in handgun ammo than I am with rifle stuff. The reason is overall charge weight. A tenth of a grain variance in a 43 grain .308 load isn't much variation, but a tenth of a grain variance on a 10-12 grain charge is, as a percentage, a lot more. It's even more when you get down to 3-4 grain target loads of fast burning pistol powders. Overall length is going to vary due to differences in the ogive of the bullet. I don't care much about .005"-.010" deviation, mostly because the seater touches the same point on each bullet, and theoretically that point should be very, very close to the same between rounds. All in all, it just depends on what I'm loading. |
That's perfectly adequate. If you measure factory ammo, that's where it's at. If you are shooting a benchrest match, you might wanna tighten up those tolerances a bit, but since much of handloading is voodoo, it might not matter. You want to develop a load that shoots accurately despite the variance. |
According to Speer #14, you are using the starting load for a 125 gr bullet with Blue Dot, and the designated OAL. A wise thing to do, as you are using a different bullet. My Hornaday powder measure throws flake powder (Blue Dot) + or _ .02 gr. Never been a problem for me. I mostly use ball powders, out of 20 charges maybe 1 will be + or - .01. The rest will be spot on. Takes some practice. I use Blue Dot in full power 357 mag cast bullet loads, as it is makes a very accurate round. OAL, with a bullet with a cannelure, I adjust the seater die so that the bullet is seated to mid cannelure. If bullet is seated any where in cannelure I am happy. Cases must be trimmed to the same length for this to happen. I seat bullets in one die, and crimp in another. Get a Lee Factory Crimp die to crimp with. Adjust your seater/crimp die to seat only. Trying to seat a bullet and crimp in the same die is very hard to get right. |
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