Armory Sponsor
Posted: 4/22/2013 7:19:06 PM EDT
| What, if any, is the general rule about load development; should you first find the best seating depth with a certain starting or safe load then start playing with different charge weights, or should you first find a good charge at some predetermined seating depth then change the seating? Any details about proper procedure are appreciated. Right now my process is chaos of trial and error. |
|
Quoted:
For semi-auto pistol it's best to find an oal and crimp diameter that feeds well in your pistol, then work charge weights starting within published low charge range. OAL is recommend, not written in stone. dc. Yes For rifle, I find the best bullet powder combo first and then fine tune the load by adjusting OAL. IMHO, bullet selection and powder selection/charge play a much larger role in the accuracy game then does OAL. YMMV |
|
Quoted:
Yes For rifle, I find the best bullet powder combo first and then fine tune the load by adjusting OAL. IMHO, bullet selection and powder selection/charge play a much larger role in the accuracy game then does OAL. YMMV +1 The only bullets I have played with that were overly sensitive to seating depth were Nosler Etips, Bergers and Scirrocos with Etips being the worst. |
|
You have to have a plan going in. Different types of uses dictates different types of loading.
You really need to narrow your focus. Is this for a rifle or pistol. If it's a rifle. Will the magazine be a limiting factor for the cartridge overall length? What is the intended use? General shooting, competitive shooting, hunting etc. |
|
This is a general questing regarding rifle reloads, but I appreciate the comment regarding pistols as well. Pistols aren't too picky or made for the longer ranges of rifle shots, so I'm not as concerned with perfect accuracy as long as it's decent.
Would mag length make a difference? Even if mag length is a limiting factor, your load may shoot better seated deeper even if the bullet can be seated to max OAL. I would think the same original question still applies when there are mag limitations, but help me out if I'm missing something. Some cases I am reloading for AR, but I can easily have a cusom reamer made to accomodate any issues you are implying, so I'm assuming, at the moment, the magazine length is not a limiting factor. Rifle loads are my concern; when the shots get to be past 250 yards and I'm trying to compete in limited class (when there's a scope, who cares if your shot is 3MOA off when you're pointed dead center of an 8" target at 200 yds; but when you're using irons and your aim may be a little off-center, your bullet/load better not take it even farther off...). I wouldn't be concerned with loading techniques if I was looking for plinking ammo. 
|
|
Quoted: Quoted: For semi-auto pistol it's best to find an oal and crimp diameter that feeds well in your pistol, then work charge weights starting within published low charge range. OAL is recommend, not written in stone. dc. Yes For rifle, I find the best bullet powder combo first and then fine tune the load by adjusting OAL. IMHO, bullet selection and powder selection/charge play a much larger role in the accuracy game then does OAL. YMMV I couldn't get the Hornady 178 BTHP to group at all in my AAC-SD .308 using numerous different charge weights of two different powders. Once I started testing loads in terms of distance from the lands, they started grouping with both powders at different charge weights.
|
|
By "Limiting factor" they mean Max length will be limited to fitting into the Mag. You are free to go as short as you wish, going longer than Mag length will require loading single shot. You can do that too if you desire.
Scroll down to "From the Lab". You will see that Barnes found more than one OAL sweet spot, one long and up close to the lands and another quite short. http://www.barnesbullets.com/resources/newsletters/september-2007-barnes-bullet-n/ |
|
Quoted:
This is a general questing regarding rifle reloads, but I appreciate the comment regarding pistols as well. Pistols aren't too picky or made for the longer ranges of rifle shots, so I'm not as concerned with perfect accuracy as long as it's decent. Would mag length make a difference? Even if mag length is a limiting factor, your load may shoot better seated deeper even if the bullet can be seated to max OAL. I would think the same original question still applies when there are mag limitations, but help me out if I'm missing something. Some cases I am reloading for AR, but I can easily have a cusom reamer made to accomodate any issues you are implying, so I'm assuming, at the moment, the magazine length is not a limiting factor. Rifle loads are my concern; when the shots get to be past 250 yards and I'm trying to compete in limited class (when there's a scope, who cares if your shot is 3MOA off when you're pointed dead center of an 8" target at 200 yds; but when you're using irons and your aim may be a little off-center, your bullet/load better not take it even farther off...). I wouldn't be concerned with loading techniques if I was looking for plinking ammo. Usually the formula for best accuracy is as little bullet jump as possible. When I competed in Highpower Rifle Silloutte, which is a single shot sport, I loaded my bullets to "contact length" -.010/+.000 to the lands when loaded. I believe some "bench rest" shooters purposely load with less than normal neck tension and actually finish seating the bullet when the round is chambered. Seating to the lands has some potential draw backs though. One of which is in the event that you must unload your chambered round you very well may leave the bullet stuck in the lands when you do. For this reason most of us go with the "just off the lands" setting. Hope this helps. |
Armory Sponsor