30BR load development help *updated*

[Kevin1990]

Not bad shooting. I would encourage to shoot groups at 200 as suggested then play with seating depth after. Then you can really dial in the potential. Those all look like decent groups with your limitations. A good upgrade for your rest would be one of Butch's tops.

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That's on the list along with a better scope! The bald eagle is fine for what I paid I guess, but making fine adjustments is really hard. It tends to go a little left or right when I need to make an adjustment up or down.

 

[Bob in WI]

30,000 is 30 thousand
.03 is 30 thousandths of an inch.
.003 is 3 thousandths of an inch.

 

[Kevin1990]

.030 is 30,000. ~ .003 is 3,000

Jamming .030 can be done but setting a shoulder back 0.020 could be a problem.

I’d double check that just to be safe.

Yeah, don't bother double checking your math. Im not what you would call mathematically inclined. I need to go back to fourth grade.

Edit. Jamming .030 setting shoulder back .002. haha

 

[Lone Hunter]

Maybe this will help.. Nice Shooting by the way.. Considering a 30 BR too…

 

[Kevin1990]

@Lone Hunter haha thank you! Ive been an AR and factory rifle guy with a 6br mixed in for the past decade. I only had 2 groups over 1/4in today. Ive never come close to that with any other gun ive reloaded for, and I cant even do math.

 

[jimmymac]

You should consider doing a simultaneous seating and powder charge test. The gun is shooting good but you never know. This is the easiest method I have used to get to good load.

Doing the above at 100 yards will almost get you home.

 

[AlNyhus]

Table manners matter more than a little. Staying down on the gun and smooth follow through during recoil has cured the wiggle waggle group shape (horizontal and vertical) in many guns.

You're doing well, Kevin.

 

[Bob in WI]

Yeah, don't bother double checking your math. Im not what you would call mathematically inclined. I need to go back to fourth grade.

Edit. Jamming .030 setting shoulder back .002. haha

Even as a machinist the math is challenging some days!!

 

[Kevin1990]

Table manners matter more than a little. Staying down on the gun and smooth follow through during recoil has cured the wiggle waggle group shape (horizontal and vertical) in many guns.

You're doing well, Kevin.

Thanks Al!

 

[Kevin1990]

Little update.

@JFrank I bumped the shoulder back a little more. From .002 to .003 and that fixed the problem. I shot about 30 rounds and it MAYBE felt a little heavy on 1 or 2 shots. Nothing like before though! Thank you!



I also took everyone's advice and went to 200 yards.
My reticle almost covers the entire 1 inch circle at that distance so I felt it was futile to even try, but I did it anyway and was fairly surprised.

This is about what it looks like through my scope at 200 yards for me at 24x


Also took @Dimner advice and made some straight lines.

So here's the results. Went back to the range with 34.5 and 34.7 and did my 100 yard test again. Then took it to 200. I definitely messed a shot up, and pulled it or something in one of them.

So I think I'll go with 34.7 and start playing with seating depth and neck tension. I'm not going back out until I have a better scope though.

Had some vertical on first group at 34.7 I'm attributing that to my gun handling skills.


200 yards with two charge weights. Pulled a shot or messed something up on one group 34.7



Side note to @AlNyhus On a previous post of mine I said that my die or bushing was causing runout. I shot some groups today with that brass that had .004-.006 run out and with my ability, I could not tell the difference, so I guess I don't need to worry about that too much. Or to the extent I am.

 

[Bill Norris]

Little update.

@JFrank I bumped the shoulder back a little more. From .002 to .003 and that fixed the problem. I shot about 30 rounds and it MAYBE felt a little heavy on 1 or 2 shots. Nothing like before though! Thank you!



I also took everyone's advice and went to 200 yards.
My reticle almost covers the entire 1 inch circle at that distance so I felt it was futile to even try, but I did it anyway and was fairly surprised.

This is about what it looks like through my scope at 200 yards for me at 24x
View attachment 1589694

Also took @Dimner advice and made some straight lines.

So here's the results. Went back to the range with 34.5 and 34.7 and did my 100 yard test again. Then took it to 200. I definitely messed a shot up, and pulled it or something in one of them.

So I think I'll go with 34.7 and start playing with seating depth and neck tension. I'm not going back out until I have a better scope though.

Had some vertical on first group at 34.7 I'm attributing that to my gun handling skills.
View attachment 1589693

200 yards with two charge weights. Pulled a shot or messed something up on one group 34.7
View attachment 1589692


Side note to @AlNyhus On a previous post of mine I said that my die or bushing was causing runout. I shot some groups today with that brass that had .004-.006 run out and with my ability, I could not tell the difference, so I guess I don't need to worry about that too much. Or to the extent I am.

Erik Cortina and F-Class John have spoken about runout in the past not affecting accuracy and Alex Wheeler spoke about it some time back with Erik Cortina.

Alex related to a straight chamber and questioned how crooked could a round be if it was placed into a chamber that was well machined to tight tolerances.

 

[jimmymac]

You are shooting good. Seriously consider doing a powder and seating matrix at 100 yards. You won’t be wasting time and you will learn a lot about your rifle and components. You will see distinct differences both good and bad that will help you identify the best combinations of powder and seating. From there, you can fine tune.

By doing the above, I have consistently been able to get to solid baseline tune in 50 rounds or less over multiple barrels. From there you can fine tune. Good luck to you.

 

[Dimner]

Excellent shooting and tuning! Very nice!