I forgot how complex this is

[JimSC]

About a year and a half ago I developed an addition to rimfire and it has been forever since I have done any reloading. I was looking around my "gun room" last week and decided I needed to use up some of the components I had accumulated over the past 4 - 5 years. First up was my .308 and 168gn SMKs with 4064. After 18 or more months of rimfire only I rediscovered recoil, ouch! Ok back up and regroup. Yesterday I decided I would rather start with the 6BR and all those Berger 68 gn flatbase bullets and that 5 pounds of LT30. Rearrange the Bighorn action, off with the .308 barrel and spin on a 6BR. Lots of dirty cases to deprime, clean, check case length, anneal and load for a load development. Finally about 9 PM last night I had seated 30 rounds for initial testing next week. I am hoping I will end up with a nice 300 yard practice load, that's the goal at least. Looks like it will be Thursday morning before I will have a "null wind" condition morning for my scope zeroing. Today I am looking at loading some 100 gn factory seconds over IMR 4166. Tomorrow, who knows but I have a feeling that by Thursday all my 6BR cases will have something in them.

 

[SeabeeKen]

It sure is. I'm going thru something similar except with powder. I'm phasing out Hodgdon powder line and phasing in VV. I have massive amounts of data on spreadsheets from decades of testing and it will be done again with VV powders. I very much enjoy the testing though. I'll keep my Alliant and ramshot line of powders but everything else goes this week. Have test loads to shoot but the people are coming this week to work on the house so that will set me back.

 

[JSH]

If it becomes work, that is when I back off. I don’t really enjoy case prep, but nothing cheers me up like the sound of a tumbler with a bunch of brass in it. I have found it relaxing to a point. I will admit that it did get to be a chore a few years back, trying to make sure and have enough ammo for four guns with a bare minimum of 50 rounds each. I always tried to have around 300+ for each gun. Usually 500, getting them all processed and loaded in the off season.

 

[JimSC]

perhaps I should not have used the term work, complex might have been better. Editing the title

 

[Dgd6mm]

Yeah, I recently shot .22lr for about 10 weeks. Then we decided to make a trip to the 850 for a day of shooting. That's when the work began. However I do enjoy time in my reloading building loading ammo.
I just picked up a Savage B22 yesterday for plinking. This morning I'll be mounting a scope on it and plan to shoot it in the next day or so. Probably start some 6br loading after the scope mounting.

 

[linebaugh]

Been shooting 22 PRS for 3 years. Dont miss reloading. Going ro shoot a CF match this year and already dreading the muzzle blast and noise. I dont know if I will ever go back at this point.
As to recoil. I started hating recoil in my early 40s and still am not a fan. I sold all my 7mm mags and now run a 6.5x47 and a 284 as my "big" guns. Thats all the recoil and firepower I need. Dont hunt much anymore and really dont feel the need for bigger calibers. The majority of my CF guns now are .204 and .224.

Have not reloaded in 2 years. Need to start again and feel your pain.

 

[K22]

For me, when I shot a lot of 308 which I don't anymore, I had to maintain some regular practice to shoot decently especially off the cross sticks which is my preferred shooting style including range shooting. My Tikka 308, while very accurate, was a bear to control, the Remington 700 not so much but still require regular practice to maintain a high level of performance.

Since I don't hunt big game anymore so, these days I shoot mostly 223 Rem bolt rifles with a 243 shoot now and then thrown in. It's a lot more fun and I don't miss the recoil. The older I got the more it bothered me.

Load testing is something I dislike with a passion but is a necessary evil especially since you have to have alternate loads these days because of components shortages and unavailability. I have some I have to get to, namely some Hornaday 75 Vmax's for 243's and 55 Vmax's for my 223's. But the weather this spring has been awful here in eastern PA for load testing with winds 20 mph and over almost every day. So, I have some I have to get to as soon as conditions improve.

Having switched to the Cadwell "Tack Drive" bag has made load testing a lot easier for me as opposed to my old pedestal front rest. The Cadwell bag significantly improved rifle stability for me helping to minimize shooter error.

 

[Homerange]

FWIW good recoil management is so important if you are to shoot precisely and reduce the chance of developing a flinch < which even without hearing protection you will !
These are issues I've had to deal with to progress in the love of shooting sports and I'd like to share some of what I've learnt so that it might help others.

I only shoot sporting rifles and as such have lightweight tubes as is being best suited for carrying about the hills with disadvantages in barrel resonance (less precise accuracy) and increased recoil due to light weight.

With the many shooters I have befriended a small aging man could shoot as well as most and seemed to manage recoil far better than his frame size might suggest.
He like I wasn't chasing the near impossible 0.2 MOA groups from a hunting rifle but a very achievable 1/2 MOA that most modern sporters can achieve with handloads.
One day I asked how he manages recoil being a slight chap.

Shoot, shoot and shoot was his reply as he had suffered similar issues with recoil and didn't want to introduce any recoil management into his technique.....interesting I thought after watching many get bashed around at the bench.
For many years I had sissy bagged up at the bench to ensure I didn't redevelop the flinch I had when younger that a 223 helped me cure.
Not long after I was doing extended load development for 308 and 7mm08 and afterwards noticed recoil was becoming much more manageable even when shooting precise groups. < This was the result of becoming more physically relaxed at the bench and letting the firearm move you in a controlled way instead of resisting the recoil only to let you feel it more !
Another tip was to always hold the forend which doing so also helps immensely to reduce recoil.
You may ask how would you hold a steady aim while holding the forend, however it's not at all difficult with some adjustment of your forend rest < and bipods aren't any part of this !
This article was used for guidance:

Hold that Forend!

I've learnt and strongly advise any at the bench to at least sissy bag up even if it's only with multiple layers of toweling.
The other thing learnt from decades of field shooting is at the bench always wear earmuffs or some good form of ear protection but preferably muffs.

Why ? It's quite simple as our brains have been conditioned to get our ears belted with noise each time we discharge a rifle yet fit a set of earmuffs and instantly the brain subconsciously knows the noise is no longer an issue and believe it or not you will shoot better/more precisely !
Even with a moderator/suppressor fitted !

I challenge you all to conduct such an experiment with your most accurate firearm in good conditions.
Even just a 5 shot group can demonstrate how gun noise impacts how well we shoot.

Shoot well, safe and better.

 

[JimSC]

thanks for the advice all, I should have shot prone that day. I was always better at handling recoil from prone or standing than when sitting at a bench..

Anyway loaded up a test batch of some factory seconds those morning. Some .243 100 gn HPBT's using IMR 4166 so I now have about 150 6 BR's to play with from 68 gn to 105 gn as soon as I get a good low wind morning (Thursday?) to get that scope zeroed in. I am still going to concentrate the lion's share of my practice to the rimfire but I have to admit I am missing the long range a bit now. Not a clue who made those factory seconds, they are too short to be Bergers, and are not spitzers or tipped. Any ideas?

 

[Homerange]

thanks for the advice all, I should have shot prone that day. I was always better at handling recoil from prone or standing than when sitting at a bench.

Having recoils issues > pad up !
Change techniques to better manage it.

Least recoil is felt when shooting offhand but it's very difficult to shoot precisely and IMO likewise with prone.
Many use a bipod in the prone position which while not holding the forend subjects you to increased recoil.

Again, pad up and eliminate recoil from influencing your shooting......and hold that forend !

 

[JimSC]

As far as the recoild goes I think all it's going to take is starting with the 6BR, I was shooting the 105's free recoil two years ago, 68's are powder puff's. Then I will load up some 140 gn .260 Rem's before jumping back on the .308. After 18 months of rimfire only I had just gotten spoiled by no recoil

 

[Homerange]

As far as the recoild goes I think all it's going to take is starting with the 6BR, I was shooting the 105's free recoil two years ago, 68's are powder puff's. Then I will load up some 140 gn .260 Rem's before jumping back on the .308. After 18 months of rimfire only I had just gotten spoiled by no recoil

Consider this, we can all shoot very well with the better 22's as there is NO recoil to deal with.
Why can't we shoot equally well with a centerfire ?
Recoil of course and it's something we need eliminate/minimise from our centerfire shooting methods.

Examine your procedures carefully and modify them as necessary < your shooting will benefit !

 

[JimSC]

Consider this, we can all shoot very well with the better 22's as there is NO recoil to deal with.
Why can't we shoot equally well with a centerfire ?
Recoil of course and it's something we need eliminate/minimise from our centerfire shooting methods.

Examine your procedures carefully and modify them as necessary < your shooting will benefit !

I shot F class F/TR then F Open for about 15 - 20 years so you are really making more of this recoil thing than what it is. For a while back about 10 years ago I played with the big magnums, .300's and .338s, that lasted until I tired of feeding them 100 grains of powder per shot.

I had simply gotten accustomed to the rimfire and the first few shots with the .308 took me by surprise. By the end of 50 rounds I was pretty much back in the groove recoil wise but remembered how much more pleasant a 6BR or a .260 Rem is to shoot. Not to mention you get more rounds per pound of powder and with the prices these days that is important, at least to me

What I had really forgotten was how time-consuming loading precision ammo is. Grabbing a few boxes of ammo from the cabinet was/is a heck of a lot easier than processing brass and reloading it. Cheaper too. I have decided two rimfire sessions per week and one centerfire session will be a good balance

 

[RegionRat]

Folks are all different in their ability to perform while ignoring basic instincts like flinching.

Body size is not the whole story.

Watch Kim Rhode or Cathy Winstead shoot, and then take a look at their stature and ask yourself how it is these gals outshoot 99.9% of us?

They are Jedi when it comes to focus and mind over matter.

You can do it too, but, you must.... Use The Force....

 

[Homerange]

Folks are all different in their ability to perform while ignoring basic instincts like flinching.

Body size is not the whole story.

Watch Kim Rhode or Cathy Winstead shoot, and then take a look at their stature and ask yourself how it is these gals outshoot 99.9% of us?

They are Jedi when it comes to focus and mind over matter.

You can do it too, but, you must.... Use The Force....

A dear friend and lovely blondie in mid 20's is an accomplished pistol shooter and as such has little fear of firearms and at our trap range first shot a 12g which after very little time outshot many of us on DTL, including her far more experienced partner !
She wanted to take a deer and her pop kindly lent her a 30/30 Trapper (rolls eyes) and with a selection of factory loads and suggested she sight it in at our range.
The poor gal got the shit beaten out of her until I dropped by to see how she was doing and instantly realised she was not having a fun time of it.

Luckily I had a towel on the seat of my ATV which despite having had my arse on it I recommended she use it and after finishing and returning towel to the house she proudly showed a target with a 2" group.

Just a few months later she asked about getting her own rifle and we asked her to drop by and try a few of ours to find what level recoil she could comfortably manage.
243, 6mm Rem was nothing to her and a 7mm08 woke her up some with 140's and we finished with a 308 and a selection of loads right up to 180gr Norma's.
All were shot standing as we would here with most of our shooting being in the bush and often at quite short ranges. A4 paper on its side was used to mimic the Hillier zone of deer, the boiler room as many of us call it.
Not one shot worried her unduly so I asked what caliber she might already have in mind....7mm08 was her reply.
A few weeks later Auckland had a gun show and she was ready to purchase so we dragged her along as I suspected gun company reps I knew might be there. After a quiet word in their ear she got a hell of a deal and took a new 7mm08 home right there and then !

When she visits she brings her own toweling for padding and borrows my Caldwell shooting bags.....never again will she be beaten up by a rifle !

For the good of our sport we cannot let our womenfolk get discouraged from shooting as they are the mothers of the next generation of shooters !

 

[ggshoots]

I had also gotten away from center fire for a few years just shooting and building rimfires, back at it now. My son loves to shoot bigger stuff than RF so I guess that influenced me as well as how high RF ammo had climbed to.
If you have a ton of 4166 shoot it up but don't focus on trying to build a great load as they quit making the Enduron line of powders.

 

[JimSC]

If you have a ton of 4166 shoot it up but don't focus on trying to build a great load as they quit making the Enduron line of powders.

thanks, I bought 4 pounds of the stuff just before they quit making it. I never bothered working up a load because of that. I also have 500 of these 100 gn unknown bullets so it's a match made in heaven

 

[JimSC]

I have been making up for lost time in the reloading room. Processed about 300 assorted cases, loaded up some "orphan powders" and bullets such as .223 with 77 SMKs and H322, 6BR with 68 Bergers and LT 30 and some 260 Remingtons with Nosler 140's and some ancient IMR 4350 all for load testing. Also got in a new bore scope and went through all my CF's and cleaned barrels as needed until each bore looked like a mirror from breech to muzzle. Then I inventoried all my bullets and cases and had some pleasant surprises such as finding 100 new Lapua and 100 new Peterson 6BR cases in the back of a cabinet

I have really enjoyed it, put on some alt country mix on Spotify and kept a cup of tea/coffee handy and really enjoyed my time

 

[Dgd6mm]

I like hearing an enjoyable success stories like this.