Order of Importance to Accuracy?

[243Mendoza]

wondering how you would rank the importance (1,2,3, etc) of the following items to accuracy at 1000yd:

powder
powder charge
primer
primer seating depth
bullet
bullet seating depth
neck tension
brass
case weight
case volume
neck turning

 

[hfinkle]

All of the above

 

[F Class John]

In my experience and testing, the aspects of ignition (powder, primer, firing pin and spring) trump the other stuff by some measure no matter how little. You can have the best prepared brass and perfect neck tension at the ideal seating depth but if your ignition ain’t good it don’t matter.

 

[MikeMcCasland]

I don't know how you rank those items in terms of importance. It's like saying rate a piston in relation to an engine block in order of importance, relative to fast lap times.

I know there are things on your list I could do without, and still shoot relatively good scores.

In my discipline, you could probably eliminate "primer seating depth, case weight, case volume, and neck turning" and still win most matches. That assumes everything else is 100% perfect (to include wind reading).

At 1,000 yards pretty much everything matters, but there a few "must haves". I would consider those to be having the right powder, the right charge, the right bullet, the right depth, and the right tension. If you get all those right, and have a good gun, you can shoot good scores. Everything else is just an incremental improvement.

 

[JimSC]

#1 should be the shooters ability. I would bet 100 dollars several of the shooters who post on here could take my rifle and ammo, give me their rifle and ammo and in a 1K 20 round match they would beat me by several points simply because of their talent and experience. Anyone can make precision ammo, not everyone can read the wind and keep a consistent cheek weld and trigger pull

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Wind/flags trump all of the above.

 

[243Mendoza]

#1 should be the shooters ability. I would bet 100 dollars several of the shooters who post on here could take my rifle and ammo, give me their rifle and ammo and in a 1K 20 round match they would beat me by several points simply because of their talent and experience. Anyone can make precision ammo, not everyone can read the wind and keep a consistent cheek weld and trigger pull

True but I am trying to isolate the factors to reloading.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

Matching, the BULLET to your Barrels Twist and the Cartridge's, Powder Capacity/ burn rate,. IMO
Then, Bullet seating,.. Depth.

 

[Whitehunter]

First you have to have a good barrel are nothing else matters are probably should say a Great barrel

 

[ebb]

It isn't even on the list. Buy or have an existing scope that will not hold a zero. Yes I worked for over a year on a rifle trying every thing to make it shoot. Then put on a Hood scope checker and a known good scope and saw the cross hairs move all over the place while the POA stayed the same

 

[Jager]

With all due respect, it's kinda a nonsensical question. Internal ballistics is a whole bunch of interrelated things. You can't just take one, in isolation, and say "that's the most important thing, so I'm going to concentrate on that."

Precision handloading is, rather a complex puzzle. One driven by a lot of science; and a little bit of art.

If I had to point to the qualities that most matter, it would be attention to detail and thoughtful observation.

 

[Straightshooter1]

wondering how you would rank the importance (1,2,3, etc) of the following items to accuracy at 1000yd:

powder
powder charge
primer
primer seating depth
bullet
bullet seating depth
neck tension
brass
case weight
case volume
neck turning

Looks like a lot of good thoughts that don't actually answer your question, huh? Maybe you should rephrase the question??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[243Mendoza]

I wonder if each factor that I listed can be quantified in a delta of group size in moa?

 

[243Mendoza]

Looks like a lot of good thoughts that don't actually answer your question, huh? Maybe you should rephrase the question??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

True but I thought having this question in the "Reloading" forum would narrow the responses to reloading? (BTW I agree with the other responses

 

[ebb]

well if you put it like that I would guess that the last three on your list would be the least important. Until one of those is way far off in left field.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Doesn't matter what you did in load development if you pull the trigger at the wrong time.

 

[243Mendoza]

Doesn't matter what you did in load development if you pull the trigger at the wrong time.

It doesn't matter if you pull the trigger at the right time, and you have a 3moa load.

 

[jelenko]

Would it make sense to lose the '1000 yard' dimension.

Then, would it be easier to rank items in order of their probable impact on group size at, say, 100 yards.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

It doesn't matter if you pull the trigger at the right time, and you have a 3moa load.

But who's got a 3moa load? I very well understand what you're saying but a .1 gun IS a 3 moa gun in a switch. Every shot counts. You cant discount the most important factor just because you gun shoots small in imaginary match conditions. Those conditions just dont happen often.

Case in point...in ubr short range a gun that shoots .358 moa can theoretically hit every dot and win. In reality, he likely winds up dead last. But if he steers it perfectly, he can win. Just not likely, so both matter a ton but a teen rifle has a ton more forgiveness than a .3 rifle does. Either way, pull the trigger in a switch and it commonly results in profanity.

 

[243Mendoza]

Would it make sense to lose the '1000 yard' dimension.

Then, would it be easier to rank items in order of their probable impact on group size at, say, 100 yards.

Maybe, since most testing takes place at 100yds where it is easier to get quantitative data.

I thought that the 1000yd criterion would make handloading techniques more onerous.