Jeff, just curious, when you see the square mark on the bullet approx. how far into the lands are you? Just ballpark. I generally start .010 in and work to about .010 off but over the years, almost all of my barrels preferred to be in to some degree. Thanks.
Steps in working up a load.
- Thread starter gtl1946
- Start date
Jeff, just curious, when you see the square mark on the bullet approx. how far into the lands are you? Just ballpark. I generally start .010 in and work to about .010 off but over the years, almost all of my barrels preferred to be in to some degree. Thanks.
WOW! Square doesn't seem like alot but 40/50 does. Guess it would depend on the caliber also. Bigger bore, bigger land. If I had found "touch" I think I'd be purty scared to just go .040 in. Just saying.
Me too. I think that I would make a fairly serious reduction in the powder charge and work back up slowly.
Thanks Jeff, that's about what I figured, that is exactly what my friend Kenny L. told me. I have always found my best accuracy between .005 and .015 in but the next time I work up a load, I'm going to try the square fit and work from there.
Not sure what "over testing" is. Do you develop a load and then put the gun in your safe? Or "ruin" the barrel by shooting the gun? I can't understand "wasting components", aren't components made to load and shoot? They are worthless unless they are used, or are they shelf decorations? Do you expect to find the load on the first or second try and just shoot the gun once or twice again?
I like reloading and shooting. I use components to reload. A large part of reloading is developing a load for a particular gun and for me a few loads is not a bad thing. I don't consider shooting "ruining" my guns, so if I shoot it many times working up loads, all the more fun,. I'm sure I'm right...
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The problem with a 2 shot group, a least for me, is shooter error. At least with a five shot group you'll get a better idea of the load's capability. One errand shot (by shooter) in a 2 shot group could have you rejecting a potentially great load. I can live with 3 shot groups as an initial screening and have used this method but I like to have a 5 shot group as the basis of my final choice.
ckaberna
Gold $$ Contributor
I can’t understand how anybody can seat .040” further than touch without the bullet pushing back into the case. IMO, may as well “softseat” or use light neck tension and seat the bullet as long as you can. Let the bolt & barrel seat them.
Maybe I’m wrong but I can’t imagine enough tension from brass to drive a copper plated bullet into a SS barrel without slipping??? Maybe solder them together?
JEFFPPC
Gold $$ Contributor
No, once I have a competitive load I do most of my shooting at matches. April thru Sept. I shoot a match most every Sat and Sunday . Oct it slows down usually just 1 match per weekend. I have 3 competition guns shoot about 1500 roundps a year thru each. Now, I do practice during the week or if I felt a gun wasn't where I wanted it the week before I will go to the range to check the tune, maybe adj the tuner.
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JEFFPPC
Gold $$ Contributor
I always shoot over flags so I have a pretty good idea If I shoot a shot I should discount. Once I find what I feel is the spot I go to 3 shot groups that must repeat back to back. I want all the best rounds out of a barrel to be in competition that I can, or practicing to tune myself to the flags . Once the gun is consistant in the zeros and ones with 3 shot groups, now it is up to me. The rifle will do what I tell it.
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Brians356
Gold $$ Contributor
I see the terms "jumped" and "jammed" tossed around here in a way that implies a binary choice. One can seat to zero jump and not be jammed. My point is superfluous only if there is no differential in internal ballistics between bullet "just touching" and "jammed".
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JEFFPPC
Gold $$ Contributor
Jammed to me has always been a confusing description. Touch is simple, look at the mark left from the lands.
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Yea, I get it about all the best rounds out of a barrel to be in competition - the analogous situation for me is precision varmint / predator hunting. For starters I hate load development and shooting off a bench. I'd much rather be practicing off my shooting sticks in practical field shooting situations or better yet hunting.
Fortunately for me I've been shooting the same calibers for so long that load development isn't a big issue for me with the exception of the new faster twist rates, i.e. 8", in the 223 Rem newer edition rifles I've obtained in the last few year but I found a good combo for these without too much testing.
Since I'm not an accomplished bench shooter the shooter error factor is probably a lot higher with me than someone who shoots competition off the bench or practices a lot off the bench. That's the main reason I like 5 shot groups so I can see a pattern - I do try to call my shots even off the bench.
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