Where do I start to get best results?

[TackDriv3r]

Been using 3 shot groups with .2-.3 grain increments to find my nodes, with mostly bullets kissing the lands to .010" jump and once I find a nice steady pattern horizontally across number of 3 shot groups and pick the node on the high side of those groups in hot weather and try to change seating depths to tighten the group. I could be doing it wrong, but I like to hear from the expert shooters where they start first in load developments.
How do you guys do yours?

 

[Falfan2017]

I like to shoot 3 shot groups with increasing powder charge at 1,000 yards and see how they group and how the vertical is close to each other. Then pick the best node/group and do the same thing with seating depth.
Here’s an example with a 284 with 180 hybrids. Seating depth test 1,2,3 are a 5k jam, 4,5,6 are 10k and 7,8,9 are 15k. Rounds 4,5,6 had the best vertical and are close to most of the other rounds in the other seating depth so that looks pretty stable.

 

[Bc'z]

I'm no expert , but if you load on the front side of charge window you stand a chance of blowing out of your node in high temps.
Load on back side of powder node and front side of seating.

 

[LCazador]

What distance are you shooting? How many powders did you try? Your approach is good, .2 to .3 increments .010" off and then it should be tested with at least 3 powders. You can't believe how many times I've tried a slightly different burning rate powder that has changed my tests dramatically! And don't forget to test primers, bullet tension, and different shapes of bullets. Any testing beyond 300 yards is best done by an experienced wind reader. Deploy wind flags, a chrono, a wind meter, and level that target frame.. by the way if you think there is no wind, think again!!

 

[Straightshooter1]

Been using 3 shot groups with .2-.3 grain increments to find my nodes, with mostly bullets kissing the lands to .010" jump and once I find a nice steady pattern horizontally across number of 3 shot groups and pick the node on the high side of those groups in hot weather and try to change seating depths to tighten the group. I could be doing it wrong, but I like to hear from the expert shooters where they start first in load developments.
How do you guys do yours?

I'm not an "expert", though I've learned a lot from them and there are a lot of good ones here with far more experience and knowledge than I. Listen closely . . .

For what it's worth, this is what works for me: my gun likes .020 - .010 off the lands most, that that's typically where I start as I use some of the heavier bullets. When I first started precision loading, I'd load up 5 rounds to 5 shot groups, but I found that 3 shot groups will tell you all you need to know, except if one of them is an outlier or a pull. So, I'll load up at least 4 cartridges of each powder load, which is in .3 grain increments. Then I'll shoot 3 shot groups, but if something feel something just is wrong with one of them (like a flinch or a bad trigger pull that I think sent the round off) I'll fire one of the extra's to confirm whether it was something I did or that it was indeed just the inconsistency of the load. Any left over cartridges I'll take back home, pull the bullets and reload them. I look for low ES's in my groups and will try to have the groups tell me where the node is. Then, I try to load at the middle of the node to allow for wear over time and/or for climate changes so I don't do much in changing seating depth. In the load development stage, I have fiddled with seating depths a little in order to tighten up the groups, but now days I simply adjust my barrel tuner.

PS: I'm a heavy user of the QuickLoad programs, so with the data I've collected over time, I don't have to load up a great many powder loads to find the node.

 

[David Christian]

Been using 3 shot groups with .2-.3 grain increments to find my nodes, with mostly bullets kissing the lands to .010" jump and once I find a nice steady pattern horizontally across number of 3 shot groups and pick the node on the high side of those groups in hot weather and try to change seating depths to tighten the group. I could be doing it wrong, but I like to hear from the expert shooters where they start first in load developments.
How do you guys do yours?

Do you have any chrono data to compare to your target results? In 7mm or 30 cal, .2 - .3 grain charges would be a coarse powder test for me before going to a seating depth test in .003 depth increments, and then to .1 grain increments of powder to fine tune the load at 1k.

 

[dgeesaman]

Been using 3 shot groups with .2-.3 grain increments to find my nodes, with mostly bullets kissing the lands to .010" jump and once I find a nice steady pattern horizontally across number of 3 shot groups and pick the node on the high side of those groups in hot weather and try to change seating depths to tighten the group. I could be doing it wrong, but I like to hear from the expert shooters where they start first in load developments.
How do you guys do yours?

How many different answers do you want? Because you’ll get back at least that many.

In theory there is a finite number of combinations of seating depth, powder charge, and neck tension for a given powder, bullet, and primer. The barrel (and wallet) simply can’t handle all of that testing so we have to choose strategies to shortcut this. The shorter the shortcut (smaller test groups), the more susceptible the process will be to external factors. The more detailed the tuning process, the more shots you burn. Some tuning approaches lean on physics theories overlaid on testing observations: and while the underlying science may be true they may not be the dominant factor in achieving a great tune.

Your approach is similar to mine. I do a much wider seating depth test though and a fine seating depth test afterward. Wide ranges of seating depth are popular with high BC bullets.

 

[TackDriv3r]

Thanks for the responses. I normally try a few powders before I settle on temp insensitive powder like H4350, H4831, Varget, etc, I use the P35 chrono and look for low ES in the single digits and shoot mostly at 100 yards, then I stretch it out to 300 yards. After finding some nodes, and lower the powder increments to .2 etc for calibers from 7mm and up. If using the 6 BR, I use .2 increments and lower to .1 As for the dies I use, all Redding full size with the bushing but without the expander and use a .001 / .002 under carbide mandrel to expand the necks, I don't really shoot 1000 yards much, just 500 roughly due to limited space at the gun ranges. I'm not an hardcore competition shooter, but a decent shooter who is anal about one hole groups. I have no issues finding .1 MOA @ 300 yard groups which is pretty common, but won't happen every time I do it. Top pic is at 300 yards with the 6.5 Creedmoor with 140 Hybrids / H4350 3 shots and bottom pic is at 200 yards with the .308 GAP using the 175 SMK / Varget 3 shots which is decent for me. 3 shots won't do justice, but 5 is better. Grasping a few tips from you guys helps. Thanks

 

[TackDriv3r]

I'm no expert , but if you load on the front side of charge window you stand a chance of blowing out of your node in high temps.
Load on back side of powder node and front side of seating.

I'm a bit confused if my method was wrong, maybe I did not clarify clearly but correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say i used 45, 45.2, 45.4, 45.6 and all shoots horizontally on a pattern at 300 yards and all are nice and tight,,,I picked 45.6 grains because the temp is 95 and it won't get hotter than that where I shoot, but if it gets cooler / colder, the speed drops due to powder sensitivity, but I will still be in the node, right?

Please explain front side seating,,,I did not understand.

 

[Bc'z]

I'm a bit confused if my method was wrong, maybe I did not clarify clearly but correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say i used 45, 45.2, 45.4, 45.6 and all shoots horizontally on a pattern at 300 yards and all are nice and tight,,,I picked 45.6 grains because the temp is 95 and it won't get hotter than that where I shoot, but if it gets cooler / colder, the speed drops due to powder sensitivity, but I will still be in the node, right?

Please explain front side seating,,,I did not understand.

If OCW test is shot horizontally you'll see where points of impact across a couple of charge weight are on the same plain, say this covers 45.2 to 45.6 I would load 45.3- 45.4 staying off upper edge of window, but to the back side of the middle weight, still keeping you within your node.
Seating i load to the front side of seating window.
Say you have a window that's .006 long I'll load .001 back of the front side of this so rifle stays in tune through .005 of throat erosion.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

One thing I’ve noticed is that since I started shooting hand loads I’m almost never “just shooting” any more. I’m either shooting on a match, or doing “load development”. Sometimes it’s nice to “just shoot” such as using some factory .223 Rem or 6.5 Creed ammo in a MSR and breaking some clay pigeons out on the 200 yard berm or shooting steel out at 25 or 50 yds with a revolver. It’s all fun, but sometimes a little less science is nice.