new at reloading

[bghunter76]

Hello all i just starting to reload for my 7mm rem mag. I made a dummy bullet by putting in and shutting my action on my gun. should i start there with my loading of lowest mount of powder the seat bullet .010 after that thanks.

using h1000
168 berger

 

[backwoods83]

Well everyone has a opinion and here is mine, H1000 is to cold for a 7mm rem mag, I'd try them pushed in the lands with H4831sc or RE19. Be careful but fyi every .100" your out on oal over what the book list as max length your going to need 1.5-2 grns more powder to keep up, amount depends on what you do use, but always start a little low.

 

[bghunter76]

So what u saying is the length that i have i take the diff. from the book add 1.5 gr of podwer for being over that lenght. Thanks

 

[backwoods83]

Well yes but don't start that high, every cartridge/powder combo is different, but if you do use H1000 and your manual says max length is between 3.250 and 3.280" and you are at 3.450" then by the time you get the speed and consistency you want you will likely be 3-3.5grns over max charge but whatever you do (never start that high you can really hurt yourself) start about 1.5grns under max, then work up .5 grains at a time until you see the very first signs of overpressure (cratered primers, then flattened primers, then sticky bolt lift, and blowing primers out completely) don't go past the cratering, once you get to that point back off .2-.4grns and that'll put you in the ball park.

 

[BigSkyGP]

Read a reloading manual or two, will get you started. Still plenty to be learned, I'm still learing after 20+yrs of reloading. Use the most current data, for the powder you are using, thatyou can find.​

 

[bghunter76]

Ok so where should i start with my powder charge in the middle. do you think the low end it to low?

Thanks

 

[boomtube]

Your first loading tests should be aimed at finding the max charge for what ever seating depth you wish to start with. We have no more idea of what your rig will accept as max than you do.

Start at the start loads. SLOWLY work up with one round of each charge done in maybe .3 gr steps, until you reach book max OR SEE PRESSURE SIGNS. If you see early pressure signs back off a full grain or more. Once you know what your own max charge is you can start to test for accuracy to find your best shooting charge. THEN you can test that charge at different seating depths to establish the best combo.

I agree that a 4850, or 4831, is likely to give better performance than H-1000 but who really knows?

 

[CRNA]

I may experiment with other powders in the future, but I have been loading H1000 in my 7RM. I have gotten really good results with it. Supposedly, the H1000 is less temp sensitive than the R19 from what I have read. I think I have probably seen more people in this forum reference R19 for their 7mags though. To each his own, but thus-far I have not had any reason to switch powders.

 

[bghunter76]

ok I got my dummy bullet do i seat it a little deep and start loading or start with it where it is. Also i plan on starting with powder charge work up to the best group then start seating the bullet from there

thanks for the help.

 

[bghunter76]

ok my dummy bullet that i made by shutting it in my chamber getting that length. is that in the lands. and do i nedd to seat the bullet a little more to start working on my powder charge or go from where it is. thanks for all the help

 

[backwoods83]

I would seat it out .002-.003" farther to make sure it pushes in the lands nice and tight, then work on your powder charge. I doubt you will have an accuracy issue with them jammed once you get your charge right, think about it your already giving the bullet a head start perfectly aligned in the chamber, no worries about runout issues pushing it one way or the other.

 

[Shootin4fun]

Ugh! The question of where to start seating always gets me. I don't like seating touching the lands because if there's any overlenght at all, the cartridge won't seat and the bold won't close. Then there is the added pressure issue. But maybe I'm missing something here, I don't know. I just never got any better results from kissing the lands than .005 or .010 short.

Also, from what I've experienced with factory ammo on at least 2 rifles, bullets that are far from the lands can be as accurate as well made hand loads close to or touching the lands. An example is Federal 243 Win. Both the 80gr HP and 100gr SPs are far from the lands and give exceptional accuracy - .25 - .5 MOA. So what the neck, I just used Barnes Book OAL for their 85gr TSX, and worked on powders from there. This is far short of the lands and yields excellent accuracy. Same with Sierra HPBTs...no accuracy gained by touching the lands but if they are a few thousandths too long (don't know why this happens), they're unusable til I get back home and push deeper.

So if someone is going to reload not touching the lands, do you set a good guess OAL first and then work through powder wts. or do you stay with 1 charge wt. and vary the length til groups tighten up? I usually do the first approach.

 

[backwoods83]

The bullets that are hard to tune like berger vlds, jlk vld and ulds, etc.. have an extremely long secant ogive and are usually not very forgiving on seating depth, pick a mid level charge and adjust the seating depth till the group comes together right, then you can start speeding them up. The bullets you mentioned like barnes and sierra have a tangent ogive, there not very finicky, you can do it either way.

 

[Shootin4fun]

Interesting...thanks Backwoods! I do plan to shoot VLDs once I get some lighter loads down.

I hate to admit it, but I may be getting a very good deal on a Browning with BOSS, and that adds yet another variable...the BOSS setting. (Probably a travesty on this reloading forum!) The good thing about that if it works is that I am seperated from my reloading bench for the next 2 months due to a life/work situation so will have to start out with factory ammo unless I want to wait...yea right. Not! A lot of guys would be happy to shoot factory loads and not have to reload (due to cost), but I'm jonesin' to churn out some of my favorites. I find that reloading gives me another level of pride and ownership to my shooting experience.

I wonder if a BOSS system can overcome the finicky nature of the VLDs...