ES vs accuracy

[MTbackwoods]

Which result would you consider best based off this target?

 

[rsmithsr]

is that the distance you will be shooting at ?
accuracy out weighs numbers in most cases
( a small group with no velocity will not work at long range)

 

[BoomFlop]

I would say the rifle likes the 49.9. ES variables could be loading consistency. I would shoot the 49.9 with some 5 shoot groups and increase the range and see how it does and if it holds.

If you are shooting 100 yards, you are really looking for groups. You could probably shoot the same test at 300+ yards and see what it looks like.

Steve

 

[adk hunter]

I'll guess before the guys who know what their doing give advice...

I would re-shoot the smallest group and the .57 moa group at 300 yards and see what is happening further away. 500 yards would even be better. My thought is I like a group that is impacting near center rather than one flipping to the right side. Assuming same point of aim... Their es being statistically the same.

 

[MTbackwoods]

is that the distance you will be shooting at ?
accuracy out weighs numbers in most cases
( a small group with no velocity will not work at long range)

Fair enough. No that's just 100 yards. My personal limit for hunting is 800 yards. I fell in love with that little group on the right. I'm thinking on loading there and calling it good. Just wanted to see what others thought and why. And also what else I could do to try to drop the ES. Maybe try moving the bullet depth .005" either way?

 

[rsmithsr]

shoot longer with the "best" three and then retry the best even longer.
numbers mean little if there is no group at your "shooting/hunting" distance

 

[Plinker147]

I would load the little group on the right and shoot it at 600-800yds. It looks like the loads around it are impacting on the same vertical which means your in node( hard to tell with 100 yd groups) . ES under 20 is plenty good to hold accuracy for hunting. I would bet your load will hold up at distance. I would load 2 groups just to confirm that it is repeatable.

 

[JMW67]

try a primer change to lower the es

 

[MTbackwoods]

try a primer change to lower the es

I did that once and it worked. But it cost my 50 FPS. I've seen where some guys say and ES of 20 or better is fine for hunting and I really want to agree. But I'll load a few batches of my best groups and test at distance. Ironically, the load that produced the largest group went 3/3 at 730 and 950 last month. So fingers crossed that something else will hold together at distance

 

[nt7332]

What are you using to throw and weight powder. Back in my chargemaster days I could never get super low ES. Since then I have been running fx120i and running expander mandrels and I can keep my SDs in low single digits. I use a chargemaster now to do initial throw and trickle up with dandy trickler on Fx120i. I think I solved my two biggest factors that affect ES and that was powder charge consistency and neck tension.

 

[MTbackwoods]

What are you using to throw and weight powder. Back in my chargemaster days I could never get super low ES. Since then I have been running fx120i and running expander mandrels and I can keep my SDs in low single digits. I use a chargemaster now to do initial throw and trickle up with dandy trickler on Fx120i. I think I solved my two biggest factors that affect ES and that was powder charge consistency and neck tension.

Originally I was using the crappy digital scale that came with my Hornady kit. That thing went bananas a little while back so I got an RCBS beam scale and had to re work my charges because the two scales didn't match up. I do everything by hand. I pour the powder from the can by hand and trickle with a little handle trickler. Eventually I will upgrade to a Chargemaster and will buy higher quality dies down the road. For now it's Hornady. But my 338 RUM has an ES of 6 on the regular. But I think that rifle/component combo just likes to spoil me

 

[nt7332]

Copy that. I had no idea until I got the fx120i how bad the chargemaster was. I mean if u find a good wide node it's not that bad but u don't have that luxury in some rifles. Most of those auto throwers go + or - .1 so potentially u could be close to .2 difference on throws and that's huge. Depending on powder of coarse there is around 3-4 kernels in .1 so double that and say close to .2 and at 2-3 FPS per kernel. It adds up and that is just with powder not to mention the difference from case to case with slight neck tension variances. I love it though!! Good luck brother

 

[Farmerboy78]

I would make sure the charge is weighed correctly and then change primers, again to a different primer.

 

[rsmithsr]

WITH A BEAM SCALE. add powder. make the beam move and resettle.
not doing this can give poor weights.

Originally I was using the crappy digital scale that came with my Hornady kit. That thing went bananas a little while back so I got an RCBS beam scale and had to re work my charges because the two scales didn't match up. I do everything by hand. I pour the powder from the can by hand and trickle with a little handle trickler. Eventually I will upgrade to a Chargemaster and will buy higher quality dies down the road. For now it's Hornady. But my 338 RUM has an ES of 6 on the regular. But I think that rifle/component combo just likes to spoil me