Forgiveness in reloading and what one is looking for to achieve that.

For instance, I'd swear at 100 yards I'll have a great load worked and things fall apart long range. I'll have other loads that may not shoot as well at 100 yards but shoot better long range.

this really has to be either scope, elements or shooter

adjust your point of impact 2" high , so not to hit where you are aiming .. send 10 down at the same exact point on the target . just to be sure you can set em all in a 1/2"

generally but not all cases .. 100 is sent from a bench and longer ranges are from prone in the field
 
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this really has to be either scope, elements or shooter

adjust your point of impact 2" high , so not to hit where you are aiming .. send 10 down at the same exact point on the target . just to be sure you can set em all in a 1/2"

generally but not all cases .. 100 is sent from a bench and longer ranges are from prone in the fiel

Always prone when shooting for me. It maybe me and I'm honestly not sure but don't think so in this particular case. I can dial back in to the other load and say at 550 yards which in my case would be up 2.35 mils. If I go 2.4 mils I will hit 3 1/2" high at 550 and generally within 1" left and right of center. This particular load shoots well long range but runs 2/3 moa at 100 yards.

My other load will shoot under 1/2 moa at 100 but at 550 I'm lucky to make MOA 🤷🏼‍♂️

Im up for suggestions, as I would like to try something that remedies this issues but can't quite figure it out.
Maybe cleaning in between the different loads and taking longer to settle in possibly ?
I'll skip the cleaning next time and see if that maybe it.
 
What causes a bullet to be less forgiving down range when things look really solid at 100 yards ?
For what it's worth, I'm a fairly decent 1/2 moa shooter on good days 😁
For instance, I'd swear at 100 yards I'll have a great load worked and things fall apart long range. I'll have other loads that may not shoot as well at 100 yards but shoot better long range.
Thoughts ?
Are you checking ES of loads ? I believe this and wind are why short range accuracy falls apart at distance.
 
E3e
Always prone when shooting for me. It maybe me and I'm honestly not sure but don't think so in this particular case. I can dial back in to the other load and say at 550 yards which in my case would be up 2.35 mils. If I go 2.4 mils I will hit 3 1/2" high at 550 and generally within 1" left and right of center. This particular load shoots well long range but runs 2/3 moa at 100 yards.

My other load will shoot under 1/2 moa at 100 but at 550 I'm lucky to make MOA 🤷🏼‍♂️

Im up for suggestions, as I would like to try something that remedies this issues but can't quite figure it out.
Maybe cleaning in between the different loads and taking longer to settle in possibly ?
I'll skip the cleaning next time and see if that maybe it.
Are you able to see good through your scope at extended ranges? Some of my scopes are easier than others . Mirage and a perfect/ consistent cheek position (scope sight picture) could bite ya too.
 
E3e

Are you able to see good through your scope at extended ranges? Some of my scopes are easier than others . Mirage and a perfect/ consistent cheek position (scope sight picture) could bite ya too.
On this one, yes. I prefer just a dot these days.
NX8 4-32x
 
My load that shoots 1/2 moa at 600 yards does shoot single digit SD and ES numbers so I'm sure this maybe the difference between the two.
 
I'd have to agree with the people who are saying there are more forgiving bullets.
I generally consider bullets forgiving if seating depth doesn't seem to matter or if they shoot accurately even when powder/velocity consistency falls apart.

Also there are more forgiving powders.
The most forgiving powders are not always the ones that are labeled "temp insensitive"
I generally consider a powder forgiving if it shoots multiple bullets accurate in different calibers.

However..... The most forgiving aspect I have found is the brass. Quality brass. Peterson brass is what I've used mostly but there are lots of other good brands.
 
What causes a bullet to be less forgiving down range when things look really solid at 100 yards ?
For what it's worth, I'm a fairly decent 1/2 moa shooter on good days 😁
For instance, I'd swear at 100 yards I'll have a great load worked and things fall apart long range. I'll have other loads that may not shoot as well at 100 yards but shoot better long range.
Thoughts ?

Look at a trace track of a golf ball - bullets fly in similar ballistic arcs. You can put the bullet on a path that arcs an inch away from another path at 100 yards but happens to be right on top at 400 yards then off again at 600 yards.

When we do the ballistic calculations on a shot what is happening is the rifle launches the bullet into a probability cone we calculated the size of which is controlled by non-deterministic variables that surround a specific arc defined by the deterministic variables of ballistics. Inside the cone shot traces will potentially cross at different places, but the statistics will bear out that shots remain inside the overall area of where they should go. At any given arbitrary point in the cone different tracks may or may not align, but the size of the cone is what we care about because that's where all the shots go. (Cone might not be the exact right shape, but as distance increases the cumulative error of variables increases, so the shape gets larger the longer it goes, so like a bendy twisty cone)

All the science of handloading is focused on minimizing the variation in (non-deterministic) muzzle velocity and barrel whip harmonics. Range is deterministic and wind is non-deterministic. But errors in those two variables are about 5 times more impactful on a shot than the internal ballistic variations of the load itself. Largely because while anyone who loads can usually beat factory ammo SD of 15fps, getting to sub-10fps SD is a fairly small incremental gain from handloading, especially compared to changing from being +/- 50 yards eyeballing or milling distance in a reticle versus using a laser range finder to get to +/- 5 yards. Much larger gain in the accurate distance than improving SD by 5fps.


More of his stuff:
 
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