How do you start working up a load?

[LVJ76]

I keep it very simple and it has worked for me so far.

I review several manuals and compare, then I go 2 to 3 grains below max and start from there. Load in .03 increments and go from there.

I am boring in the sense that I stick to the same cartridges over and over again. 7mm-08, 223 Rem and now 7mm Rem Mag. Did 280 Rem and 270 Win in the past. I also help my brother with his 7 RSAUM.

Once I find a load I test it out to 200m, 300m 385m and up to 500m, silhouette distances that im used to

I use standard COAL of 2.80" for my hunting 7mm-08 due to maganize lenght, on my silhouette rifle I do a seating depth test and on my 7mm Rem Mag as well.

Stay safe everyone

 

[Plinker147]

1st step- Berger Seating depth test at book minimum charge.
2nd step- ladder loads minimum of 300yds
3rd Step-groups at 300yd in middle of node from ladder with best seating depth from 1st step
4th step- best loads from step 3 at 600-1000/ check ES and SD.

This is the most repeatable consistent method I have found. Always finish testing your load at you max distance. Only time I skip a step is if I'm real familiar with the cartridge and already know what range of powder and seating depth is going to work I will skip a couple steps.

 

[Dean2]

Agree with those that pick a powder, seat to mag depth, work load up .3 to find max load (I always use a Chrono to determine max load via velocity, by the time most pressure signs show up you are WAY over pressure already). Using the max charge I then work shorter COAL at .020 at a time till you find the best group. Once I find the best COAL that also has some tolerance, as in group doesn't change much with .020 either side of the CAOL, I will drop powder charge .2 grains at a time to find if there is a more accurate charge than max. Only thing I will add is when picking powders I always start using the one that is temp stable and I pick the powder that produces the highest velocity with the lowest pressure.

 

[Jzeman56]

So how do you select a starting load with a bullet and powder when there isn't a book to refer to? For example, I have some 181gr Hammer Hunter bullets I want to try a load workup on... do I just pick a bullet roughly the same weight and then reference a reloading manual (i.e. Nosler or Berger manuals)?

 

[Dollarhyde]

1. Blast 80 rounds through the new barrel. Clean it.
2. Blast 5 rounds through barrel.
3. Choose most appropriate powder from research.
4. Log charge:velocity windows to look for speed nodes. Graph data in excel.
5. Choose the most forgiving node in terms of grainage. Bias on low side if heading into summer. Bias on high side if heading into winter.
6. Seat bullets to lands. Take Lee Hand Press to range and set progresively deeper until accuracy shows best COAL.
7. Brake tune if it's even needed.

1 range trip to break the gun in and have fun.
1 range trip to get a good load that will last a 1000 rounds or more.

 

[BoomFlop]

So how do you select a starting load with a bullet and powder when there isn't a book to refer to? For example, I have some 181gr Hammer Hunter bullets I want to try a load workup on... do I just pick a bullet roughly the same weight and then reference a reloading manual (i.e. Nosler or Berger manuals)?

Call Steve @ Hammer, he is a wealth of knowledge. However, I believe he has referenced to use Nosler Data for like weight bullet.

Steve

 

[Jzeman56]

Call Steve @ Hammer, he is a wealth of knowledge. However, I believe he has referenced to use Nosler Data for like weight bullet.

Steve

Thanks.

 

[Paper boy]

Any one of these methods work well. Just pick the one you like best and go for it. Good luck!

 

[LVJ76]

Thanks.

In this case I would definitely start at the recommended starting load, copper bullets tend to show pressure signs earlier than cup and core bullets.

 

[264MHC]

The first thing I do with a new bullet is find my CBTO to the lands. Then I do quite a bit of research on powders to find one with high load density. I recently purchased Quickload and it helps this process tremendously, although powders seem to act differently in different cartridges or with different bullets in the same cartridge so it's just a highly educated guess. Relative performance of powders seems to be accurate though.

Using that information I generally load 10 rounds .015 off the lands at .5 grain increments if I'm starting from scratch, or .2 grain increments if I already have a pretty good idea of where a certain bullet weight likes to be. This has pretty much always helped to identify the velocity node I want to be in. If it was hot outside, I pick a little below the high side of the node, if it's cold, a little above the low side. From there I generally will test accuracy with 5 shots each at 200 yards at .005, .015, .025, .035, and .045 off. If I get satisfactory results I will load up 20 rounds of the best load, shoot 10 over my Magnetospeed to get solid velocity data, and 2 5 round groups to verify accuracy. If I'm not satisfied after the seating test, I may try seating deeper or fine tuning the charge but that doesn't happen often. I will then take the remainder of the first 100 and load them up to test at distance and practice. So far, if I achieve 1" groups at 200, and single digit SD's, the load has held up at distance.

I have yet to delve into testing different primers or messing with neck tension. So far I have gotten good enough results to not mess with it.

 

[milo-2]

My method, I know what bullet, primer and brand of brass I will run upfront, and have it on hand when I get a new chamber. Most likely I will know or have researched seat depth before I start.
1. I will load 2 rds at each charge.
A. My formula. For cases that hold under 40gr, do increments of .2gr, 40-50gr capacity, .3gr, and over 50 gr, I will load test rds in .5gr.
2. I will chrono these charges, getting the scope close to zero while doing so. What I am looking for is tighter numbers over a range of charges. I will have a good idea of where these charges will be as far as velocity. I am a believer, you cannot just pick a speed and make it work.
Example:
37.0gr 2875 2899
37.3gr 2890 2910
37.6gr 2901 2920
37.9gr 2939 2941
38.2gr 2952 2955
38.5gr 2967 2975
38.8gr 2989 3010
39.1gr 3015 3030
I am looking for a velocity node, not a flat spot node, most powders I shoot rarely plateau. So in this scenario, I pick 37.9-38.5gr to be my test range. At this point, if I was clueless on seat depth, I would load 40 rds at 38.2(mid) and seat long, take my portable setup to the range and find a suitable seat depth. If known, I would now load 4 rds each from 37.8-38.gr in .2gr increments, so 6 charges, 24rds total. Plus 5 foulers to get on steel at 500. The barrel will get cleaned after this test.

We have a 24"x36" steel plate at 500 yards, this will be my proving grounds. It will look like this, i am going to shoot what I call a modified ladder, basically an OCW and ladder test in one.

Now, about 4 rds per charge, the goal is to shoot 2 rds at each dot, looking for vertical dispersion and impacts relative to the dot. If by chance, I have 2 shots really close, the 3rd goes for group, or an extra rd if a shot is biffed and called immediately.
Let's say my target ends up looking like this, which of coarse it wont as I would have group shot on charges 3-5.
But you can clearly see a node from 38.-38.6gr, they held vertical and the impacts are in the same location to the dot, the aim point.
The first 2 charges weren't there, and the final charge we are into a different harmonic zone of the barrel. I could pursue higher if I was not into pressure, but unwise as my barrel still needs to speed up. Right now, I would load charge 38.4 and have some fun shooting, monitoring speeds the whole way till i feel the barrel is broke in, usually anywhere from 40-125 rds, depending on barrel brand. I have had one or two unruly Proof and Bartlein barrels that you never know when they will settle in.

After the barrel speeds up, and I feel it is stable, I will evaluate the load to see if it held, if not, I will do a refined process of the original, making sure the load holds vertical at 500, 750, and 1K. Common sense right now says it will take quite a bit more work to get a load to hold waterline at 1K as compared to 500 yards, and we all have different standards.
Shooting an excessive number of groups to prove a load IMO is not needed, every outing whether or not on your mind you evaluate your load. Barrels rarely last over a yr and a half, not wasting barrel life group shooting, if something seems amiss, fix it and move on. I do not shoot paper for score.
Shooting groups or shooting at 100yards to me is a giant waste of time and components unless 100 is your game, have fun. I zero my scopes at 100, that is it.

 

[Rhovee]

Tried N565 in my 7 saum this week. I knew burn rate was very close to H1000 so I started lower and worked up with three shot groups at 100. Did some digging around, and many shooters put the 180 Berger Hybrid at .020" off the lands. I put them at .020 off and shot this at 100 yards. Shoots within .2 grains of H1000 load for same speed. Can't get to higher node.

 

[Bigeclipse]

My method, I know what bullet, primer and brand of brass I will run upfront, and have it on hand when I get a new chamber. Most likely I will know or have researched seat depth before I start.
1. I will load 2 rds at each charge.
A. My formula. For cases that hold under 40gr, do increments of .2gr, 40-50gr capacity, .3gr, and over 50 gr, I will load test rds in .5gr.
2. I will chrono these charges, getting the scope close to zero while doing so. What I am looking for is tighter numbers over a range of charges. I will have a good idea of where these charges will be as far as velocity. I am a believer, you cannot just pick a speed and make it work.
Example:
37.0gr 2875 2899
37.3gr 2890 2910
37.6gr 2901 2920
37.9gr 2939 2941
38.2gr 2952 2955
38.5gr 2967 2975
38.8gr 2989 3010
39.1gr 3015 3030
I am looking for a velocity node, not a flat spot node, most powders I shoot rarely plateau. So in this scenario, I pick 37.9-38.5gr to be my test range. At this point, if I was clueless on seat depth, I would load 40 rds at 38.2(mid) and seat long, take my portable setup to the range and find a suitable seat depth. If known, I would now load 4 rds each from 37.8-38.gr in .2gr increments, so 6 charges, 24rds total. Plus 5 foulers to get on steel at 500. The barrel will get cleaned after this test.

We have a 24"x36" steel plate at 500 yards, this will be my proving grounds. It will look like this, i am going to shoot what I call a modified ladder, basically an OCW and ladder test in one.
View attachment 201470

Now, about 4 rds per charge, the goal is to shoot 2 rds at each dot, looking for vertical dispersion and impacts relative to the dot. If by chance, I have 2 shots really close, the 3rd goes for group, or an extra rd if a shot is biffed and called immediately.
Let's say my target ends up looking like this, which of coarse it wont as I would have group shot on charges 3-5.
But you can clearly see a node from 38.-38.6gr, they held vertical and the impacts are in the same location to the dot, the aim point.
The first 2 charges weren't there, and the final charge we are into a different harmonic zone of the barrel. I could pursue higher if I was not into pressure, but unwise as my barrel still needs to speed up. Right now, I would load charge 38.4 and have some fun shooting, monitoring speeds the whole way till i feel the barrel is broke in, usually anywhere from 40-125 rds, depending on barrel brand. I have had one or two unruly Proof and Bartlein barrels that you never know when they will settle in.
View attachment 201471

After the barrel speeds up, and I feel it is stable, I will evaluate the load to see if it held, if not, I will do a refined process of the original, making sure the load holds vertical at 500, 750, and 1K. Common sense right now says it will take quite a bit more work to get a load to hold waterline at 1K as compared to 500 yards, and we all have different standards.
Shooting an excessive number of groups to prove a load IMO is not needed, every outing whether or not on your mind you evaluate your load. Barrels rarely last over a yr and a half, not wasting barrel life group shooting, if something seems amiss, fix it and move on. I do not shoot paper for score.
Shooting groups or shooting at 100yards to me is a giant waste of time and components unless 100 is your game, have fun. I zero my scopes at 100, that is it.

Yeah but a group of 1-2inches at 100 yards will certainly tell you that load is no good at far distances. A half inch group at 100 yards may not tell the whole story past 500 yards. So it's not a complete waste to shoot at 100 in my opinion.

 

[milo-2]

Yeah but a group of 1-2inches at 100 yards will certainly tell you that load is no good at far distances. A half inch group at 100 yards may not tell the whole story past 500 yards. So it's not a complete waste to shoot at 100 in my opinion.

I said it was my opinion on distances used. never said I was right. This is my take on it, if I am set up to shoot 500, and I am shooting well along with monitoring conditions, which would most likely be good for this, I will end up taking less shots. The 1-2" spread at 100 will now be 6-12" at 500, and I can walk on by that charge and pull the bullets.
I watch guys do this all the time, there is a tendency to call pulled shots when they weren't, and they will try fill in the blanks with a load that was never going to fly.