How much should I reduce loads? New ADG Brass

[trout004]

Thanks for the info guys. Those are great ideas. I don't have QL, but it is tempting! I actually enjoy load workup a lot. I'm trying to figure out how I can make it a job . It gets me out of the house and away from reality, which is getting harder to do now days. Being that I have a lot of 200 new brass that I want to use going forward, I ended up loading some pressure test rounds and will be recording velocity as soon as the temps get above zero. My starting load will be about 3 grains under what the last one was, which equates to about 4%. I understand that case volume plays a big factor in pressure. I was mainly looking at a starting point being that there just isn't as much data for VV powders as compared to some others. Overall, the combination of new ADG brass and VV N565 powder had me wondering exactly where I should start.

 

[Buckys]

Can the QL method also be done with (the free) Gordon's Reloading Tool?

Gordons reloading tool.

Downloaded this a few weeks ago and been playing with it to develop loads for 450Marlin in bolt action. Way outside any official reloading data, but no pressure signs and I should according to the software be able to push another 1,5grains into it before it's past what a Winchester M70 can...

www.longrangehunting.com

 

[Mike D Texas]

Can the QL method also be done with (the free) Gordon's Reloading Tool?

Gordons reloading tool.

Downloaded this a few weeks ago and been playing with it to develop loads for 450Marlin in bolt action. Way outside any official reloading data, but no pressure signs and I should according to the software be able to push another 1,5grains into it before it's past what a Winchester M70 can...

www.longrangehunting.com

Should be able to. I finally downloaded GRT. I need to play with it to see how it compares to QL.

 

[trout004]

Hey, thanks for the all of the help everyone. For what it's worth, I went out and shot the new ADG brass with the 208 ELD-M's last night. It was 15 degrees with no wind. I was the only one dumb enough to head to the shooting range, except for a mountain lion that came through earlier in the day.

I am posting a photo of the target showing charge weight of N565 and velocity data that I captured and some photos of the brass. This gives me a good starting point. All brass was just neck-sized only out of the box from ADG and trimmed at 2.610" to even it all up. As you can see, load #6 load looks like a decent start, but I am probably going to base my load development between that 73.4 - 74.2 grain mark. The #6 load was getting a little hot and starting to shine up the brass a bit. I don't want to push it to the max as there is no need IMO. For what it's worth, this rifle has always seemed to group best in that 2930 fps mark regardless of the bullet choice.

I know that these are 2-shot groups, but at least it gives me a point to start. I figured shooting two was better than just shooting once although I was mainly checking the brass for pressure signs. *This worked well for me, but could be different for you. Safe shooting out there, guys and gals. Now I gotta check out that GRT!

 

[trout004]

Narrowing down to these two loads - see photo of the 100 yd groups that I shot tonight. Which would you choose? I think that I'll be shooting a couple of groups at 4-500 yards before I decide.

That zero ES on the bigger group has me thinking I might go that way, but I have never complained about a .15 MOA group either. I am finding some definite inconsistencies with the ES on a lot of the loads that I tested - up to 44 fps over 3 shots with this new ADG brass. The last Hornady brass didn't do that. It could by my cheap chronograph and bad lighting and/or possibly that the new ADG brass isn't supe consistent. I didn't spend time checking volume or weight sorting. Either way I think the elk would hate both of them…

 

[Recon$$]

If you doubt the chrono just group them long. I'm about to do the same thing with a rifle because the kestrel isn't quite adding up and that data will fix my issues.

 

[257 STW]

Narrowing down to these two loads - see photo of the 100 yd groups that I shot tonight. Which would you choose? I think that I'll be shooting a couple of groups at 4-500 yards before I decide.

That zero ES on the bigger group has me thinking I might go that way, but I have never complained about a .15 MOA group either. I am finding some definite inconsistencies with the ES on a lot of the loads that I tested - up to 44 fps over 3 shots with this new ADG brass. The last Hornady brass didn't do that. It could by my cheap chronograph and bad lighting and/or possibly that the new ADG brass isn't supe consistent. I didn't spend time checking volume or weight sorting. Either way I think the elk would hate both of them

The target tells the story, not the ES/SD numbers. You are on the right track taking them out to distance. Sometimes a load with a bit higher ES shoots better than one with a low ES. I will always take a tighter group over a lower ES. See what she does at 500 then decide. My .02

 

[QuietTexan]

Which would you choose?

Was this the first shots on this brass, or were they reloaded?

I put zero faith in muzzle velocity stats on the first go, the brass moves so much it's not necessarily repeatable the second time out, and 3 shots isn't enough for confidence in the data.

 

[trout004]

Was this the first shots on this brass, or were they reloaded?

I put zero faith in muzzle velocity stats on the first go, the brass moves so much it's not necessarily repeatable the second time out, and 3 shots isn't enough for confidence in the data.

Yes this was the first loading. I got way more consistent results with Hornady brass last time on a new loading, but the ADG isn't as forgivable first time with ES all over the map, however this load will be used for hunting probably under 800 yards. I'm going to test long and see what happens. If everything is still too erratic I'll shoulder bump the once fired and roll with those. My hope was to get through this lot of 200 new brass, but I may have to deviate from the original plan.

Next step long range testing to verify