How much time and effort do you give a bullet, powder.

[Joefrazell]

Just wondering what you require of a particular load before you will continue to work with it? If you see a charge weight that shoots 1.5 moa do you continue to work with it or would you just stop, pull the bullets and try something new? Do you guys see a charge weight shoot that bad and then see another charge weight shoot .5moa or would I just be wasting my time and components? Gun in question is a R700 300 win mag with a new bartlein barrel 9 twist. I had it throated for the 215 Berger and it's shooting them pretty poor like 1-1.5moa where the factory barrel shot them better. The 212eldx seems like it may shoot better but I need to do more testing.

 

[Mike 338]

I stop when I've tested:

• Rough seating depth
• Powder charge weight
• Primers
• Fine seating depth
• My form when I shoot (it could be me)

I have to do it all again if I switch powders.

 

[Joefrazell]

I stop when I've tested:

• Rough seating depth
• Powder charge weight
• Primers
• Fine seating depth
• My form when I shoot (it could be me)

I have to do it all again if I switch powders.

Ho many bullets do you go through typically then? I just hate shooting load after load that's over moa. I'm looking for sub half minute is all

 

[Wolf76]

I look for some signs of life. If groups don't change with powder and/or seating depth, time to move on.
I'll say this is why I start with seating depth. If one major factor is removed, you can quickly determine if a powder shows any promise.
If your 300 wm won't shoot H1000 ~77grs at a COAL of 3.6", your gun is broke.

 

[Mike 338]

Ho many bullets do you go through typically then? I just hate shooting load after load that's over moa. I'm looking for sub half minute is all

• 10-15 to determine your maximum charge weight (one shot per charge weight). Do this over a chronograph if you have one. Even if you see no signs of pressure, if speeds are to high, your probably over-pressure and aren't aware of it.
  
• About 20 for rough seating depth test (5 shots per each seating depth)
  
• About 40 for powder charge test (maybe 4 shots per charge weight)

By now you've probably found your load. You'll need to confirm everything and test at range as well but I don't count that in a workup.

• 5 shots per primer tested (maybe 15-20 shots). You should do this if things aren't working for you. Once in a while, the right primer will cut your groups in half.
  
• 15 to 20 shots fine tune seating depth (I pretty much never need to do this).

At this point if I don't see what I need to, I'll probably move on to a different powder/same bullet or different bullet. Could be the gun and not the load also.

 

[Dosh]

Joe, if you're positive everything else (stock, action screws, bedding, scope mounts, scope leveled, trigger pull, etc) are dead on, then look at the loads. I've had friends driven half nuts with loads when the problem was a simple mechanical one. Playing with loads can get pricey.

 

[338 dude]

Just wondering what you require of a particular load before you will continue to work with it? If you see a charge weight that shoots 1.5 moa do you continue to work with it or would you just stop, pull the bullets and try something new? Do you guys see a charge weight shoot that bad and then see another charge weight shoot .5moa or would I just be wasting my time and components? Gun in question is a R700 300 win mag with a new bartlein barrel 9 twist. I had it throated for the 215 Berger and it's shooting them pretty poor like 1-1.5moa where the factory barrel shot them better. The 212eldx seems like it may shoot better but I need to do more testing.

I have a savage 300 win with a BART line one in 10 twist barrel I shoot 185 burgers here is a five shot group at 100 yards if you look closely at the bottom you can see my load specifications This target is a half inch grid

 

[338 dude]

Ho many bullets do you go through typically then? I just hate shooting load after load that's over moa. I'm looking for sub half minute is all

Sub half is all? I want to shoot half an inch group but I normally shoot five not three

 

[Joefrazell]

Sub half is all? I want to shoot half an inch group but I normally shoot five not three

Yeah 5 shots is a real group. 3 shots just gets things started

 

[Joefrazell]

So do you guys normally see the loads you stick with really opening up with more or less powder? I mean over an inch at 100? From my experience usually all the charge weights are decent and one or two will have the nodes/ velocity that are very good. My experience is fairly limited though.

 

[zr600]

I would try this. Use a chronograph that you trust and is accurate. Load up from low to high of what your load data is just do one at each charge level. Watch for pressure and keep an eye on velocities like was said earlier pressure might not show but would be there if your getting high velocities for bullet/cartridge speeds. Look for flat lines in speed. For instance I did a load on a 6.5 creedmoor and I went from 41g-43g in .2 increments and at 42.6, 42.8, and 43 the velocity spread was only 4 FPS so that leaves a lot of room for error on powder charge. So I loaded right in the middle of that my test loads made 4 up the longest they would feed out of my mag which is a ways off the lands if it shoots I'll test it again if it doesn't shoot I'll play with seating depth, if that doesn't help change
primers if that doesn't work I'll try a different powder and if it won't shoot I'll try a different bullet then. Sorry for being long winded. If you need anymore help just ask plenty of knowledgeable guys on here.

 

[J E Custom]

Years ago I decided to change my way of searching for an accuracy load and stop making random changes that May not net me any gain in accuracy. On some rifles I would shoot 40 or more rounds before I saw any improvements.

So I decided to attack one thing at a time and try to eliminate one problem at a time so it would be easier to narrow accuracy down one thing at a time. I took the approach to start with things that were the most variable and get them constant.

Now I start with the load SDs to find out if I have chosen the right powder, case capacity, bullet weight and the primer. At this point I don't care about accuracy just the lowest SD. I can make minor changes and read the effects and then I know what is needed to lower SDs.

Once I have found the right combination, I know that the load its self is consistent. Then I start working on the accuracy by changing bullet styles and seating depths, maintaining the same bullet weights.

With this procedure I have found very accurate loads within 20 to 25 loads. this method has saved me much time and components and added barrel life. I even start with my preferred load while braking in the barrel and found that many times there were indications that I was on the right track even though the barrel was not fully broke in.

Other methods were hit and miss and occasionally I got lucky, but most of the time I just spend time and money an had to deal with frustration
of poor accuracy.

Doing it this way eliminates many of the other reasons for poor accuracy. (Like shooter error) because the chronograph doesn't care if you are having a bad day. And to answer your question I don't stop trying until I see no signs of improvement. Good SDs tell me that I have a good consistent powder burn and pressure that is not effected by any other factor that effects accuracy.

Just the way I test for accuracy loads

J E CUSTOM

 

[LVJ76]

Yeah 5 shots is a real group. 3 shots just gets things started

I can get Sub half MOA five shot groups on my 7mm-08, but not on my 7mm Rem Mag, barrel gets hot on the Mag and it throws the 4th and 5th shot a bit off. I consistently get groups under half MOA with 3 shots, and open up to just under 0.75" on the 4th and 5th shot.

 

[nvschütze]

I just load the ammo. I never get to shoot it...