powders and primers

[D Scott]

Any one have advice on some reloading stuff, I am shooting noslers 140's in a 260 rem, using h4831 with different weights,43, 44,45,46, I found the 45 gave me the lowest ES at 24-25 fps, and a SD of 9.45, at 2856 av speed,at .465 " is a sample of 10 shots enough?

I tried some Ramshot hunter with these bullets and got over 100 fps differences at 44 and 45 gr weights, looks like the H4831 is much tighter. the 45 and 46 gr are a bit compressed, working within my COAL.

I have shot about 50 rounds overall with the 45 grains and average under a half inch ,with some groups in one basic hole.

When loading for long distance should one initially shoot for low ES and SD regardless of accuracy and not be checking accuracy as you go( to save time?)

1 so whats a good way to match up primers with powder?

2 do you worry about cleaning the barrell between shots or groups of shots to keep things the same?

3 how about barrel heating? how long b/t shots?

4 when doing fine tuning with the powder how much should you increase/decrease powder to find the best weight so if 45 is pretty good should I try to go up in tenths of a grain or more at a time?

5 any influence from primer seating depth?

Thanks again in advance Scott

 

[backwoods83]

With a 25fps es that could grow to 100fps at 500yrds and that's not good, try Imr4350, keep even neck tension, and play with seating depth. Try keeping your groups as small as possible but get your es in the single digits, less than fps if you can.

 

[D Scott]

whats a reasonable fps variation measured at the muzzle?

 

[backwoods83]

1-3fps awesome, 4-7fps great, 8-10fps good, 10-15fps ok, 15fps + try again!

 

[D Scott]

thank you for the advice i will try again

 

[D Scott]

I thought I was pretty meticulous , its a factory savage shooting about a 1/2 inch at 100, what else could i do? using forster dies and new brass cci br primers any thoughts? thanks again Scott

 

[trebark]

1 so whats a good way to match up primers with powder?

There's no brilliant way. All you can do is choose a primer and a powder and if you do not get the results you want, try a different primer or powder. The key is to only change one thing at a time so that you can measure the effect of the change.

2 do you worry about cleaning the barrell between shots or groups of shots to keep things the same?

The only time I worry about barrel conditions is if the rifle starts out clean. I like to shoot a couple of foulers before starting to measure my test ammo.

3 how about barrel heating? how long b/t shots?

I generally take a minute or two between shots.

4 when doing fine tuning with the powder how much should you increase/decrease powder to find the best weight so if 45 is pretty good should I try to go up in tenths of a grain or more at a time?

Generally speaking, make 1% changes in powder charges. For for instance, your loads are all in the 40+ grain range. I would make .4 grain changes e.g. 44.4, 44.8, 45.2, 45.6 etc.

Then if you find a load that seems to work well, you can try .2 higher and .2 lower

5 any influence from primer seating depth?

Not sure. Have never experimented with different depths. Always seat primer to the bottom of a uniformed pocket.

 

[diriel]

You might try the H4350 powder as well sir. I have had great luck with Win LR primers, and the Wolf LR primers. Brass wise, You can go with Lapua and it should be pretty close to Just Load it UP, or you can go with something like Winchester brass and you will need to sort by internal volume, and make sure to check the necks ect... a good bit of brass prep in-other-words As for the 140gr bullets, believe it or not I have had fantastic luck with Sierra 140gr GKs out to about 800 yards! Bergers are real nice too however, but they can be a little bit finicky on seating depth.

Have a good one,
Gary

 

[backwoods83]

They both give good advice, don't worry about primer seating depth it doesn't effect es noticably if they are flush in a uniform pocket as mentioned. Yes H4350 works good as well, but most of my reference comes from loading for bench guns, in that case the Imr usually is more consistent, but not always. Also mentioned was brass, weigh your brass try to get a batch sorted where all is within 2 grains of each other. A slight polish on the inside of the case neck also aides in more consistent releases, you can use 4-0 steel wool or 400 grit sand paper. All these things together will get your ES in the single digits.

 

[D Scott]

THanks for the advice Backwoods, Ive been using a bronze cleaning brush on the inside of the neck do you think that is too coarse? on my case prep center but have not been weighting the cases