How often do you get to shoot?
I ask because, for my first set of loads, I just went through all the prep steps, picked the minimum of the listed charge weights for my chosen bullet, built myself about 20 rounds with a number of different bullets seated to the listed OAL, and called it a night.
My goal with that first batch was simply to get rounds downrange without winding up with parts of my rifle embedded in my face. Now I've run through the cycle of prep and shoot a few times, now I'm starting to feel confident in trying out other things and will be going out to do my first ladder test tomorrow with two different powders and four different bullet types.
That's for my .223. I recently acquired a .308 that I'll be loading for tonight for the first time, and those initial loads are going to be the minimums straight out of the book.
If you're nervous about it, why not just do that? Forget about all this accuracy and consistency business for now-- just load up some rounds with parameters right from a trusted source, say your Hornady manual, and get past your hesitation about squeezing the trigger on something you assembled at home. Carefully examine each case as you extract it for signs of pressure (there almost certainly won't be any with that starting charge) and think to yourself 'I HAVE MADE AMMO'.
Later on you'll realize that it wasn't such a big deal and you'll feel much more confident about it. You'll also have a rock solid safe starting load (well, two-- one for each primer) from which to start incrementally working up.
Just a suggestion. That's what I did (and am still doing). I sometimes wonder if some of the salty dogs around here have forgotten how scary it was to pop their cherry on their first reloads.
Thanks HeavyTread! That made me feel better! I haven't got out very often in the past, but that is about to change. I think that I will do this initial ladder test (now that they are loaded), then start getting rounds downrange. Great advice!
