How Important Is Consistent Powder Charge

[kamlooky]

And no matter how consistent you are with being perfectahmundo, sometimes the wind
comes along and adds a twist to things.

 

[StoneHorse]

And no matter how consistent you are with being perfectahmundo, sometimes the wind
comes along and adds a twist to things.

Yes sir, throw in variable cross wind demons just to make things a little more interesting.

 

[BCBRAD]

A lot of variables can be attended to at the reload bench and verified with modern tools.

A varying cross wind takes practice and experience and should be the only variable one is concerned with. An accurate .22RF with a 'turret' scope is a good practice piece to learn the wind. At 200m it pretty much duplicates a 308 Win at 800m for wind calls.

 

[Ralph124c41]

A consistent powder charge is important for accuracy.

That said, it's a combination of parameters that begets a good load, these are:

Low variance of case volume
Concentricity of the loaded round
Consistent neck tension
Primers seated to a consistent depth
Consistent powder charges +/0 0.02 grains

Do all that and you load still might not perform, the key is finding OCW (OCW will be one that has all of the deterrent chemicals consumed at peak pressure 'optimum burn') and the charge weight produce a velocity that is on a barrel node.

Sketchy velocity readings can be resolved using a LabRadar or Magneto-Speed, barrel nodes and optimum burn can be found using QuickLoad.

I'm using a Crony F1 machine to measure velocity. The new LabRadar looks very attractive. Ralph124c41.

 

[horseman2]

These groups were shot at 200 meters and the load was #1 - 38.0 grains and #8 - 41.5 grains and the loads progressed in 0.5 grain increments.

 

[bearhunter]

And no matter how consistent you are with being perfectahmundo, sometimes the wind
comes along and adds a twist to things.

Don't forget about reflected heat from sunlight on different surfaces. Big JOO JOO is absolutely necessary to super consistent accuracy, even at extended ranges.

 

[Kryogen]

I like my lab radar for measurement purposes.
No need to bother, just set it up and chrono all shots, whatever you are shooting, it just works fine.

Do you need it? No, but I'm the engineer kind of guy, and I like data, and it's why I like the lab radar and quickload.
I enjoy reloading more than I enjoy shooting.