Occasional flyers when shooting reloaded ammo from a semi.

[delboybc]

Just wanted to get some peoples opinion on something I have noticed with some of my shots when using reloaded ammo.

I have a benelli R1 in 30-06 and I find sometimes I get these weird flyers I don’t expect or it groups terribly even though everything feels right, even though groups have been good in the past. Seems to just do it with reloaded ammo, factory rounds seem to be a lot more constant. I use the same primer, powder, charge and seating depth all the brass is Remington but some batches can be loaded more than others.

I have been reloading for a few years and find I don’t see the same issue when reloading for a bolt gun.

My question is that I have always noticed when reloading for a bolt gun that the neck is always nice and round when it gets extracted, the semi is much more forceful and I find that many of the necks can have a bit of a dent in them when extracted. The neck looks circular after resizing but just wondering if damage to the neck initially can be a factor with flyers?

 

[mbogo3]

R U loading it SS allowing the bolt to remain open to cool the barrel a full minute between shots? What about the bedding? Tougher on a SA to evaluate.Lots of variables.......Harold

 

[delboybc]

R U loading it SS allowing the bolt to remain open to cool the barrel a full minute between shots? What about the bedding? Tougher on a SA to evaluate.Lots of variables.......Harold

Not waiting that long to cool barrel, but have used similar protocol with factory and handloads and flyers more noticeble with handloads.

 

[Grawfr]

One thing I've noticed is that accuracy depends a lot on the projectile you use to handload. I found that some of the cheapest FMJ I was using for target reloads could vary by as much as ±0.005" in length, with an ogive that was noticeably flatter, visibly so to the naked eye. On the other hand, higher-cost bullets would be consistent within ±0.001" in length. If the same thing happens with bullet weight, then it's not surprizing we get flyers every so often.

 

[brewmech]

my plinking ammo when loaded with cam pro bullets(308,223) will shoot 2-3 times a larger group than sierra matchkings.

 

[Grawfr]

I didn't want to name the brand, but aye... I have some .357 bullets from CamPro in 125gr (FCP TC) that will never get used for anything other than a dead weight. They were doing 15-20 MOA groups (not kidding!) from a bench rest. That's not just the bullet, though, it's likely the weight/velocity combination that my Henry simply didn't like. Winchester Super-X 125gr JHP was also doing very bad at about 10-12MOA. Because I started shooting with that Winchester ammo right after buying the gun, I was for a while seriously wondering whether my scope was broken or the gun itself a complete lemon. Until I switched to Federal American Eagle 158gr JSP and started making 1,5 inches groups at 100m. *shrug*

Now I'm trying to reproduce that ammo with hand loads, and it's a challenge. Need to get a chrono.