reload accuracy
- Thread starter rkr
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More often then not, you’ll have better accuracy with reloads. That’s of course provided you take your time while doing them.
You also have the added benefit of finding exactly what your gun shoots best with instead of just being stuck with a “works in any gun” factory loading.
You also have the added benefit of finding exactly what your gun shoots best with instead of just being stuck with a “works in any gun” factory loading.
Well if you didn't do any development and just picked a random powder charge without working up in a safe manner you just got lucky and fluked into a load that your barrel likes, there is probably improvements to be made if you actually do some load development.
Without some more details it's hard to tell you anything, I don't want to jump to conclusions but if you didn't start at a lower powder charge and work up carefully watching for pressure signs you also got lucky that you didn't damage your equipment or hurt yourself.
Without some more details it's hard to tell you anything, I don't want to jump to conclusions but if you didn't start at a lower powder charge and work up carefully watching for pressure signs you also got lucky that you didn't damage your equipment or hurt yourself.
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To be expected. All the calibres I reload are more accurate than factory ammo.
Welcome to the addiction
Depends on what factory ammo you're comparing to and how good of a job you do developing your loads.
From the OP's description it sounds like he just picked a powder charge to try and loaded it. Nothing about load development.
I don't reload to have more accurate ammo, I reload to have more accurate ammo for the same cost as buying cheap factory ammo. It's pretty hard to beat Federal Gold Medal Match or Nosler Match grade ammo but the cost is absurd so I reload to get the same results for the price of surplus.
Ok. So it wasn't just some random charge. I've started with a safe load and the result was surprising. Didn't expect my first load to be so accurate.
I've used IMR 4064 38.4gr, 150 SST Hotnady bullet and hornady cases with CCI primers. I spent a lot of time preparing the case and for some reason it worked well. I'll try a different charge and see what happens.
I've used IMR 4064 38.4gr, 150 SST Hotnady bullet and hornady cases with CCI primers. I spent a lot of time preparing the case and for some reason it worked well. I'll try a different charge and see what happens.
As you develop the load, you will probably find something higher up that works a bit better. For 308 I've developed loads that are sub MOA in most rifles I've tried them in. 308 is funny like that. Usually, there are wide nodes of accuracy that seem to work no matter what. I Finally got a chronograph after all these years, so it's time to develop a new load.
Luck.
Factory ammo is pretty good quality. If it happens to shoot well in your rifle, that is luck.
Same thing if you pick a load and try it.
But now that you have a load that works well, you are well positioned to start developing a better load.
Change only one variable at a time.
Try the same powder charge with the bullet seated 20 thou longer.
Try the same OAL with 44.5 and 45 gr.
Factory ammo is pretty good quality. If it happens to shoot well in your rifle, that is luck.
Same thing if you pick a load and try it.
But now that you have a load that works well, you are well positioned to start developing a better load.
Change only one variable at a time.
Try the same powder charge with the bullet seated 20 thou longer.
Try the same OAL with 44.5 and 45 gr.
Thats what I thought until my buddy brought his Savage Stealth to the range recently. He was shooting 6.5 Creedmoor Hornady ELD-X and they were amazing for him - he obviously got lucky and the gun simply "works" with this ammo
We chonographed it too and the numbers were incredible
Having said all that I still probably had the edge on accuracy using my reloads (and I'm still convinced theres more to come). And cost - by a long ways.....
Handloads will almost always beat factory cheap ammo, due to the fact that hand loads done right will be more consistent than mass produced low cost ammo.
Match grade ammo is harder to beat, because they are made to higher standards. That said, match grade ammo isn't tuned to your specific gun so it is entirely possible to make better handloads most of the time.
This ^^^ and I can't stress it enough. One change test and repeat. I like to small batches of changes ususally 5 - 10 rounds (I Like 10 so I can make sure it repeats.) And let the barrel cool adequately. Some people get frustrated and don't account for a hot barrel can cause groups to go to crap. No point in fighting the battle on 2 fronts.
Can’t get over the accuracy of our 1895GS with the Woodleigh 405 grain Weldcore bullet and a fairly stiff charge of IMR-3031 powder.
A 5 shot group shot off a rest will punch the solid black centre (10-ring) circle out of a pistol target at 100 yds.
They’re motoring along at about 1925 fps 5’ in front of the muzzle.
Originally designed with the 405 grain Remington fn but the Remington .458 bullets have been impossible to source in Canada except in that anemic factory ammo they make for legacy rifles.
A 5 shot group shot off a rest will punch the solid black centre (10-ring) circle out of a pistol target at 100 yds.
They’re motoring along at about 1925 fps 5’ in front of the muzzle.
Originally designed with the 405 grain Remington fn but the Remington .458 bullets have been impossible to source in Canada except in that anemic factory ammo they make for legacy rifles.
You can often improve accuracy by loading your own, provided you're willing to load to the same degree of accuracy as the factory. As earlier mentioned, that gets harder to do with better quality factory ammo.
An example is my 243 Tikka. With 100 gr Remington CoreLokt factory ammo, I'm lucky to keep my groups under 3 inches at 100 yds. Not impressive.
The same rifle on the same day shot Federal 100 gr blue box cheapies into a 3/4 inch group. I have a hard time improving on that even with hand loads.
But, the kicker is that I can produce those same hand loads each time, while the next lot of Federal factory ammo may shoot the same as the Remington did.
By reloading, you gain a greater degree of control over your ammunition.
And when the guys say "change one thing at a time", that's sound advice!
Regarding the Hornady 140 ELD-M/ ELD-X ammo in the 6.5 CM, I used that to break my Savage in, it was pretty good for factory ammo.
An example is my 243 Tikka. With 100 gr Remington CoreLokt factory ammo, I'm lucky to keep my groups under 3 inches at 100 yds. Not impressive.
The same rifle on the same day shot Federal 100 gr blue box cheapies into a 3/4 inch group. I have a hard time improving on that even with hand loads.
But, the kicker is that I can produce those same hand loads each time, while the next lot of Federal factory ammo may shoot the same as the Remington did.
By reloading, you gain a greater degree of control over your ammunition.
And when the guys say "change one thing at a time", that's sound advice!
Regarding the Hornady 140 ELD-M/ ELD-X ammo in the 6.5 CM, I used that to break my Savage in, it was pretty good for factory ammo.
Not all handloads will beat all factory loads, regardless of how careful you are when you load them. It's a matter of finding the right powder/bullet combination, whether factory or handload. I have seen cheap Remington Corelokts shoot 3/4moa in a rifle, while the same rifle shot high dollar HSM loads to 3moa, and the first handload tested to around 1-1/2moa. It took a change of powder, and some fine tuning of the COL to match the cheap Core lokt loads. That being said, I am usually able to find the best accuracy with handloads , with a bit of load development.
Very true. Some calibers seem easier to load for accuracy in a wider range of rifles. A light weight barrel can be less forgiving IMO which I think is a result of greater amplitude of barrel vibration compared to a heavy barrel. Same frequency, different amplitude.
My Tikka 243 seems to shoot the best between 3060 and 3080 fps, over a variety of projectiles.
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You've found a load getting the accuracy you're happy with, but are you getting the performance velocity-wise you think you're getting. A friend of mine was shooting a M70 carbine in 30-06 and had a load that was decently accurate at 100 yards, but seemed too low at 200 yards. So he used my chronograph and found out he was only getting .30-30 type velocities! Needless to say he made some changes to his pet formula. He had been reloading for decades, but never saw the need for a chronograph. He just went with the velocities in the reloading manuals. In my opinion you can't really do load development properly without chronograph because without it you really don't know what you're doing.
So, next step is to use a chronograph to see if you're happy with the velocities. If you're happy with the accuracy, and happy with the velocity, then after that just make a bunch of those loads and practice at all different distances and shooting positions. Then you're deadly.
I bought a .280 a while back and just happened to luck into the best load for that rifle right off the bat. Any playing I did to squeeze out more accuracy failed. Any attempt to speed up the velocity only opened up the group, but the velocity was good enough for me where it was. I did find a load that was equal to my first load, but nothing that surpassed it. Sometimes the stars line up.
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We handload for all sorts of viable reasons.
Some do it to save money, so that they can shoot more and become more proficient with their firearms.
Of course, this depends on the firearms you're shooting. Depending on bore condition etc, the rifles may not be able to get better accuracy than is available with bulk/surplus/commercial offerings. Some rifles just shoot everything well.
When handloading, one good way to determine velocity is to shoot at different, measured distances. 100/200/300 plus yards etc. Aim for center at each distance and measure the point of impact from your aim point at each distance. Then go to a bullet drop chart to check velocities. Hornady manuals have these charts in them. Otherwise Google is your friend.
Accuracy is far more important than an extra 100 feet per second.
One inch groups at 100 yards are perfectly acceptable groups for hunting and many bullets aren't capable of better accuracy than that.
I'm often surprised how a one inch group with certain bullets is still a one inch group at 200 yards and maybe two inches at 300 yards. I've just come to accept this as the path the bullet stabilizes in during its flight.
Another thing that will have a definite effect on accuracy is your scope. Most fixed power scopes and those without an adjustable objective etc have a fixed distance of around 125 yards where they are parallax free. Anything closer or further out will suffer from parallax distention.
Parallax is the condition where the cross hairs or whichever reticle in your scope "moves" when you move your eye. Learning how to keep your cheek contact with the stock in the same place every time will somewhat alleviate this situation buttttttttt. Usually, it isn't enough to worry about until you're reaching out past 300 yards. Still, it opens the groups accordingly.
Shooting from the bench is a whole different game than shooting out in the field from either offhand or not so steady resting positions.
The VAST MAJORITY OF SHOOTERS NEED TO PRACTICE OFFHAND and other field positions. I have carried a walking stick with a V notch for years to use as a monopod style shooting stick. I would recommend one to everyone.
The bench is a great place to ascertain the accuracy of your rifle/cartridge combination. It isn't a great place to practice field accuracy under all sorts of conditions. You can duplicate SOME of the conditions that occur in the field but nothing like finding an area to shoot different conditions and positions out to 300 yards shows us our potential to make the quick/clean kill our prey deserves.
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Some do it to save money, so that they can shoot more and become more proficient with their firearms.
Of course, this depends on the firearms you're shooting. Depending on bore condition etc, the rifles may not be able to get better accuracy than is available with bulk/surplus/commercial offerings. Some rifles just shoot everything well.
When handloading, one good way to determine velocity is to shoot at different, measured distances. 100/200/300 plus yards etc. Aim for center at each distance and measure the point of impact from your aim point at each distance. Then go to a bullet drop chart to check velocities. Hornady manuals have these charts in them. Otherwise Google is your friend.
Accuracy is far more important than an extra 100 feet per second.
One inch groups at 100 yards are perfectly acceptable groups for hunting and many bullets aren't capable of better accuracy than that.
I'm often surprised how a one inch group with certain bullets is still a one inch group at 200 yards and maybe two inches at 300 yards. I've just come to accept this as the path the bullet stabilizes in during its flight.
Another thing that will have a definite effect on accuracy is your scope. Most fixed power scopes and those without an adjustable objective etc have a fixed distance of around 125 yards where they are parallax free. Anything closer or further out will suffer from parallax distention.
Parallax is the condition where the cross hairs or whichever reticle in your scope "moves" when you move your eye. Learning how to keep your cheek contact with the stock in the same place every time will somewhat alleviate this situation buttttttttt. Usually, it isn't enough to worry about until you're reaching out past 300 yards. Still, it opens the groups accordingly.
Shooting from the bench is a whole different game than shooting out in the field from either offhand or not so steady resting positions.
The VAST MAJORITY OF SHOOTERS NEED TO PRACTICE OFFHAND and other field positions. I have carried a walking stick with a V notch for years to use as a monopod style shooting stick. I would recommend one to everyone.
The bench is a great place to ascertain the accuracy of your rifle/cartridge combination. It isn't a great place to practice field accuracy under all sorts of conditions. You can duplicate SOME of the conditions that occur in the field but nothing like finding an area to shoot different conditions and positions out to 300 yards shows us our potential to make the quick/clean kill our prey deserves.
TURF THE LIBERALS IN 2019
