The secret load, best velocity and accuracy! Black magic and the Handloaders art.

[hend238]

Handloading is a hobby in itself. You can jump in with two feet, or just "make ammo" so you can shoot.

I have had access to the finest ballistic labs in the land, and unlike 99% of the guys working there, I am actually interested in the results. I have taken advantage of the labs, over the years, to run a few tests for purely my own interest (as opposed to corporate interests).

One test I ran was on brass preparation. I started with weighed brass (308 Win, cases in 0.3gr increments). Brass was full length sized. 20 were loaded normally, 20 cases had flash hole deburring on the inside, 20 had primer pocket uniforming, and 20 had both flash hole and uniforming.

The 20 round batches were shot in the lab, with a notation of pressure and velocity for each round.

Deburring the flash holes showed a significant improvement. Pocket uniforming did nothing.

FWIW

Interesting...
Where pocket uniforming is important is when you're loading for an M1A for example. Better not have those primers sitting proud or you might be in for a surprise! I guess you're not uniforming for the sake of uniforming in this example but cleaning the pockets. Uniforming is a secondary result. One could use those crappy bristle type pocket cleaners but why bother; I personally despise them. If you're going to go through the motion anyway, you might as well uniform. The pockets sure look nice after too.

 

[Tinman204]

I'm a vintage/milsurp benchrest shooter mostly. I also am a perfectionist.

So I'm the guy who is in a constant search for "more accuracy".

I want 1 MOA out of every rifle with a good bore that isn't a musket!! That being said, I have several rifles that aren't cooperating!!

Also I test my ammo in -30 to +30 weather because accuracy is very important but consistency wins matches!! (so I've been told!!)

Back to the subject, I think any and all tricks should be tried if a handloader is going for sheer accuracy and nothing more. Every trick will not work in every rifle (like trying to seat the bullet to crowd the lead on a swede mauser) so you have to do testing on a rifle by rifle basis.

I think we all have our own tricks/methods while reloading, if the cartridges go bang and are as accurate as the handloader wants them to be, then who am I to tell them any different??

For me reloading is it's own hobby. The real fun is when combining proper bedding, shooting technique and some good handloads and getting consistent tight groups with 100 year old rifles!!

 

[H4831]

I'm just starting out in reloading, but I have a good grounding in a lot of other areas in which woo and pseudo-science get repeat washed until they sound like reasonable, well researched, evidence-based fact.

I find myself wondering how much of the received wisdom I read is useful and how much is the handloader's equivalent of the audiophile's dilemma, where ever-increasing levels of attention to detail by enthusiasts, who are already detail oriented and enjoy tinkering, pushes the bar higher and higher until you get into the realm of the absurd with things like gold plated S/PDIF cables and Shakti Stones.

Or, if these things do make a difference, how much of a difference? Enough to be significant when all other uncontrolled factors, including the shooter come into play? It might make a difference if your rifle is anchored to a heavy sled and the only part of your body that interacts with it at firing time is the pad of your finger, but how much of a difference does it make in the 'real' world, practical sense?

I'm not trying to piss anyone off, nor asserting anything. I'm too new for that and am genuinely curious about it.

How much of this stuff has been verified in a controlled environment?

Canadian gunnutz is absolutely loaded with unproven theories, shooting in general, as well as hand loading.
Many whole threads will go on about things that can not be proven.
Somebody will read something, often on another gun blog, or read it from some gun writer who is desperately in need of filling space in a magazine, then tell the world about his new knowledge, without knowing whether it is fact or fiction.
Many years ago I taught people how to fly airplanes. When I was taking the training to get an instructor's ticket endorsed on my licence, the chief instructor drilled into us to not tell a student anything about flying, that you can not demonstrate to him/her in the cockpit.
What a great place a shooting blog would be, if this principal was adhered to!

 

[horseman2]

A number of reloading manuals list Best Powder Tested, Most accurate Loads, Best accuracy load, and Best hunting load.

Nosler and Sierra are two that I follow when starting a load.

There is little problem starting safely below the max if you wish to use Sierra bullets with loads from Nosler and visa versa or striking off with a bullet by even a different manufacturer.

 

[hend238]

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[John Y Cannuck]

Canadian gunnutz is absolutely loaded with unproven theories, shooting in general, as well as hand loading.
Many whole threads will go on about things that can not be proven.
Somebody will read something, often on another gun blog, or read it from some gun writer who is desperately in need of filling space in a magazine, then tell the world about his new knowledge, without knowing whether it is fact or fiction.
Many years ago I taught people how to fly airplanes. When I was taking the training to get an instructor's ticket endorsed on my licence, the chief instructor drilled into us to not tell a student anything about flying, that you can not demonstrate to him/her in the cockpit.
What a great place a shooting blog would be, if this principal was adhered to!

Nicely put H4831, except that CGN is not alone in being full of theories pushed as fact. Other websites, gun rags, the list is pretty much endless.
This thread is simply to get you guys thinking about what you do. Don't just assume that what someone else puts forward as Gods gift to accuracy, brass life, or whatever, will work for you. Try it by all means, but isolate it from any other changes, and do an honest test with LOTS of shooting. Ten rounds doesn't cut it when you are looking for proof of a definitive change.