How anal are you with your "precision" reloads

[JStem1283]

Not talking about bulk pistol or semi auto rifle stuff. Just the stuff you're trying to get your best group out of (for me right now its .308). Obviously for repeatability you want every round to be as close to each other as possible. To what extent do you get to? IE my COL is 2.75xx, so what Ive been doing is as long as its 2.750-2.7550 I use it. With powder I'm measuring using a Dillon scale and as long as it takes a close eye to see the 2 lines being a hair off I use it. Am I being too specific? Not specific enough?

[Trucker76]

Are you weighing your bullets? How about the cases, weighing those? Uniform primer pockets/holes?

[JStem1283]

Bullets yes, everything else no. As long as the pocket and flash hole is clean and the brass is true it gets used. Im sensing that there are people who get way to into this.

[MT1]

What range (distance) are you shooting and how small of a group is your goal?

By your methods you should see results as good as or better than average factory ammo. There are other considerations such as the make/model and quality of the rifle, weather, shooting support (sand bags vs rest), etc...

[JStem1283]

What range (distance) are you shooting and how small of a group is your goal?

By your methods you should see results as good as or better than average factory ammo. There are other considerations such as the make/model and quality of the rifle, weather, shooting support (sand bags vs rest), etc...

Unfortunately just 100 yards now, hopefully joining a 300 yard range shortly. Using this method I achieved sub .5" groups at 100. Im not "trying" for much of anything really, just wondering if people spend more time getting their COLs more uniform etc.

[Trucker76]

yeah match shooters weigh their brass and separate it. Brass that differs a lot in weight will have different volume resulting in pressure variations affecting accuracy. But that's mainly for 300+ yards. Same with primer pockets and flash holes.

Also, do you full length size your brass? If you are shooting it out of the same rifle you can just nexk size which saves your brass life and since it is fire formed to the chamber it will be more consistent and you will have to trim less.

[JStem1283]

yeah match shooters weigh their brass and separate it. Brass that differs a lot in weight will have different volume resulting in pressure variations affecting accuracy. But that's mainly for 300+ yards. Same with primer pockets and flash holes.

Also, do you full length size your brass? If you are shooting it out of the same rifle you can just nexk size which saves your brass life and since it is fire formed to the chamber it will be more consistent and you will have to trim less.

Makes sense, so I'm right where I should be as far as uniformity etc?

I full length size because my brother and I both use my stuff for reloading. We dont shoot a lot, maybe 100 rounds a year each so brass life isnt terribly crucial.

[tabasco_joe]

If you are only shooting 100 rds a year you won't be able to determine how accurate you could be. You may happen upon an accurate load but that's about it.

I've done a lot of benchrest shooting and load development work over the years. Assuming you are starting with a very accurate rifle to start with you can get about 90% of the rifles potential by the following:

1. Purchase new brass and fire form to the rifle's chamber. Always keep the lot together. Never mix brass from other lots or brands.
2. All primers from the same lot.
3. Start with a powder with a reputation for accuracy in the caliber of choice. I've found many powders that had a reputation for accuracy in a given cartridge to live up the promise. I've learned a few of my own as well after experimentation. Pet Loads is a good reference to get started.
4. Over the years I've gained confidence in certain bullet brands and bullet types. Generally speaking the middle weight of the available range is easiest to get good accuracy from.
5. Experiment with the distance the bullet ogive is off the lands. This needs to be consistent as well as precise.

Working these 5 variables gets me the most bang for the buck. If I'm working on a match load I will also focus on primer hole consistency, further weigh cases for uniformity, sort on concentricity and exact powder weights.

Keep in mind if the gun doesn't have the potential most of this is for naught. And if you are sharing the ammo between two rifles you are unlikely to get the best accuracy that could be had if you tuned the load for a given rifle. Years ago my brother and I went on an elk hunt. To prepare we each bought new Savage 110 rifles in 7mm Rem. His was a standard and mine a lefty. Those two rifles couldn't have been more different in tuning loads. Mine dialed in within about 100 rounds to shoot about 3/4 MOA. His took another two months until we worked out all the bugs and got him down from 1.5 MOA to about 0.5 MOA. Important when faced with potential 600 yards shots. They ended up liking completely different powders, bullets, and land offset.

[DucatiRon]

Personally from by bench rest shooting, which is limited I'll admit, my reloads are very precise. Now I generally shoot 300-700 yards. That being said I try to make all my rounds exactly the same. That's one less variable I have to worry about trying to make my shots better. Consistency leads to accuracy. You can do a lot of thing to make the group smaller but consistancy needs to achieved first.

[knight0334]

I don't weigh my brass, but I'll weight my bullets when I'm using the loads for some competition event.

My normal powder loads are weighed manually on a beam scale. My "precision loads" are weighed on that same scale, then tipped into a second beam scale and proof weighed. Probably isn't necessary, but I've been doing it that way for years and haven't had an undercharge or overcharge ever. Yes, I have (2) RCBS beam scales, a 505 and a 502.

All brass are measured and trimmed to a matching length. All cleaned. All have primer pockets cleaned and flash holes made uniform.

My OAL is measured and set on the first cartridge. Then after that I only visually match them up by inspecting the crimp at the knurl/crimp groove.