Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

[BgBmBoo]

Ok...so I received a comparator set today and measured some factory Black Hills with it and then my ammo.I am using Sierra Blitz King and Speer TNT 50gr.
Even though they have pretty close OAL...the Black Hills with the 50gr Vmax is quite a bit longer at the ogive...so is this maybe why my hand loads suck?
Should I seat the bullets longer so I get closer to where the factory ammo is?

Again...thank you all for your guidance and patience,Stan

 

[Dustin Morris]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

I don't have much time but the simple answer to your question is yes you should load them the same ogive length as the ammo that shoots good. OAL has very little to do with anything other than feeding from a magazine.

 

[psinclair]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

My bet is that will pull your groups in where you want them.
Seat them the same base to ogive as the BH loads and creep it out from there if you have to.

Have you tried 50gr Vmax yet?

 

[81sfo]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Be advised ,when seating amax or vmax bullets you must turn your seating die a few turns up so you dont seat the vmaxes too short.Those bullets are longer than BTHPs so it throws off the overall length if seating both in one reloading session.Maybe thats why you were seating them too short?Good thing you got the comparator, i usually measure the factory loaded ammo Ogive and go from there to see what the rifle likes best.good luck in your reloading!!

 

[cypriss32]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

HAve you dont any research in reloading or are you just taking a fucking run at trying it?

 

[montyb]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

yea, A-Max and V-Max are very different animals.

 

[308isgreat]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

+1 to what SevenBat said.

 

[BgBmBoo]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Pretty much just fuck'in fly'in by the seat of my fuck'in pants Adam...

Anyways....I just ordered some V-max bullets. Could not find any anywhere until yesterday. So soon as they come in I will give it a shot and see what happens.

Take care,Stan

 

[308isgreat]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BgBmBoo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Pretty much just fuck'in fly'in by the seat of my fuck'in pants Adam...

Anyways....I just ordered some V-max bullets. Could not find any anywhere until yesterday. So soon as they come in I will give it a shot and see what happens.

Take care,Stan </div></div>

LOL, just to give you a heads up most rifles shoot best with the bullets barely off the lands to about .030 off the lands. Berger bullets are an exception to this, they usually like to be just touching to .010 into the lands.

I've used Vmax bullets quite a bit in different rifles and it seems like they do best .010 to .015 off the lands.

Good luck!

 

[desertHK]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Stan
Bullet comparator is good for consistent measument of your seating depth. Since it measures from the base to the ogive of the bullet, you don't have to worry about that little flake of copper on the top of the bullets, such as in the case of SMK bullets, which will throw off your measurement of the OAL. Again, if you load SMK bullets you will see a wide variation of the OAL. Now, bear in mind that each bullet due to its design may have different ogive distances. What I am trying to say is take two 155 grains 308 bullets with different shapes and therefore ogive curves may produce two entirely different values from base to ogive distance, even when the OAL is the same in both rounds.

Bullet seating depth is a factor in the overall groupings. This is what I usually do. Again, it's not the best way, nor is it the only way. I try to load them to the longest OAL that I fit in my mag, or my chamber permits. That way I will one standard OAL. Then I vary the powder grains. Now, in 223 ammo, sometimes a 0.1 grain of powder may make a different in the goupings. Good luck Stan.

 

[BgBmBoo]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Thanks HK.
I bought a chamber OAL gauge as recommended by some others here,head space gauge,etc.
I will keep at it and hopefully find a good load for my .223's. Then it is on to the .243,etc.

I did score some Lapua .243 brass,and 500 Hornady 50gr Vmax bullets....so that ought to keep me busy for awhile.

Take care,Stan

 

[desertHK]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Stan
FWIW, my Tikka loves the 55 VMAX with 25 grains of Varget. It shoots sub MOA. I forgot what the OAL was, but it just barely fits into the Tikka mag.

Looks like good scor with the Lapua 243 brass.

 

[Queequeg]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BgBmBoo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Thanks HK.
I bought a chamber OAL gauge as recommended by some others here,head space gauge,etc.
I will keep at it and hopefully find a good load for my .223's. Then it is on to the .243,etc.

I did score some Lapua .243 brass,and 500 Hornady 50gr Vmax bullets....so that ought to keep me busy for awhile.

Take care,Stan </div></div>

Sounds like you are very close to finding the magic.

 

[Doc Holiday13]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Adam B.</div><div class="ubbcode-body">HAve you dont any research in reloading or are you just taking a fucking run at trying it? </div></div>

Whats wrong with that? As long as he is weighing out his charges, he should be fine. Now my father on the other hand I"m surprised he never killed himself. Long story but he is the type that shouldn't reload ever

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BgBmBoo</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Pretty much just fuck'in fly'in by the seat of my fuck'in pants Adam...

Anyways....I just ordered some V-max bullets. Could not find any anywhere until yesterday. So soon as they come in I will give it a shot and see what happens.

Take care,Stan </div></div>

Good for you. I've only been at this reloading thing for like 2 1/2 years now. I sat down and talked with an experienced reloader and he showed me some stuff. I've learned a lot through experimenting and my error rate has been 0 defective rounds outside my first 200 rifle rounds and 0 defective outside my first 200 pistol rounds

 

[grandslam]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Adam B.</div><div class="ubbcode-body">HAve you dont any research in reloading or are you just taking a fucking run at trying it? </div></div>

Im sure you have been a reloading pro since you started, right Adam? How can you be sayin shit like this at 21 years old. I have been reloading for 15 years and still learn new things all the time.

Good for you Stan, have you measured your chamber length to see how far your bullets are from the lands?

 

[ltfirehunter]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Use your new comparator to find the differences in your base to ogive then seperate.
Then use a meplat trimmer to uniform the meplat and your OAL of bullet.
This will aid in OAL case length and ogive to lands uniformity.

You will see a difference in accuracy

 

[BgBmBoo]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Again...thank you all for all the help. I could see myself being very aggravated and spending much more time trying to figure out what to do next if it was not for all the input received here.

If the wind ever stops blowing I will get out to the range and post results of my latest efforts.

Take care,Stan

 

[cypriss32]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: grandslam</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Adam B.</div><div class="ubbcode-body">HAve you dont any research in reloading or are you just taking a fucking run at trying it? </div></div>

Im sure you have been a reloading pro since you started, right Adam? How can you be sayin shit like this at 21 years old. I have been reloading for 15 years and still learn new things all the time.

Good for you Stan, have you measured your chamber length to see how far your bullets are from the lands? </div></div>

Why do I ask that you say? Im no reloading expert, Im still leanring. I seen people do stupid shit when it comes to reloading. Its best to buy a book before you start loading rounds and get an idea of how everything works and safety precedures. I wouldnt want one of my expensive guns being blown up.


Ohh ya by the way Stan, you might consider double checking your charge rates for ammo. I reset my sale afte 10-15 rounds, and allways double check my weights. It pays off after I kept getting mixed results.

 

[BgBmBoo]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Thanks for your input Adam. I actually have been looking into reloading for a good year now and last month bought a press,etc. I actually have SIX reloading manuals....have read them all...have a video from RCBS...watched that a few times...all this BEFORE I made my first load.

Now I am seeking input from those who have been down the road way longer then me so I can fine tune my loads and get them shooting as well as the quality factory ammo I shoot.

Peace,Stan

 

[Cheyenne19]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Stan,
Don't worry much with sorting bullets. IMO that works better when you're seating into the lands. That is where .002" makes a lot of difference. As long as your off the lands it won't matter a whole lot. You can always do this, but it's probably best not to overwhelm yourself with steps. Try to establish where each bullet touches the lands. I would back .010" off of that mark and start with a ladder test. Once I establish a preferred powder charge, then I will adjust the seating depth if need be.
Cason

 

[cypriss32]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Stan, How are the loads shooting threw your rifle? If they are good, try to shoot them at standered COAL. I would chase if I was shooting VLD style bullets. But I jump my AMAX's and SMKS. Never had had any issues doing that. I noticed my SMK loads have not really liked to touch lands. AMAX's for me are 50/50....

But remember its all about consistency. If you have inconsistent charge rates, you will have spuratic groupings...

 

[Cheyenne19]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Adam I've seen the same thing with AMAX's. I haven't shot them enought to really find what they prefer.

 

[Halfnutz]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

Boo, Glad to see you got the gages, I really think they have made a difference in my reloading. They allow you to KNOW where things are instead of guessing. Setting headspace is much better with the gages versus "turn the die in until it touches the shell holder and backing it out 1/2 a turn."

 

[FNuser]

Re: Brown truck brought new toys.....now what?

It sounds like I'm a day late and a dollar short AGAIN, but for any one that hasn't bought the gauges yet don't despair there is a poor man's method. Take a fired case and pinch the neck w your fingers just enough to hold the projectile insert into chamber and close bolt, extract. Measure w calipers this is your coal w\ THIS bullet on the lands. Do math for jump or jam. I usually run into mag length before I get them as long as I would like but for reference as to how far you're jumping w mag length loaded ammo this works as well. Don't mean to say guages aren't nice, but they definetly aren't neccesary. I've been reloading since my plt. sgt. got me started 20+ years ago and have alot of guages and "stuff" accumulated over the years but usually rely on the simple methods that I don't have to find a gadget for. Hope this helps a bro. tring to piece stuff together.