Hello everyone, I will be receiving my first custom rifle from William at LPR in a couple of weeks and will need to do load development on this rifle which will be nothing like the one I sent in. It’s a .308 with a Palma 95 Chamber & Bartlein 5R 1:11.25 twist barrel. I have been reloading for a year and a half now and have acquired some good equipment & decent reloading skills but I am confused on the best way to develop an accurate load for your rifle. I had an accurate load for the factory Remington but it was more luck in discovering that then following an organized plan or testing method.
I have selected 6 different bullets in two different weights; 3 are 155 grain and 3 are 175/178 grain. I plan to do all my initial testing with Varget powder, CCI-BR2 primers and Laupa brass. The way I see it I will need to select the best bullet, the best powder charge and the best bullet seating depth to find my "ultimate" load, but which do I test for first? Do I need to find my barrels most accurate bullet first, then the most accurate charge, then the best powder charge followed by the best seating depth of the bullet? Does it even matter which of these I test for first?
Please tell me if I am on the right track here, I was planning to first load 10 test rounds of each of these 6 different bullets, using the exact same powder charge and seating depth in each load and fire groups at 200 or 300 yards and see which bullet groups best. Then I would take this “best bullet” and do the "ladder test" loading 5 cartridges with the same charge, load the next 5 with a slightly larger charge, the next 5 with an even larger charge and so on until I reached the Max. Shoot these rounds and see which one groups the best, then use that charge & bullet and start testing for the most accurate bullet seating depth last.
Does this sound right or am I missing something here? I also just picked up a chronograph that I could use for load development but I don't really see a use for it until I find out this rifles “accuracy node” in velocity. Does this sound like a solid plan or am I missing something here?
Thanks!
I have selected 6 different bullets in two different weights; 3 are 155 grain and 3 are 175/178 grain. I plan to do all my initial testing with Varget powder, CCI-BR2 primers and Laupa brass. The way I see it I will need to select the best bullet, the best powder charge and the best bullet seating depth to find my "ultimate" load, but which do I test for first? Do I need to find my barrels most accurate bullet first, then the most accurate charge, then the best powder charge followed by the best seating depth of the bullet? Does it even matter which of these I test for first?
Please tell me if I am on the right track here, I was planning to first load 10 test rounds of each of these 6 different bullets, using the exact same powder charge and seating depth in each load and fire groups at 200 or 300 yards and see which bullet groups best. Then I would take this “best bullet” and do the "ladder test" loading 5 cartridges with the same charge, load the next 5 with a slightly larger charge, the next 5 with an even larger charge and so on until I reached the Max. Shoot these rounds and see which one groups the best, then use that charge & bullet and start testing for the most accurate bullet seating depth last.
Does this sound right or am I missing something here? I also just picked up a chronograph that I could use for load development but I don't really see a use for it until I find out this rifles “accuracy node” in velocity. Does this sound like a solid plan or am I missing something here?
Thanks!