I've planned to try this for years, but today was my first time loading at the shooting bench. I started with fully prepped and primed brass. I charged and seated using tools clamped to the bench. I bought a light RCBS press just for this purpose, and I drew an accurate line graph of H110 charge weight versus drum setting on my Redding BR-30 measure to eliminate the use of a scale. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger pic.
Over the years I've wasted a lot of components loading at home then shooting groups at the range. I load a minimum of 5 rounds of each combination I want to try, knowing that it takes at least that many rounds to have any confidence a particular load will shoot. On the other hand, you often know a load is NOT going to shoot after only three rounds, but you end up shooting the remaining loaded rounds to avoid breaking them down. I have also ended up chasing lots of dead ends.
By loading at the shooting bench, I was able to stop at three rounds if the group looked bad from the start, and load more if it was promising. You could quickly try a range of OALs, powder charges, and even different bullet weights, quickly eliminating those that showed no promise. You also got to act on the feedback the target was giving real time. I think I'll be doing a lot more load development this way.
I still hope to get the Whisper shooting better, but I seem to have one load with H110 and Sie 175 that will hold consistently under a minute. At the end of the session, there was nothing else I wanted to try with H110 and the two bullet weights I had with me, so I loaded 5 rounds and shot at a 300 yard target I built from CAT tracks. It has a piece of AR plate set behind a 3" hole cut in the center track. The bolts heads in the photo are 1-1/4". I've shot this with a 260 Rem at 100 yds, with no damage to the tracks or AR plate. Used track pads are way cheaper than AR plate, and my Cousin works for a CAT dealer. . .
My first shot was 8 minutes of elevation above my 100 yd zero and a miss low off the target. My second shot was 12 minutes of elevation and is visible in the picture above if you look close at the 7 O'clock in the black. The three follow up shots were all below the aiming circle, but in total the four shots fell in 2-3/4" at approximately 300 yds. It was a good way to end the day.
Excuse the rambling post, it is past my bed time, but if you have been thinking of trying load development at the shooting bench, go for it! It takes a little effort, but it pays off in terms of quick progress.
Randy
Over the years I've wasted a lot of components loading at home then shooting groups at the range. I load a minimum of 5 rounds of each combination I want to try, knowing that it takes at least that many rounds to have any confidence a particular load will shoot. On the other hand, you often know a load is NOT going to shoot after only three rounds, but you end up shooting the remaining loaded rounds to avoid breaking them down. I have also ended up chasing lots of dead ends.
By loading at the shooting bench, I was able to stop at three rounds if the group looked bad from the start, and load more if it was promising. You could quickly try a range of OALs, powder charges, and even different bullet weights, quickly eliminating those that showed no promise. You also got to act on the feedback the target was giving real time. I think I'll be doing a lot more load development this way.
I still hope to get the Whisper shooting better, but I seem to have one load with H110 and Sie 175 that will hold consistently under a minute. At the end of the session, there was nothing else I wanted to try with H110 and the two bullet weights I had with me, so I loaded 5 rounds and shot at a 300 yard target I built from CAT tracks. It has a piece of AR plate set behind a 3" hole cut in the center track. The bolts heads in the photo are 1-1/4". I've shot this with a 260 Rem at 100 yds, with no damage to the tracks or AR plate. Used track pads are way cheaper than AR plate, and my Cousin works for a CAT dealer. . .
My first shot was 8 minutes of elevation above my 100 yd zero and a miss low off the target. My second shot was 12 minutes of elevation and is visible in the picture above if you look close at the 7 O'clock in the black. The three follow up shots were all below the aiming circle, but in total the four shots fell in 2-3/4" at approximately 300 yds. It was a good way to end the day.
Excuse the rambling post, it is past my bed time, but if you have been thinking of trying load development at the shooting bench, go for it! It takes a little effort, but it pays off in terms of quick progress.
Randy
