load development help.

[dmiller369]

so my press and dies are in the mail. I have 4895 powder, amax 178gr, cci primers.

Im going to be making my first load ever. should i first do a ladder test and figure out how much powder, or should i work on bullet seating depth and OAL first?

hindsight how would you do it?

also what should my starting and ending powder charges be for my ladder test using <span style="font-weight: bold">IMR 4895</span>

 

[Helmet]

Re: load development help.

I've found that .010" off the lands always works pretty good so I like to just start their and adjust the load first.

 

[Helmet]

Re: load development help.

I wasn't using IMR 4895 so I don't want to speculate on that, but the 178gr Amax did very well with .010" jump in my 308.

 

[dmiller369]

Re: load development help.

ok i measured my OAL about ten times and most common reading i got was 2.86.

so as you guys say it should be .01 off the lands so 2.85, but i noticed that most guys put it at 2.8. does this seem long?

 

[Helmet]

Re: load development help.

I think you are measuring from the tip. You need a way to measure from the o-give like this: http://www.6mmbr.com/catalog/item/1433308/977259.htm
You will also need a way to measure the length to the lands and grooves(rifling)in your chamber.

 

[Helmet]

Re: load development help.

You can load them to 2.8" overall and they will be OK, but the length of the bullet will change a little from one to the next so you could never consistently load a certain distance from the lands that way. If you measure from where the bullet engages the lands (o-give) you can load them so they will jump the same distance every time.

 

[Helmet]

Re: load development help.

To answer your question, no it does not seem long. That sounds like what the OAL would measure for my Savage. 2.8" is just what the book suggests. If someone is just loading them to 2.8" then they are not being very precise about jump.

 

[targaflorio]

Re: load development help.

308? One of the beauties of 308 is they are often less finicky about jump than many other calibers. First you should decide if you want them to fit in your magazine. If not, you can seat them longer and maybe get more powder in there. If so, you got your max length. I suggest you get your charge weight first and seating depth after that. If you set them to jump only a little, you introduce the possibility that some of the bullets might be touching the rifling and some not, due to inconsistencies in the bullets.

 

[Wolfish365]

Re: load development help.

If you work on either ladder or OCW for finding the best charge weight that gives the most optimum barrel harmonics then find the best seating depth you'll be doing yourself a favor.

 

[fenwick253]

Re: load development help.

Like Wolfish said, start with the OCW. Otherwise you may not see any increase in accuracy from COAL changes if the charge weight you choose is horribly inaccurate to begin with.

 

[2clicks]

Re: load development help.

Been playing this game for a long time now. Never loaded beyond mag length in .308. This is good enough for me... Yes IMR 4895 too. I favor a 600 yrd ladder. 42.5-43 should be a sweet spot around there somewhere in that range or close to it. I started at 41.5 went up from there in course half grain increments. Only time i seat 8-10 thou off is for NRA matches prone at 600 cause it matters more to me there. I figure my .308 bolt rifles ring torso sized steel & 10" plates at 600 nicely that's good enough for that line of fun.

8 shots 100 yrds. I probably f'd up that high shot. Just confirming a 100 yrd zero... Obviously it needed adjustment. Maybe I had a different hold this day. This is what makes me laugh about varget. Zero shifts occur for many other reasons than temp guess I need more practice off the bench. Could be I was prone shooting the time b4 might need to document that next time. Always some variables to eliminate. Thats half the fun for me getting it all figured out.

Also check out the google search function and .308 load page lots of good info there too!