My first load development!

[SDmtnbkr]

Hi all! I'm brand new to reloading and precision shooting in general but after a post here asking about getting into reloading a local guy reached out to me and has been mentoring me for the last few weeks on reloading and load development! THANKS so much to diego-ted!!

...

So with the crazy shortage in pretty much everything Ted was nice enough to donate good Federal brass, primers, powder, equipment and tons of his time to my cause! I was able to snag up some GRAF 175gr HPBT (SMK seconds I've been told) to round out the supplies needed. After about 2 weeks meeting several times a week I've learned so much! I know I have miles and miles to go, but I can't thank Ted enough for shorting the initial learning curve buy miles... and months!!

Not sure how i'm supposed to post this so here goes...

Rifle is: a bone stock Rem 700 SPS - Varmint 26" 1/12 twist .308 w/Vortex PST 6-24 FFP
Distance is: 100 yards - Indoor range
Rounds are: Fed brass, Fed 210 primer, Hodgdon BLC-(2), 175gr SMK (2nds), cases set to SAMI headspace

The first go about we started with SAMI COAL at 2.800 which resulted in the Ogive being 2.111 or .124 off the lands. I used Hodgdon BLC-(2) in .5 gr incriments, here's what I got: These are 3 shot groups (I only had 19 pieces of brass so I couldn't do 5).

(don't pay attention to the 3 rounds with the X's, there was a target below to sight my scope but it was so far off it was impacting over 1ft high and right, haha)

So it looked like my rifle liked 46 gr. So then we started playing with seating depth starting with .030 off the lands down to .005 off the lands and wow!! The low shot on the .015 was me jerking the trigger because there was a guy right next to me unloading his AR with muzzle brake right next to my ear and the flyer on the .010 was his brass hitting my neck. Other than that I was really excited!! Especially since this is a bone stock SPS-V with terrible stock that's not free floating and what feels like an 8lbs trigger!

Looks like my gun really likes 46gr and .010 off the lands!

**These are 4 shot groups because again, I didn't have enough brass to shoot 5 shot groups**

Ted, if any of this info is posted incorrectly lemme know so I don't make you look bad haha!


To be honest the guy blasting his AR right in my ear was very distracting and trying to overcome that along with being new to precision shooting (shooting with a scope), most of these groups are bigger because of me. I think I cold get them even tighter next time around with more practice and less distraction. This is in fact the very first time i've ever shot this rifle, or any precision rifle.

Thanks for looking! I'm stoked and can't wait to build some more and head to the longer range with the Chrono to get some more data!!

 

[lte82]

Welcome to reloading... where hoarding and OCD actually work to your benefit!

 

[SavageSlayer]

Hi SDmtnbkr,

It's good to have a new reloader out there and thanks a million to Ted for his generosity with time, supplies, and knowledge. It looks like you have a great load there with either the .010" or the .005" off the lands. I am assuming the 100 yard indoor range was Project 2000. If so, that is a really nice place to do load development. I have spent meny hours on that range. Now that you have a good load you should trek out to the Dulzura range and strech it out to 200 and 300 yards. Im not too sure where another range in SD county will let you shoot that far. The Pala Indian reservation has a range with lots of steel targets that goes out to something like 887 yards and there is a group that meets about once a month to do long range shooting. I did it once and it was super fun.

Congrats on getting into the hobby and best of luck in the future. Hit me up if you ever want to shoot together. I have a few load development projects in the works right now.

Jason

 

[Sniper Uncle]

Nice Work, man! Kudos to Diego-Ted, also.

Welcome to the realm of reloading/shooting/reloading/shooting/reloading/shooting/reloading/shooting.........
It is a lot of fun, and very rewarding.

 

[DroidSniper]

Google "chocolate Ice cream for your gun" I would look at a node a bit under 46 gr as at 46.5 you POI shift drastically.

 

[HobbyShooter]

Google "chocolate Ice cream for your gun" I would look at a node a bit under 46 gr as at 46.5 you POI shift drastically.

That's what I was thinking too. I'd take 45 gr and then start playing with seating depths. But... there are certainly a lot of ways to skin a cat and I'd say you've got a pretty good load at 46 gr and -.0010.

 

[Sniper Uncle]

Google "chocolate Ice cream for your gun" I would look at a node a bit under 46 gr as at 46.5 you POI shift drastically.

Yeah, but another pretty dramatic shift at 45.5gr. I would probably try also shooting 45.8gr and 46.2gr and see if either of those tightened up. The seating depth changes that he did may impact what he is doing too. You need to remember that the deeper you set, the higher pressure you create, and conversely, the farther out you go, the lower pressure you have. These two things can change the characteristics of your load quite considerably. I see that the OP has quite a spread on seating depth, as it looks like you have tried .030" off the lands to .005" off the lands. This would indicate that the lower charge might be closer to the money shot, as his groups look best at .010" and .005" off the lands. I guess, I am saying that I agree with you, Droid, as the closer to the lands, the lower the pressure----because the seating depth is less----until you approach too close to the lands, at which time you need much higher pressure to start the bullet moving. This is why I suggest both higher and lower for testing. I lean towards the lower, as you say, Droid.

Any way you cut it, SD, you are on the right track. Keep it up, and the Best of Luck!

 

[SDmtnbkr]

Welcome to reloading... where hoarding and OCD actually work to your benefit!

Took a screen shot of this and sent it to my GF!! She'll die when she see's this, I'm way too OCD and she watches some hoarding show and thinks I'm the perfect candidate, lol! ....coincidentally in the last 2 days I've purchased 10lbs or powder ant over 1k in bullets! 500ea of 178 A-Max and 175 Berger OTM Tactical's!

Yeah, but another pretty dramatic shift at 45.5gr. I would probably try also shooting 45.8gr and 46.2gr and see if either of those tightened up. The seating depth changes that he did may impact what he is doing too. You need to remember that the deeper you set, the higher pressure you create, and conversely, the farther out you go, the lower pressure you have. These two things can change the characteristics of your load quite considerably. I see that the OP has quite a spread on seating depth, as it looks like you have tried .030" off the lands to .005" off the lands. This would indicate that the lower charge might be closer to the money shot, as his groups look best at .010" and .005" off the lands. I guess, I am saying that I agree with you, Droid, as the closer to the lands, the lower the pressure----because the seating depth is less----until you approach too close to the lands, at which time you need much higher pressure to start the bullet moving. This is why I suggest both higher and lower for testing. I lean towards the lower, as you say, Droid.

Any way you cut it, SD, you are on the right track. Keep it up, and the Best of Luck!

Thanks for the insight. Like I said before it was literally the first time I'd ever shot a high powered rifle (have always shot AR/M-16's) and was not used to the extremely stiff stock Rem trigger so I'm willing to bet a lot of those spread out groups are mostly me. This was just an introduction into how to do load development so that I could walk through all the steps and understand the mechanics of what I should be doing.

I have a Timney trigger on the way and with a little more practice under my belt I might very well just start over once I'm more comfortable and I know that I can control the rifle the way I want and actually get real useful hard data that isn't skewed by my not-so steady hands.

Thanks again! Excited to keep learning and shooting!

 

[lte82]

Took a screen shot of this and sent it to my GF!! She'll die when she see's this, I'm way too OCD and she watches some hoarding show and thinks I'm the perfect candidate, lol! ....coincidentally in the last 2 days I've purchased 10lbs or powder ant over 1k in bullets! 500ea of 178 A-Max and 175 Berger OTM Tactical's!




Thanks for the insight. Like I said before it was literally the first time I'd ever shot a high powered rifle (have always shot AR/M-16's) and was not used to the extremely stiff stock Rem trigger so I'm willing to bet a lot of those spread out groups are mostly me. This was just an introduction into how to do load development so that I could walk through all the steps and understand the mechanics of what I should be doing.

I have a Timney trigger on the way and with a little more practice under my belt I might very well just start over once I'm more comfortable and I know that I can control the rifle the way I want and actually get real useful hard data that isn't skewed by my not-so steady hands.

Thanks again! Excited to keep learning and shooting!

I have the same "problem" my friend... buy it cheap, stack it deep! Wait till the craziness is over and you can buy multiple kegs of powder and 500ct packs of bullets ON SALE. Youll see ;-)

 

[DroidSniper]

Yeah, but another pretty dramatic shift at 45.5gr. I would probably try also shooting 45.8gr and 46.2gr and see if either of those tightened up. The seating depth changes that he did may impact what he is doing too. You need to remember that the deeper you set, the higher pressure you create, and conversely, the farther out you go, the lower pressure you have. These two things can change the characteristics of your load quite considerably. I see that the OP has quite a spread on seating depth, as it looks like you have tried .030" off the lands to .005" off the lands. This would indicate that the lower charge might be closer to the money shot, as his groups look best at .010" and .005" off the lands. I guess, I am saying that I agree with you, Droid, as the closer to the lands, the lower the pressure----because the seating depth is less----until you approach too close to the lands, at which time you need much higher pressure to start the bullet moving. This is why I suggest both higher and lower for testing. I lean towards the lower, as you say, Droid.

Any way you cut it, SD, you are on the right track. Keep it up, and the Best of Luck!

I typically keep my bullets seated just shy of the lands or to max mag length. OCD works out well in reloading.

 

[rodnocker1`]

Welcome to reloading... where hoarding and OCD actually work to your benefit!

I agree! (I'm all 3-reloader/hoarder/OCD.....BIG TIME!).

 

[diego-ted]

Art is doing a great job of learning the mechanics of the reloading process as well as understanding the concept of matching components together to come up with that best possible combination of available components that work best for his particular rifle.

We have had enough obstacles and anomalies with this particular load for him to understand that the processes are not perfect or absolute, they sometimes require modifications and changes on the fly to get things to work.

Because Art is going to change his rifle significantly in the next couple of weeks, we were not looking for the ideal load for this rife, just for him to learn what it takes to come up with the ideal load. As a matter of fact based on his recent purchases this particular load will never be the load for his finished rifle.

Everyone has to have a foundation on which to build on and I think Art now has a solid one. In the coming months he will develop and shoot out to 1000 yards a load he developed and will acquire the pride one gets in doing so.

Diego

 

[Hosshunter]

Welcome to reloading... where hoarding and OCD actually work to your benefit!

Ain't that the truth! Well said.