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Should I load for accuracy or ES?

nikonNUT

The harbinger of... making things not work anymore
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Minuteman
  • Oct 6, 2019
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    So this one is dumb, like REALLY dumb, question but... If I have a load that shoots say .625 MOA at 200 yards with an ES of 9 and a load that shoots .500 at 200 with and ES of 20 which load should I focus on for long range. I know they should be co-dependent but I only have 200 yards to work with at home and I'm wondering if ES is a better gauge of long range performance versus a tight group at 200 that might fall apart at 600, 800, or 1000 yards. Thoughts?
     
    Hard to tell. GO somewhere else and test a 10 shot group of each and let that tell you.

    Im sure both will be serviceable though.
    👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Hoping to get to Etts or Triple C Range later this year and I will wring it out at 1000 and 1250.
     
    So this one is dumb, like REALLY dumb, question but... If I have a load that shoots say .625 MOA at 200 yards with an ES of 9 and a load that shoots .500 at 200 with and ES of 20 which load should I focus on for long range. I know they should be co-dependent but I only have 200 yards to work with at home and I'm wondering if ES is a better gauge of long range performance versus a tight group at 200 that might fall apart at 600, 800, or 1000 yards. Thoughts?

    like spife said shoot both at 500 and see whats better id be willing to bet the .5 will be a better group of the 2...most times a load will look the same at distance just bigger and 20fps compared to 9fps is not a enough to worry about...run the numbers at 1200 yds i bet your elevation dont change more than 1/10th...maybe 2/10s
     
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    Agree with @Doc68 , 5 shots is not enough to get a good average for either sd/es. Try out both of those again but shoot 20 of each and then see what the group size and es is.
     
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    Find a stable powder node and then adjust seating depth. You should be able to tighten groups up well within acceptable range via seating.

    See what velocity and ES look like on either side of that charge. For example:

    31.8 = 2800 fps 25 es
    32.0 = 2830 fps 5 es
    32.2 = 2860 fps 28 es

    or

    32.8 = 2900 fps 18 es
    33.0 = 2910 fps 15 es
    33.2 = 2918 fps 12 es

    I’d pick 33.0 because the velocity is very close as well as a consistent and acceptable ES. I wouldn’t pick 32.0 just because it has a 5 ES as the velocity spread is a bit much and the ES is not consistent. I wouldn’t even be shooting groups and if I was I wouldn’t pay them any mind.

    Then you go back with your 33.0 and find your seating depth node and get the best accuracy you can. You can then if you choose go back with that seating depth and mess around with a few .1 either side of the 33.0 to tweak the load for the slightly different case capacity you changed with seating depth. But that’s typically only if you’re really tuning things.
     
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    Ah! Seating depth. I shoot commercial barrels, 308 Rem 700 in particular so jamming bullets or seating near the lands is, well it doesn’t happen, cant happen. This is an interesting article you may find interesting. This is a summary. There are several articles in the series.

     
    Ah! Seating depth. I shoot commercial barrels, 308 Rem 700 in particular so jamming bullets or seating near the lands is, well it doesn’t happen, cant happen. This is an interesting article you may find interesting. This is a summary. There are several articles in the series.

    Great read! Thank you! I have to revise my loading procedure. I did do a limited test last night and things were looking good with more jump. Now I need MORE jump!
     
    Great read! Thank you! I have to revise my loading procedure. I did do a limited test last night and things were looking good with more jump. Now I need MORE jump!

    Keep in mind, those articles/tests were *mostly* about stability over large amounts of rounds. More so than pure accuracy.

    In a prs scenario, you want a jump that stays inside acceptable accuracy over the course of the most amount of rounds you will shoot before measuring your chamber again. Generally about 300 rnds (two day match + dope/zero).

    If you are shooting another discipline or measure your chamber regularly, you’ll go with jump that provides the most accuracy.
     
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    Keep in mind, those articles/tests were *mostly* about stability over large amounts of rounds. More so than pure accuracy.

    In a prs scenario, you want a jump that stays inside acceptable accuracy over the course of the most amount of rounds you will shoot before measuring your chamber again. Generally about 300 rnds (two day match + dope/zero).

    If you are shooting another discipline or measure your chamber regularly, you’ll go with jump that provides the most accuracy.

    10-4! I mostly want to bang steel at long range... And deal with those damn squirrels in my yard. I’m kidding! Maybe. 338LM seems like a humane round for the fluff rats, no? 🤣