stepping up your loads ???

black_ump

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jul 16, 2007
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erie,pa 16334
so as i reload for my 308 iam currious how much of a step up i should go... example lets say i try 40.9 grain and lets say they shoot fairly well but i wanna go up or down for that matter how much of a jump should i go ? 41.0 41.1 or .2 or should i step up in .5 incroments ? 41.5 42.0 42.5 ect ect
 
Re: stepping up your loads ???

Gun '15,shoot .5gr increments until you find the pressure you wish to operate and rest assured you are there. I don't even shoot paper anymore,during load development.
 
Re: stepping up your loads ???

Hornady Tech's typically increase their loads by .3gr. They said this step is big enough to detect a change. This was for TYPICAL loads and calibers. Approach the fringes of common sense and this does not apply.
 
Re: stepping up your loads ???

There are lots of ways to skin a cat,though I prefer to start at it's asshole. 1/2gr jumps in a 308 will tell you everything there is to know.

I'm not big on wasting components and like to cut to the chase. '15 is your Huckleberry.
 
Re: stepping up your loads ???

It depends.

When I am developing a long range load. I first need to find where pressure shows up (1 shot per charge weight). For this I can use a fairly big step of 0.5 gr (in 308) or just over 1% Charge Weight.

Once I find the pressure point, I drop back 3% and use steps of 0.4-0.5%. HEre I shoot groups of 5 shots each and use group size to narrow down the set of choices.

Once I find a charge weight that shoots acceptably, I use the finest increment I can reliably measure (0.05gr) and survey the whole window between the chosen step size to find the optimal charge weight. I shoot 5-shot groups (again) but I am looking for the CW where accuracy goes to pot (on both ends). I select the CW in the middle of the window.

This generally finds a window that is big enough to throw and go (no trickling.)