First reloads report

[Heydeck52]

Took my Howa heavy 20" heavy barrel .308 today to test my first reloads. I started by making batches of 10 started at 37gr-42.5 (data from Hornaday. From doing research it looks like the manual is pretty conservative when it comes to their data.

So I took my first 3 shots with the 38grs of powder. Very soft shooting but hitting 10 inches high. Went to 40grs next had a little more kick but only 6" high. Last I went to the 42.5 grain loads and was getting small groups. Made some adjustments on the scope and found my startingredients load for tweaks. No signs of over pressure.

168gr A-max
winchester brass
42.5 grains of RL15
CCI 200

Very happy so far. Now I need a bullet puller to deconstruct the unused rounds and start tweaking.

Picture of my best group.

[desertjosh]

Nice! And your gun didn't blow up, that's always a plus as well

[Heydeck52]

Nice! And your gun didn't blow up, that's always a plus as well

That was a slight concern of mine.

[8mmFMJ]

What was your distance?

Don't bother with a puller, shoot em.

[Heydeck52]

What was your distance?

Don't bother with a puller, shoot em.

[8mmFMJ]

Save them to zero then. Shooting ammo is never a waste.


Bullet pullers ding up the tips of projectiles.

[JackEllis]

Do I understand correctly that as the powder charge increased, point of impact dropped by a few inches for the same point of aim?

[NorCalFocus]

Now play with the seating depth a little and see if those groups close up a little more.

[baih777]

If you take apart the unfired loads. You to realize that the necks are now stretched from seating a bullet. If you try to reuse them the bullet Might be too loose because the case is now stretched . you May not have the correct neck tension. If you try to resize, remove the primer or remove the decapping pin. And make sure you don't get any lube to the primer.
Its easier to shot them

[Heydeck52]

If you take apart the unfired loads. You to realize that the necks are now stretched from seating a bullet. If you try to reuse them the bullet Might be too loose because the case is now stretched . you May not have the correct neck tension. If you try to resize, remove the primer or remove the decapping pin. And make sure you don't get any lube to the primer.
Its easier to shot them

Didn't consider that. Any issues with removing live primers?

[orangeusa]

I would shoot them. But a bullet puller is a great thing - primarily if a person is concerned about consistent powder drops....

I don't know why you would need to remove live primers... And if you did (with powder removed), there is no problem. But what are you going to do with them? Reuse them and now have another unknown variable?

I dunno, I only load pistol...

.

[silvertriple]

As mentioned by 8mm, use them to zero after your new scope has been installed.

[baih777]

I usually shoot them. I only remove primers from brass when they go in to easy. they are easy to push out. I use the lee decapping die and press gently steady pressure. safety goggles.