Reloading opinions

[rbahri5206]

I am finally ready to start load development for my rifles and have a question. I know everything effects accuracy a little and when all are done you get the most accuracy but to start with other than powder charge what is the single most important thing interns of accuracy. example: coal,crimp, etc...

[Exodus343]

tagged

may I also add, I measured my projectiles and they had some inconsistencies too... would that effect accuracy?

also, COAL means no matter what the brass/projectile length, it must all be the same?

[koehn,jim]

I would start with the weapon, clean it and make sure everything is correct, including the trigger pull and fit. If these are not correct it will not be accurate. Than figure out what you are going to use it for. Do you want paper punching accuracy or plinking, or hunting accuracy. What is the barrel twist, so you can get the correct weight bullets. Than I buy the bullets and weigh them for plus or minus a tenth of a grain in weight with no visible flaws. Than measure the case capacity of the cartridge case and start by trimming them to the same length, than weigh the powder charge and so on. I have always found the process of working up a load to be fun. You also need to keep good notes and I save the targets so I can look at them in the future. You also have to remember that the reason to do this is to have fun not to see how much work you can make it. I enjoy the tedium most people do not. Its a great hobby you have started on enjoy it.

[thai562]

The key to reloading for long range shooting is not really accuracy, but consistencies. Most rifles and ammo are very accurate by today standard. But most ammo you buy are not very consistence. This is where reloading come in. As a reloader you can control the consistencies of the bullets weight, the powder charge, the case capacity, the OAL,and other little things about yours brass.
The result for all this is the same shot every time. If your grouping is larger than expected, than the problem is your rifle or/and your techniques. Now you can start working on those two things, but you can eliminate inconsistent ammo as one of the factor of your poor grouping.

[afrancke]

Here are some factors in order of more to less importance. I will assume for the moment that we are talking about keeping the powder, primer, projectile and brass materials the same and we are only talking about the way they are assembled.

1) tolerable runout - I don't have a number in mind, but maybe +/- 0.004 is close enough to minimize the importance of this factor ahead of other things (in other words, getting to +/- 0.002 is much less important than getting to +/- 0.002, and ditto for getting from there to +/- 0.001 consistency)

2) the right length - not some documented arbitrary COAL but rather a seating depth suited for your weapon - you will have to determine that gun-by-gun, even for the same cartridge. You will not have much choice in the matter for gas guns - and even some bolt guns with mags that don't permit cartridges long enough for the bullet to touch the lands

3) neck tension - the right amount (minimized) and consistent - you cannot control the tension with regular sizing dies, but you can with the Lee neck sizer or bushing sizing dies. This is likely something you won't see any difference from without long ranges, a sub-MOA gun and sub-MOA shooter ability.

Oh, and totally agree with the post above about consistency for everything, overall. That is the meta-requirement for obtaining best results and you won't be able to tell what effect the other things are having if you can't load and shoot consistently.

[Whiterabbit]

I am finally ready to start load development for my rifles and have a question. I know everything effects accuracy a little and when all are done you get the most accuracy but to start with other than powder charge what is the single most important thing interns of accuracy. example: coal,crimp, etc...

SINGLE? Neck tension. IMO. This assumes you are using factory bullets, not homemade.

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Can we go for more than one? neck tension in conjunction with OAL. Right off the lands is NOT always better.

If my rifle is up to snuff, frankly I can dial in charge weight and OAL and I'm good to go. neck tension for me is is digital. It's either right or its not.

[Whiterabbit]

shoot, I like thai562's answer better.

[mark501w]

Buy good bullets!

[GeoffLinder]

In order of importance to get good results with minimal hassle.

1. Use cases from all one batch/brand. This eliminates a lot of internal volume differences and helps uniform neck release tension because brass is similar thickness to start with
2. Use a decent bullet to start. The Hornady bulk 55gr FMJ Boat Tail is the best starting alternative you can choose for the price IMHO.
3. Make sure seating depths (COAL) are within a fairly tight range. +- .001 to .002 max (.004 max spread)
4. Trim cases to uniform length (1.750)
5. Make sure powder charge variances are no more than +- 1.5 tenths of a grain (3/10's total spread).

If this doesn't get you down near MOA then maybe the rifle is a problem or just doesn't like that bullet. But I have seen very few AR's that won't shoot the Hornady 55gr I mentioned above well.

From there on out, you are looking at diminishing returns for amount of work invested. In other words, the steps become harder for less overall gain in target face performance. But for starters, these 5 steps should produce MOA or slightly better ammo in most rifles.