Reloads, just how anal are you?

[Pharmseller]

Oh, and I always make sure I have a small white dog in the room when I seat bullets. Optional for case prep but essential for bullet seating.

It matters.




P

 

[Jeff_Gibbons]

I enjoy the tinkering but have changed my approach some. I try to buy good brass and standardize. no more weight sorting brass for me. I used to trickle charges into a balance beam. The rcbs charge master is the only way from now on. I’m playing with bushing dies now but haven’t seen much difference really. I do want to see a tight group at 100. But haven’t seen much recently woke up to the idea mentioned by others above - more fun and way more important to shoot field conditions at distance. Hitting steel at 750 is fun off a bench but hitting a pie plate at 400 off a backpack first shot is a lot more fun.

 

[SouthernOhioGuy]

3 moa for blasting ammo and 1 moa for precision.

 

[wyosam]

I buy good brass. I used to be very particular with all the standard down the rabbit hole stuff. Now it’s try my first choice bullet with my first choice powder, pretty large charge jumps in the pressure ladder, .5-1 grain. If it doesn’t do what I want but is close I might try a second powder. If not, bullet #2. If it doesn’t shoot it’s a tomato stake (or maybe a fireforming barrel depending on what it is. I chased a few around wasting a bunch of time and money in the past. Even if I eventually got them to shoot, it probably wasn’t worth it. I’ve only had 1 lemon in the last 8-10. I choose cartridges to minimize trimming. I use the Lee collet die a lot. I used to trickle onto a balance, then used an electronic thrower that was a little less accurate. Now I throw a lot of stuff from a manual thrower and never weigh it once it’s set- even with larger stick powders. Accuracy is still tight, ES is well below whats necessary for my needs. My borescope has even more dust on it than my case trimmer. I do still anneal every firing on a lot of stuff, every other on the rest. I like my brass to last. I don’t load real hot anymore, but I save and separate cases with loose primer pockets for moose loads. A dab of superglue keeps primers in until they get ejected into a swamp to never be seen again.


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[magtech]

Reloading takes time to get right IF you want small groups and low sd.

Just doing powder/oal changes can lead you into tens of groups or more. Then fine tuning powder/oal can double that.

Mandrel changes seating pressure changes... blah blah blah...

TLDR: A good/great load takes time. Reloading and shooting takes time. If you dont have that, maybe your loads are good-nuff for the time you have.

 

[Nimbus73]

I appreciate all the feedback and there have been some interesting opinions. Since I only have factory rifles, including one recently re-barreled with a new factory takeoff, I think it is safe to say in my situation I am about where I should be. I just got a membership to a local gun club, so my range trips can be more frequent. I'm confident knowing that what I'm doing is correct, and as time goes by, I will incorporate more advanced techniques to my process which result in slight improvements. For my intentions, I am happy with my results, but there have been a few times where I'm like, man I wish I had another reloader shooting my load in my weapon so I can tell if things I see on target are the load or the shooter.

 

[BBob]

Something I almost never see talked about and a very good way to reduce group size. Who actively uses wind flags? Does your range have any sort of flag and do you pay attention to it or to them? Mirage? Do you pay attention to it? Ever used a mirage board? It doesn't matter how good your reloads are if you're not addressing the wind. If you aren't paying attention to the wind when assessing your reloads you just might be wasting your time.

 

[justin davis]

I go back and forth. A lot of respected guys in here that hunt a lot and say you don’t need to have crazy groups to hunt. I agree

But then on the other hand I see guys that are real picky and shoot tiny little groups and it makes me think I need to step my game up haha

 

[dreadi]

I get mad if I'm not shooting sub MOA at 200yds because I am capable of loading and shooting that well.