Basic Reloading/Round Workup Direction

Paulyester · Dec 17, 2024

Just starting to reload my own bullets. After some newbie bumps and bruises, I'm finally getting into a groove preparing my brass so that they are all consistent. Now I need to make a load for my rifle. 6.5 Creedmoor, Outlier 26" barrel.

What is my goal of working up different rounds? Say I have 50 rounds worked up, 5 shots with each charge, I go out and shoot and chronograph them, am I only concerned about ES and SD to begin with, or do you factor in where they are hitting on the target as well? For example, if I have a load that produces a 9FPS ES and 4 FPS SD, but shoots 1.4 MOA at 100 yards and another load that shoots 20 FPS ES and 10 SD but shoots .4 MOA, which one do I work with? Do I go with the best SD and then start playing with seating depth?

Any advice on the process would be appreciated

918v · Dec 17, 2024

Take the low sd load and try different seating depths.

Rocketmandb · Dec 17, 2024

A lot is dependent on what you intend to do with the rifle. If it's going to be a 100-yard range rifle, then SDs don't really matter. Find the best combination of SDs and group size then tune seating depth to bring in the groups more.

OR - if you're going to be going for longer ranges, then do what @918v says.

OR - if you just enjoy optimizing, then also do what @918v says.

Rocketmandb · Dec 17, 2024

Paulyester said:
For example, if I have a load that produces a 9FPS ES and 4 FPS SD, but shoots 1.4 MOA at 100 yards and another load that shoots 20 FPS ES and 10 SD but shoots .4 MOA, which one do I work with? Do I go with the best SD and then start playing with seating depth?

One other thing - don't assume that a 9 FPS ES/4 FPS SD load will hold up - or even be the best performing load - after only 5 rounds. You need to find a couple of the best performing loads, then validate them over 20ish shots.

Paulyester · Dec 17, 2024

Rocketmandb said:
A lot is dependent on what you intend to do with the rifle. If it's going to be a 100-yard range rifle, then SDs don't really matter. Find the best combination of SDs and group size then tune seating depth to bring in the groups more.

OR - if you're going to be going for longer ranges, then do what @918v says.

OR - if you just enjoy optimizing, then also do what @918v says.

Great question. One rifle will be used for long range only, 700 yards plus, the other I'm building for NRL Hunter matches so longerish ranges as well.

KYAggie · Dec 17, 2024

I see this quite frequently in load development where I have the best group exhibiting the worst SD, often around 20 and the low single digit SD group being the worst. Like someone else already said, three or even five shot groups are not really statistically significant; only indicators or what could be. I typically pick the smallest SD charge to load and then do a seating depth test. It’s always interesting to me how much seating depth affects ES and SD too. I recently tried a different method to test a bullets preferred seating depth by loading rounds starting .01” off in .005” increments to .10” off, 1 round each, shot them on a target 500 yards away and recorded the vertical difference from the first round on target. It was eye opening. None of the rounds were below the first and there was a spot on the chart where the differences between shots from seating depth .04 to .06 were only .2” different elevation wise from each other and around 3” above the first shot. I would say that’s where I’ll seat that bullet. The rest were all over the place elevation wise from 1” to 7” above the original shot.

I’m not authority on this stuff, just someone having fun trying different things and learning from it.

Paulyester · Dec 23, 2024

JR1200W3 said:
I think when you load ammo you're trying to achieve precision, low SDs and ES, meet external ballistics outcomes like hitting a certain muzzle velocity goal, and doing it all in a healthy load that doesn't ruin brass and is consistent over the long term. CPT Obvious stuff, right?

The challenge can be getting all those things at once and repeating them. There is a truth that people can chase their tails thinking they've achieved it all when shooting small sample sizes and then the next time out, the load "falls apart". The reality is they never achieved it, it just looked good for 5 or 10 or 15rds.

My best advice is not to get hung up on low SDs and 1/4moa groups for a while. Don't take the path least traveled with factory second blems and cheap brass. Just focus on producing a generally consistent result over hundreds of rounds. Sart out with higher end components. Using very consistent bullets, brass, Hodgdon powders, CCI450's, and a good powder measure will get you 90-100% of the way to achieving it all. IMO, precision trumps all. Focus on that first and if you're using quality components it's damn hard to load ammo with SDs higher than 15 over 20rds. And learn how to produce the same result over the life of a barrel. Along the way, look out how to reduce steps and time to produce the same quality of ammo.

It's interesting you said that. I started reloading two months ago and the biggest thing I've learned or could pass on to someone else just learning, is consistency of preparation probably trumps everything else. You have to do the exact same thing to every round, because it matters. Initially I was tumbling with steel pins with some, walnut shells with others, using a mandrel on some cases that were slightly deformed and not others, and it all matters. Consistency of powder loads are huge as well. Initially I had a Frankford Arsenal pocket type scale and until I did some testing and realized it was not accurate to .1 grn, not even close. Maybe .3 on a good day, but it was consistenly =/- .4 gn.

Paulyester · Jan 2, 2025

Rocketmandb said:
One other thing - don't assume that a 9 FPS ES/4 FPS SD load will hold up - or even be the best performing load - after only 5 rounds. You need to find a couple of the best performing loads, then validate them over 20ish shots.

Oh man, this was some serious foreshadowing... Please see my next post. Short answer, my ES/SD DID NOT hold up at all

Reloading Help Needed

I'm new to reloading and I've found it can be loads (pun intended) of fun and the most frustrating thing ever. I'm trying to work up loads for my Seekins PH2 6.5 Creedmoor for NRL Hunter matches. I'm using 3 times fired Hornady brass (140 ELDM Match boxes originally). Using Hornady FL Custom...

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Basic Reloading/Round Workup Direction

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