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 Grade dies, sizing the cases first, and then installing the expander mandrel to open the necks. I have Federal Match LRP primers and I'm using H4350.
First I worked up 50 rounds, 5 rounds each from 40.1 to 41.0. At 40.2 (8.2 ES and 3.3 SD) and 40.3 (11.4 ES and 3.9 SD) I had very good ES and SD, and the groups were not bad, about 1 MOA. For the 40.2 I had an average of 2673.7 FPS and a min/max of 2669.5/2677.7 and for the 40.3 I had an average of 2682.6 FPS and Min/Max of 2677.6/2689.0
All rounds are chrono'd using a Garmin Xero by the way
So I went back and worked up 50 more rounds, 10 with the exact same seating and 40.2 gn, and then played with the seating .020" front and back of the original seating depth (COAL was 2.800 on my first load rounds) to dial in some accuracy. What I got was an absolute mess and makes me want to go back to buying boxes lol.
The first 5 rounds, which were supposed to be identical to the rounds that shot an ES and SD of 8.2 and 3.3, now gave me a ES of 39.0 and SD of 14.0! Okay I thought that was a fluke of some sort, so I did the next 5 rounds which were also identical charge and seating depth to the 8.2/3.3 rounds and this time I got SD of 26.7, ES of 10.2. This continued to through the entire 50 rounds of 40.2 and 40.3, ES's in the high 20's or 30's, SD's in the teens. And then, all of a sudden, I got a load of 40.3, CBTO of 2.172 at ES of 9.2 and SD of 3.2. Every other load with the exact same powder charge was all over the map.
Any suggestions here, I'm at my wits end. Do I go back and do another ladder with the powder? The only thing that I can think that changed was it was about 10 degrees colder on the second day, and the brass had been shot one more time obviously.
First I worked up 50 rounds, 5 rounds each from 40.1 to 41.0. At 40.2 (8.2 ES and 3.3 SD) and 40.3 (11.4 ES and 3.9 SD) I had very good ES and SD, and the groups were not bad, about 1 MOA. For the 40.2 I had an average of 2673.7 FPS and a min/max of 2669.5/2677.7 and for the 40.3 I had an average of 2682.6 FPS and Min/Max of 2677.6/2689.0
All rounds are chrono'd using a Garmin Xero by the way
So I went back and worked up 50 more rounds, 10 with the exact same seating and 40.2 gn, and then played with the seating .020" front and back of the original seating depth (COAL was 2.800 on my first load rounds) to dial in some accuracy. What I got was an absolute mess and makes me want to go back to buying boxes lol.
The first 5 rounds, which were supposed to be identical to the rounds that shot an ES and SD of 8.2 and 3.3, now gave me a ES of 39.0 and SD of 14.0! Okay I thought that was a fluke of some sort, so I did the next 5 rounds which were also identical charge and seating depth to the 8.2/3.3 rounds and this time I got SD of 26.7, ES of 10.2. This continued to through the entire 50 rounds of 40.2 and 40.3, ES's in the high 20's or 30's, SD's in the teens. And then, all of a sudden, I got a load of 40.3, CBTO of 2.172 at ES of 9.2 and SD of 3.2. Every other load with the exact same powder charge was all over the map.
Any suggestions here, I'm at my wits end. Do I go back and do another ladder with the powder? The only thing that I can think that changed was it was about 10 degrees colder on the second day, and the brass had been shot one more time obviously.
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