reloading and testing ammo questions

[black_ump]

I am not really sure how to ask this, so i will try and explain it the best i can.

I have collected every thing i think is needed to reloade for my msg90 clone, i have bullets ranging from 110 to 190 grain press dies ect ect, i have made various loads ranging from (example) 40 grains of blc-2 to 47 grains of blc2 to just try out while i was waiting to get this build done. i guess my first question is where do i start ? do i just grab a box of bullets load five or ten rounds at 40 grain and work up till i reach max pressure and if i dont find any thing good then grab a diffrent grain of bullets and do the same and just keep it up till i find somthing that is as accurate as i want and then load the shit out of that ? will case weight effect any thing for my style of loading ? i would like to be as accurate as i can i know every one is knocking loading match for the hk style rifles but iam pretty serious about it so any help would rock

should i trim the brass ? this is an auto loader not sure if its needed or not, i cannot seat my bullet off the lands because of the box mags ( tryed this once ) any other little things i can do just to get the most out of my reloading ?

 

[hawkinpup]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

That's a good question when your starting out. Pick your Brass and bullet weight for what you think you are going to use it for, Paper, Game, whatever, and start with that. Figure out what powder will work best for you. read, read , read and start reloading. Read this link it might help. It might be somewhat of a starting point.

http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/#

 

[black_ump]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

it did to an extent, heavier bullets for longer ranges correct ? lighter bullets for shorter ranges ?

 

[AXEMAN]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

i have a cetme and after reading about it, i recall one thing saying the 147-155 grain bullets were reccomended for properly cycling the action. im not saying that the case with the rifle you have, but its something you may want to research. heavier bullets may be better for long range, but the palma bullet is only 155g. i know you say your serious about match loads with that psg copy, but really just start with a 147-155 and see what happens. you might not be able to group any better with any other weight. dont worry about seating to the lands unless you can measure them, just set case length to 2.80 and shoot some. look up the load data for that bullet weight and go. maybe buy or load some 168g match loads and see if it shoots any better. i dont know why but id stay away from the 90g in that thing. i dont know enough about it so id have to read up on it before i comment. you stray too far off the spec bullet weight, you may start to get failures, or it may feed all weights flawlessly

you saw lethal weapon didnt you? i wanted one too

 

[black_ump]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

lightes i have shot is 110 gr siarra hp's they group pretty good actually, i shot 168's the kick pretty hard, but at that time i had a standerd g3 butt stock, since i went to the msg90 with rubber butt i think iam going to be able to handle the heavier bullets...

do you take your reloading stuff to the range and load at the range in order to test ? shoot 10 and load and shoot 10 more and load ? thats the procedure right ?

 

[AXEMAN]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

bah. i did this for my first outing with my bolt gun. i have 5 rounds starting at 40g going up 0.4g til i get to 44g. then i have a bunch that are 40g just to sight in and then one each from 40g to 44g in 0.4g steps. check out this method ...

http://www.6mmbr.com/laddertest.html

might be easier. nice rifle. no real proceedure. everybodys mind processes stuff differently so however you get to the end is cool, as long as you get there. i know guys that have a whole second set of loading stuff thats portable to load at the range, some use that hand press for singles. it my first time reloading and shooting this rifle so its easiest in my mind to load up 100 and head for the range. next time may be a 100 but just in the 42-43 grain range. its all up to what works best for you to get your results. just keep notes and do it the same everytime if you can.

oh yeah, i would think you would have to trim the brass eventually. but dont worry til its over. does that rifle have the fluted chamber? does it mark or dent the brass?

 

[black_ump]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

ya fluted chamber and last time i shot it it was pretty rough on the brass casings.

trigger pack will be here this weekend and i will be hitting the range

 

[gnfiter3]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

Don't muddy your water.
Save some time by picking 1 or 2 bullet weights at a time.

110 Varmint
150 or 168 short taget
175 long range

As you mentioned BLC-2, the powder load range is from 52 for a 110 grainer down to 43.5 for a 200. (Max recommended charges for the pill wieghts.) Don't go crazy, unless you have time a $ to burn. I find that it's better to have one pill that shoots to my expectation, than to spend hours chasing a load for differnt weight pills or with differnt powders.

Check some of the previous post for some on hand starting points, then tweak to your stick, or go to Hogdon.com and go to their load data base. Then use a ladder or OCW test method to make match quality ammo, assuming you and the stick are up to it.

My choices came down to how well I could get the powder to meter in my 550. BLC-2 is sweet. I can get all of the loads to shoot sub moa in .308. I bet I could get bughole shots if I wanted to trickle charges or pay $300 for a charge-master.

Keep your brass trimmed in an auto, or one day you will be beating on the charging handle to free an out of limits case that is jammed in your chamber.

KISS- Keep It Simple Sir

 

[black_ump]

Re: reloading and testing ammo questions

thanks for the tips........ ill be testing loads this wensday