Load development procedure for 100m range

T

trazman

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Can someone please help me with load development procedure? I have a 100m range near my house. I am loading .223rem with 69r nobler cc and vihtavuori n140. I know I have to find maximum pressure for my rifle first, but how should I seat the bullets, near the rifling or jammed or?

Thanks for your info, Tomaž
 
A method that has worked for me over the years is as follows. Select your powder of choice then start .5 grs. below the start load in a loading manual. Load (4) rounds at that powder charge. Go up .5 gr. on the powder & so on. Keep increasing until you are at or slightly below the maximum charge listed in the manual. As far as overall length I would suggest that you keep it at a length that will work in a magazine. If you have a single shoot then you can experiment with the bullet jammed .020, at the lands, .020 off the lands & so on until you are .080 off the lands. I do the bullet seating test only after I have a powder charge that is accurate. The reason that I only load (4) of each flavor is that I test groups of three. If I pull a shoot then I have the 4th round to make things right. If I have the first three shots touching then I have a physical example to go from. I think that you will find a load that meets the level of accuracy that you are after. Then you can fine tune the powder charge from there. Once that is done then you can move on to fine tuning the bullet seating depth. Again something will rise to the top. Once that is done then I find as many different primers as I can & load (7) rounds with each different primer I have, all else being the same. A man far smarter than I once told me that 7 rds. is statistically the same reason as 10 rds. for testing purposes. Once you have the final fine tuning done but enough components for the useful life of the caliber & then just shoot the thing. Tinkeritis or boredom will set in & then you can experiment with other things but you will still be able to get back to a proven accurate load in your rifle.
Semper Fi
 
HOF shooter Jack Neary uses a system for his 6 PPC to find the optimum seating depth. He uses N133 powder and 68 gr. BT bullets. He uses three powder charges (mild, moderate and hot) and shoots these three charges at several seating depths starting with Jam and backing off jam at .005" intervals until he is about .025" off. He examines his targets and looks for a seating depth that shoots to the same relative position on the target. When three charges shoot to approximately the same point of impact, he has found his optimal seating depth. Many shooters use this method or slightly modified versions of it. Good shooting...James Mock PS- The seating depth that is .005 off jam would be best in the illustration.
 

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trazman said:
but how should I seat the bullets, near the rifling or jammed or?
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Tomaž
This is not an easy question to answer, some barrels like it "jammed" others like "jump" just as I have found some barrels like certain bullets and others do not. There is not necessarily any surefire formula for success. I typically bury the bullet in lands and develop a load, then I play with seating depth.
Dick
 
Thanks guys.

So this is my plan:

reload 24 rounds with 24,5gr of VV n140 and actually do the berger test of VLD bullet seating depth.

6 rounds touching the lands and than 6 rounds .030 jump than .060 jump and .090 jump.

I will shoot two series of 3 rounds each seating depth and I should see immediately which seating depth is better accuracy.

Then I will load 2x10 round with 0,3 gr increments to get my rifles maximum load. I will go over the book maximum here. When I will have the maximum load then I will do the OCW method for fine-tuning charge and seating depth...

Do you think this is a good
 
On VLD's I'd go touching, 005 off 010 off 020 off, then from touching 005 jam and 010 jam. Then look at the TREND of which is showing more improvement. Use good flags for this.
 
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