One Day Development

[Dwh7271]

Sorry for my ignorance but when you are looking for flat spots after graphing what do you mean by that?

Points where increases in powder yield little or no velocity increase.

http://www.65guys.com/load-development-part-1-of-2/

http://www.65guys.com/load-development-part-2-of-2/

 

[Yoda]

Hornet have you even sent a round down range with this gun yet ? to me it sounds like ( and somebody PLEASE slap me if im wrong) you want to take a bone stock gun and turn it into a 800 yardish hunting gun. and do it with one trip to the range. Correct me if I'm wrong but it sounds like your brand new to reloading, and by your own admission a very busy person so im assuming that you havent spent much time pulling a trigger. Unlike a lot of internet forums this forum is a very good source of good information, IMHO you need to be asking questions here like "what combination for powder/ bullet would be the easyist for a new reloader to work with to get to shoot good to see what this gun can do, not im wanting to shoot one of these 2 bullets at 400 to 800ish yards. it truly doesnt tak much of a gun to kill a Black bear when they are hit in the right spots, but on the other hand hit in the wrong spot with any caliber gun and and you have a chase on your hands..

 

[Hornet]

Thanks guys. I'm setting my expectations low and planning on it taking a few trips. Who knows, maybe it'll come together.

Always cautious of discussions with someone named Yoda, I am. Use the force on me they might.

I am new to reloading. Formerly I had a local competition shooter that put loads together. I was able to skip the reloading process and go straight to shooting. It worked great, he loved the development and I loved time in the field. Now I'm being forced to learn the process.

It's true that the gun is completely stock and has not been fired. I think your viewpoint is valid, and I could probably opt for an easier learning curve. I can accept that both the gun and loads may need some work to do what I'm asking. Thanks for the response.

 

[SJB358]

Here is what my speeds look like. I used a few more than 10 shots at home, but I found a few spots I loaded up 5 rounds to try.



79.5 is the first set of 5 I’ll try.

80.4 is the second set I loaded.

81.4 I loaded just for the heck of it.

I’ll probably shoot them at 250-300 yards to see what prints the best. I don’t have much room to mess with seating. I can’t go much higher in the charges since I started seeing pressure up around the 3175 mark. Darned Sciroccos build pressure about 75 FPS over a regular bullet but I like them and 3100 with this bullet is A-Ok by me. I could technically be done in one range session but if you can’t shoot them for speeds it would take two trips.

 

[Hornet]

Reporting back that the mobile press worked pretty slick. I brought some prepped and primed brass and had the die depth set up ahead of time. Simply had to measure out some powder and press away. Since seating didn't require much force I was able to just put a little body weight on the block. No dumbbells, strapping, or clamps required.

The downside is that I found I really dislike measuring powder on a beam scale. Very time consuming and a huge pain. I think a new scale is in my future.

All in all, good day at the range. The results are posted in another thread, but I see another two or three trips to the range to really have a long range load developed and verified. So for this gun, no, not a one day development.

 

[FOTIS]

I have never been able to develop a load in one day. It usually takes several sessions to the range. It doesn't matter if I use the "most accurate" load published by someone, or not.

I have no idea how Fotis does it.

I agree with Dr. Vette and I never done it in one day either. Normally it takes several sessions to the range, and careful weighing, measuring, brass prep, trimming, etc. I rather take my time doing load development without rushing to get the best shooting groups I can squeeze out of it. I usually go home with my chrono speed datas, check my target POI patterns and do a few research before I pick my selected nodes to work up charges for the next trip back to the range. Some folks have an access to the shooting range in their backyard which I would love to have to reduce time and trips to the range.

With all brass prepped inspected and ready to go I plug the #'s in Q/L and reference some manuals. This is done when I have an unfamiliar to me cartridge. A rare occasion indeed.

Then I pick close to max charges and make some rounds starting at a lower charge. Then the next powder and make some more. If I see something that shoots well AND is acceptable as far as velocity is concerned then I make more of that charge maybe tweak the seating depth (if needed) and go out a reverify with a couple of groups and at longer ranges if the wind allows. If it does well then I am good.

This is a group I shot the other day from my 240 Bee



The group is "OK" but the velocity is mediocre. These should be going 3550 or so. So I will tweak the load a little and if I get the accuracy and velocity that is acceptable to me then ok.

I have gotten lucky and "developed" a load in one session of shooting, BUT I do not know if it is a fluke till next time.

 

[FOTIS]

Here is another one shit the same day.
GREAT velocity Poopy accuracy. Probably benefit from a lil seating depth trials.

 

[Hornet]

Fotis, is there an explanation for the low velocity in the first picture?

You mentioned loading ladder tests for more than one powder... that's probably what I should have done. At least in one trip I could have determined if the gun likes a certain powder over another.