Ultimate goal?

[wisconsinteacher]

What is your ultimate goal when reloading? Mine it so find a load that will go 1 MOA. This is for my hunting rifles. It seems like I am always trying to make it better, but at what point do you stop and say, this is the load for this rifle and then make up a pile of ammo for that gun.

 

[DrMike]

There is a stopping point????

 

[Greg Nolan]

About a week before my hunting trip! The week after I get back I start to develop a "better"? load.
Greg

 

[Guy Miner]

Wisconsinteacher, with most of my hunting rifles I'm very satisfied with a one MOA load. My rifles are mostly factory, not custom built tack-drivers, and I've killed game very effectively at 300 - 400 yards with one-MOA rifles.

Now the custom barreled .308 - I have higher standards for it.

Likewise the .204 varmint rifle - because it has to hit smallish targets.

But for the rest of 'em - one MOA is fine. Truth be told, Dad, my sons, and I have all done just fine with rifles that wont' even generate one-MOA accuracy.

FWIW, Guy

 

[longwinters]

I shoot factory rifles. I am not satisfied with anything that is not under moa. When I get that load developed I work on other loads that will do the same. The problem has been that once I have done that I end up selling the rifle cuz its no fun anymore.

This has led to a smaller bank account, fewer vacations and some home repairs that got put off. I have finally gotten to the point that I have kept my current rifles for several years.
But then got the handgun itch....oh where will it end?

Long

 

[Polaris]

My ultimate goal is to better by 100%, the capabilities of a given rifle with a baseline factory load that I've previously found to be relatively good.

For example, I do a lot of miltary rifle shooting in the vintage bolt class. I shoot Swiss G11 or Kar 31 rifles. My two rifles will group swiss GP11 miltary ammo (really darn good stuff) inside 4" at 200 yards with issue iron sights with 5 shots. Using Nosler cc155s I have been able to nearly halve that down to about 2.5".

With my main hunting rifle, the goal is a bit different. In my 280 rem, I have a woods load and an open country load with 160 NP and 160 Speer BTSP respectively. For the hunting load I stopped working with it when I worked up a basic safe maximum load that grouped into 1.5". Still tweaking the LR load, my goal with that one is 1" 5 shots which is my minimum for 300-400 yard shots. Guess my ultimate goal for a hunting rifle is the minimum group size needed for 1/2 the vital target size at intended ranges to give me some margin of error. Anything better is gravy.

 

[Ridge_Runner]

minute of whitetail out to 1 mile.
RR

 

[jmad_81]

There is a stopping point????

Not that I have found yet.

 

[bbearhntr]

I want one ragged hole @ 100yds :mrgreen:

If i hit 1/2" @ 100 yds I move on to another bullet or rifle and strive for that magic 1/2" measurement again......and again....and again......

 

[ScreaminEagle]

I aim to cook up the most accurate load possible period! For my hunting guns I want to cover the groups made at 100 yards with a nickel. For the tack drivers, like my 22-250, I wanna cover the groups with a dime.

Anything else, I might as well shoot factory ammo.

 

[Elkman]

Guy Says

one MOA is fine

Good enough for me!!!!!

 

[shoots_5]

Ultimate goal.....have fun & improve performance which in turn makes shooting even more fun!

 

[Guest]

My goal varies a bit depending on the rifle. For instance, my goal for my 270Wby is to be able to shoot tiny little half- to three-quarters-moa groups out to 400-500yds. Why? Well, I figure if I can shoot those types of groups at the range, I should be able to keep everything inside the 8" vitals circle I use for white-tails, out to those distances. I chose 8" because it gives a little additional margin of error. Contrasting Mr. Hyde as described above, I like to get Dr. Jekyll (my Win94 30-30WCF) tuned in to about 1-1.5moa out to 200yds. That's the limit of that rifle, and if I can keep everything inside 3" at 200yds at the range, under stress in hunting situations, I can, again, keep everything inside the vitals of a white-tail.

I guess for most of my rifles, the goal is to find the most accurate load I can "reasonably" find, and for that to be within about half-minute-of-white-tail at ranges I'd use that particular rifle. I don't hunt much else with rifles except coyotes by opportunity, so that works for me. When I put together a primary coyote rig, I'll likely want a much smaller group size to keep everything lethal out to ranges I believe I'll see those dogs.

One thing to note - I have more accurate loads for my 270Wby than the one I use for hunting deer. I have a 150gr load that shoots consistently into .25-.45" for three shots at 100yds. But it's dismally slow for the 270'bee (150gr @ about 2900fps) so I defer to a much flatter shooting 130gr load that will place three shots into .5-.75moa. That's still plenty of accuracy for the shots I'd take with that rifle, so it works. I wouldn't take velocity over accuracy, for the most part, but I will sacrifice .25moa for 75yds of additional point blank range.

 

[300WSM]

For me it doesn't ever really stop for about one million reasons plus.
Always trying to shoot a better group to just getting loads generated for the same rifle from different powders that are capable to work.
Just plain shooting. Nobody wants to stop shooting or just shoot rimfire
Then sprinkle in trying to hit a certain speed at a safe level along with the accuracy....a certain trajectory....and how about the overall gratifying feeling of loading your own ammo then shooting it.

I could go on and list reasons for the next seventeen days.

 

[Songdog]

My "requirements" have changed a lot over the last couple of years. There was a time in my life when I had no children, and a 600 yard rifle range 5 min. from my house. Therefore, I had greater disposable income, more disposable time, and it took far less effort to get out and shoot. At that time in my life, no load was safe in any rifle I owned... 1/2-3/4 MOA out to 600 is what I expected, and I routinely switched bullets/powders/primers/brass/OAL/etc... always searching for that little extra squeeze.

Now, I have 3 small children, own a business, and have to drive an hour to shoot over 100 yards... a 1 MOA load is more than good for me now. I can't believe how much less stress (and money) looking for a 1" load is... and, come to think of it... I haven't missed a single critter that I'd blame that absent 1/2" on.

 

[joelkdouglas]

If I could get my .30-06 to shoot 1 MOA, to the same place every time, I would be tickled pink.

1 MOA hasn't been an issue thus far. The "same place every time" has been more of a challenge.

But she's still getting worked on. Back from Bartlein with a new tube, but now she's at the local smith, who's doing a bed job in a new McMillan.

 

[Guy Miner]

With that high quality new barrel, and being bedded in the terrific McMillan stock, I suspect any consistency problems will be a thing of the past!

Won't be at all surprised if the group size shrinks as well.

Guy

 

[AzDak42]

What is your ultimate goal when reloading? Mine it so find a load that will go 1 MOA.

Can I take a different tack on this question?

If I was honest with myself, I'd have to admit that if I wanted a great hunting load, there are plenty of fine ammo companies that can provide me with ammo far and away sufficient for any game animal on earth. I'd also a have to admit that the best of the high grade match ammo is better than I am on most days. I could practice with it and improve as a shooter for a long time before I hit a point that the ammo was the difference.

Truth be told.. I reload because it gives me a lot of joy to make something and equally as important, because it lets me play with at my favorite hobby on days I can't make it to the range.

Besides, if it wasn't for reloading, I wouldn't have anything to think about and plan through during god awful boring conference calls.

 

[Guest]

Besides, if it wasn't for reloading, I wouldn't have anything to think about and plan through during god awful boring conference calls.

I'm sure glad to know someone else does that. My wife HS often wondered why I put my handloading closet off of my home office. There is the reason for it, for sure. You gotta love Bluetooth headsets and mute buttons!

 

[PJGunner]

Sometimes I have to wonder? What is this obsession with half inch groups from say your .375 H&H. last time I looked, that wasn't exactly a gun for shooting ground squirrels, although the truth be told, I've been know to do just that. It was my first ever .375 and it was a quick and dirty way to get to know the rifle. :wink:
I guess my point is, do you really need that level of accuracy and just what good is it out in the field? last time I looked, there were no bench rests out there on the hunt. :roll:
I came to the conclusion that if a rifle for big game, meaning from antelope on up, 1.50" groups on a consistant basis would be more than adequate and at least for me that has proved to be the case. 8)
Don't misunderstand me though. If a rifle wants to shoot tight groups I'm happy. :lol: Thankfully most of my rifle do shoot much tighter groups.
One rifle I absolutely loved was my 6.5x54 MS. Never could get better than 2" groups from that one and used it withing it's limitations. Never ail to get a deer with that little jewel. It was stolen in 1975. :x One day I found a Ruger M77 RSI, the little Mannlicher stocked model and fell in love with it. Problem was the best it would do was 4" and that not often. :shock: The guy that was seling it was honest enough to tell me it was , in his words, "Inaccurate as hell." No matter, I figured I could work something out. It took just a bit over two years to finally find a load that would stay within my 1.50" consistancy requirement. That little rifle has taken Mule Deer from 35 feet to 250 yards and I wouldn't trade it for the fanciest commercial rifle on the market today. One day I got the wild idea to slightly relieve that metal nose cap and the next time I shot the rifle groups were running closer to 1.25". 8) Makes me wonder now if it will shoot other loads and bullet weights intp decent groups.
The final load was a stiff chrge of W760,Winchester brass and WLR primer and the 165 gr. Speer Hot-Core. Velocity was 2550 FPS, no barn burner but works just fine.
Tight groups from the bench are just fine and great for the ego, especially when others are there to see. What counts in the field is can you put that bullet where it needs to go in general fiels shooting positions? I've always peferred to get as close as I can. Somehow, I find that more exciting than sniping off some animal way out yonder although I can do it if I have to. I've only had to take long range shots three times in my over 50 years hunting. The shortest of the long ones was 250 yards, the longest 530 yards laser measured. One area that I sometimes draw for elk can require some very long range shooting or go home empty handed. Guess it's kind of a paraphrase of Matthew Quigley's comment, "I said I didn't have much use for them. Didn't say I couldn't make them." :wink:
Paul B.