SmallCaliberCentral

When you start to develop a load, how many grains do you increase each time?



i.e. If your starting minimum is 25grs. and your ending is 27.1grs.

How do you proceed? .1, .2, .3...... grs each time you start another test batch?

I work up depending on the size of the case Vs caliber.Smaller increases in smaller cases as a general rule. .2 to .3 gr increases works for me as I approach max load data and beyond.Large cases I have stepped up .5 grain.I'm looking for accuracy not necessarily velocity.Many times a hot load,without excessive pressure signs,will not be the most accurate,so I back it down to where it is>

For the 204, I started .4 gr over minimum load, and go up .2 grain from there. My highest test load will be .2 under maximum. Not a lot of lee-way on the 204, After finding the "sweet spot", I start resting loads in +, or - .1 gr. increments. All loads are tested with 5 shots. at 100 yards.

I drop down one full grain below the published max load and work up in .1gr increments... Generally my "sweet spot" will be .4-.7gr below the max listed..... I'll build ten rounds of each load, shoot five and if I have a really good group, shoot the second five to verify the first....All rounds seated at the max published length...

If a really good group does not exist, I'll take the best group and start working on seating depth with the remaining rounds, for the next session...

And only change one variable at a time.

I work up from min load .5 grains at a time loading at least 3 to five test rounds. when I test and find the load that shoots the best, I work from that load in .1 grain increments to find the sweet spot! Pay close attention when test firing to brass condition when close to max. Also if bolt is hard to open on a bolt action that is a sighn that presure was too hi. I generally have found that max loads are not the most accurate in my guns? I load for accuracy 1st, Velocity is 2nd

When working up a load, do you get the grain and bullet combo right first? And then worry about seating depth?

Yes. Find the load combination the rifle seems to like best, then start to tweak the seating depth both ways in increments to see how your groups respond. They'll start to shrink, then enlarge again as you proceed. The 'sweet spot' is in there somewhere, you just need to figure out where it is.

Malazan wrote:When working up a load, do you get the grain and bullet combo right first? And then worry about seating depth?

That is what I do. Take your tightest group, and if you are not happy, start playing with seating depth. I do try taking 2 or 3 of my best groups and play with seat depth on all of them. You may find that one or your worst groups really does shoot better with seating depth change.

As Glen stated only change one variable at a time.

I am about to start loading some test batches

Does anyone have a suggestion on where to start for OAL?

i.e. .010, .020 etc. off the lands

My OAL to the lands by the OGIVE is 1.955 with my comparator


Using 39 SBK's

I'm just confused on the starting length

To avoid regular visits to the rubber room , and perhaps one never-ending vist, +1 to Glen's comment, "And only change one variable at a time."

I think the idea most folks have settled on (with the .204) is to start with the cartrige drawing's COAL, and not the obsess over the distance-to-the-lands figure. As the brethren have said, work up your best load by adjusting powder charge, and once that is established, then adjust seating depth in regulated increments moving in one direction until a better group is observed. Once that is established, you can go back to the original OAL, and see if going the other direction in seating depth does anything better for you.

I think a lot of folks are finding that the conventional wisdom of starting x.xx" from the lands isn't really coming home, so to speak with the .204, especially with factory guns.