How far do you go? (reloading accuracy)

BuckSnort · Sep 15, 2003

I was loading up some 30-06 rounds for a friend of mine the other day when I started to wonder how far others go to achieve accuracy for a hunting rifle.I know bench shooters take it to the extream so lets just talk about a typical hunting rifle.

Here's what I do.......

I trim all cases so that they are the same length,then de-bur.

I weigh each powder charge instead of using the powder measurer (I use it for pistol rounds though).

I make the bullet so it is only .015" from the rifle lands (this seems to be a good spot for most of our guns).

After doing this I will build about 3-4 loads with different powder charges.Usually out of the 3-4 loads one will produce a .75 " or less group @ 100 yards

It's kinda funny that the cheapest rifle in our safe (my bro's 700 adl in 30-06) will shoot the tightest groups.After working up only 3 different loads I found one that will shoot 3 shot groupls small enough to cover with a dime.

So what all do you folks do to achieve accuracy?

Phantom Hunter · Sep 16, 2003

My loading prodedure is similar to yours. My most accuracte rifle is also a Rem. 700 ADL but in &mm Rem. Mag.

Phantom Hunter

NVMDF · Sep 18, 2003

Depends on the gun, my Rem. 25-06 ADL was a sinch to load for,
I loaded for about the same as you, and 1/2" 5 shot groups at
100 yds. but some of my other guns require a little more work.

NVMDF

Wildman · Oct 6, 2003

How do you find out exactly where your rifle lands are?

Bogeyman · Oct 8, 2003

What I do is I hold my bullet over a candle and and the tip burns black, then I chamber the round and keep adjusting my seating die
until the lands barely scratch the bullet. I then measure the overall size on a micro. and back it off approx..015 or so with the seating die. It works good for me.

Bogeyman · Oct 8, 2003

Sorry about that, but I use a dummy round with the burning candle. I may be stupid, but I'm not dumb!

BuckSnort · Oct 8, 2003

The best/fastest way to measure the maximum OAL for a bullet is with an OAL guage.It is a special tool that uses a modified case to measure the length. Here is the tool http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...catalog/pod-link.jhtml_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20712

Bogeyman's way would work fine too if you don't want to buy the guage but there is an even faster way of doing it without the AOL guage.Here's what you do.........

Take the bullet you will be hunting with and color it with a permanent felt tip marker.Then just barely seat it into a sized case (without powder or primer).Now take the dummy round and chamber it into the rifle (it should be a little tougher to chamber cause it's going to hit the lands before it chambers all the way)Make sure the bolt closes all the way.Now eject the round, the bullet usually sticks in the barrel but easily comes out with a cleaning rod or wooden dowel from opposite end.You will now have a markr on the bullet from where it was seated into the case.Re-seat the bullet to that mark and measure with the mic. and subtract .015 and bingo!

Remember your OAl for a given round will be different if you choose to switch bullets (because of the shape the distance to and from the lands could change).

Also the custom bullets should only be used on the gun you measured.Even if you have 2 of the exact same rifles it is highly unlikely that they have the same throught measurements.