Your advice should read, "Most of the timestart 10% low and work up". For some large cases and magnum powders, 10% is too low and 7-8% is safer. In fact, many load data for specific loads will show blank columns in the 8-10% range and this is why.

+Everett Morash Hey no problem, glad people still find the content helpful, even though the visual could be better by todays standards.

"on target", search the web, its out there and free last i checked.

Ryan, what computer program are you using at the end of the video to calculate the group spread. I’ve seen other people in other videos use the same program. But I’ve never heard anyone elaborate on it. Thanks!

"on traget" Thought I linked it at the bottom of one of the videos.

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Need to check length to ogive not OAL. OAL is not important when you are working on seating depth.

acertainshade4211 Varget yes. I find many of my loads now are compesing the powder into the case. .005 off the lands seems to be working the best for me.

william Delarge On target, which can be found at the accurate shooter webpage

Live Life Outdoors I built the graphics in Adobe illustrator, some editing in photoshop, and video editing/compiling in sony vegas.

racegts Software is OnTarget Precision Calculator, www.ontargetshooting.com/

Yup, this is a never ending loop. Everything can affect the end group size and every time you change one of the factors, the others will need tweaking. I am trying to show the methods I use to reduce the variables. Every shot you take reduces the potential precision of your barrel. So you can run out of barrel life before you find that perfect sweet spot. Hopefully my videos have helped you narrow the search and reach an acceptable level of precision within a reasonable number of shots.

Thats a tough one to answer. So far I have approached load development in the same order that you listed. Most don't realize that you have to start with analyzing how you want to shoot. Target/hunting/plinking/competetive. That is going to have a huge influence on component choices. Once you have the components, then I would suggest looking up recipes that others have found work well. This will give you a good starting point. As always, start low and work up.....watching for pressure signs. The big problem is that a change in one variable, will mean that you need to tweak the other variable as well. I don't think there is one single way to make it all work. Its the slow steady testing to find a good group. Best idea is to stay honest. What does the target data tell me about the changes I just made. For me, #1 is consistency. That single excellent group needs to be ignored and forgotten if you can never repeat it.

How I work a load: Start with a good bullet, good bullet weight and match to twist rate (use a stability calculator if necessary...google it), good powder (read forums such as The High Road to see what the pros have used), good brass, Turn necks, Trim precision, proper case sizing, Seating depth precision (same OAL within a small margin), Bullet run-out (the alignment of the neck, bullet and case) checked with a concentricity tool and use good dies to prevent bullet run out and control seating depth. Then work up a load. Consistency (as Ryan pointed out) is key to accurate loads so no corners and no taking for granted. At least 10 shot groups or 2 five shot groups. 20+ groups are even better at determining flukes and operator error. Also better for seeing Vertical stringing. One good test day is better than 5 where weather can have an effect on results. Just don't incorporate fatigue and you can shorten a would be lengthy testing process. After you have found an accurate load, fine tune that load using seating depth/ Bullet jump as done by Ryan in this video. Also worth mentioning is brass annealing. So much on the subject that I dare not touch it. I suggest reading however. Annealing increases brass life if done correctly but some note accuracy effects after annealing until the brass work hardens again. Neck tension will change with softer case necks. Guys with cash just use Lapua brass for example and limited number of loadings for competition and load development. In their eyes its a part of consistency in components as well as process that yield the best results. Tuning powder charge and loads are about overcoming the mechanical side of things. Barrel harmonics. Barrel oscillation occurs in every rifle barrel and load determines at witch point a bullet leaves a barrel during oscillation. Getting the bullet to leave on the bottom or top of the oscillation where minimal movement occurs is what you want in a load. So producing consistent velocities in development will yield the best test results. Powder plays a good role in this. From my experience powder that fills cases did better than ones that left a lot of room. Powder position within a case that is half full can yield very different velocities.

+rg5904 I can't remember what stage my rifle was at during this video. There was a time where I was loading the bullets really long, and as such, they would not fit any magazine. But when I had the chamber re-cut, and then later re-barreled the whole rifle, I specifically had the lands cut short, so that I could reload close to SAMMI spec and and have the lands about .020" in front.

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OTTOFLYS Thanks, I have started experimenting with the same idea, looking for consistent results as the variables changes. Trying to average it all out.

Yeah that's a good question. I didn't think pressure spikes happened til the bullet is jammed. Hmmm.

Haha, I heart the same thing before, barrel gonna blow up as if it’s made of popcorn

That probably has more to do with caliber choice. A magnum cartridge which has the ability to be double charged is far more likely to blow up in your face....especially if you are jamming that magnum bullet into the lands. The thing to understand is that touching and jamming into the lands will increase pressure rapidly, so you MUST proceed with caution and increase loads in even smaller steps. Be safe.

👍

Curious as to what seating die you settled on?

Team Hansen Honda Indexing your rounds does help!

5.56NATO Thanks, Precision means different things to different people. Hunting stories tend to be similar to fishing stories.

+Tim X Yeah good point, i didn't cover the topic as fully as I should have. That said, when I produced this video, I knew I was at the end of the cycle for developing that load with 175SMKs. I wasn't looking to go much further due to time and bullet count restrictions I had at the time. I had just purchased 2000 of the new bullet I intended to reload with in the future, which I am now using, 155 lapua scenar. They are working quite well and are very consistent out to 700 yards.

+Uncle Nick Wow, uh how to respond. Firstly, well said! Not sure if you have watched the entire series, or just the one video, but this series is documenting my learning curve as I prepared to enter the competitive side of sport shooting. So there are probably many things that can be done better. Working on a limited budget means that I am not interested it testing everything I read about. I try to find practical solutions to common problems and dispel some myths along the way. I agree 5 shot group is less than optimal as far as statistics are concerned. As you touched on, the problem is trying to find a method that shows you a good direction to follow in load development, while minimizing the total shots sent down range. There is no use spending the first 1000 rounds doing testing, because the precision of the rifle is degraded with every shot and we just used up the most important area. To be competitive, you need to find a recipe that works as quickly as possible. That was the main point I was going for with the end of the series. Re-barrel / short list load develop / go compete.

"On Target" it was a free download back in the days this video was made from the 6mmbr website

1776 Tactical right? Back up already. He even said he couldn't tell the difference between them on the range

The greater the distance the larger the effect the wind has on shots. Winds as small as 5MPH can change a group and throw off the test. If accuracy tests results are repetitive at 100yds it will translate at 300 or a 1,000 just the same as long as we are talking about the same bullet, and velocities remain within range of bullet stability.

Smitty's Tree & Lawn Care no it would not