Disappointing day at the range with hand loads.

[aaronward9]

I know we all have them, but today was rough! I took 4 guns total. 3 guns I got nowhere with and 1 gun shot factory ammo best!

I am still somewhat new to loading, so I'm all ears about different ways to test/develop/fine tune loads. Here is what I'm loading for:

1) Rem 700 CDL Stainless/fluted 300 WSM. Has been glass bedded also. I have IMR 4064, IMR 4350, Varget, and IMR 7828. I have 168 Berger VLD, 150 Nosler BT's, 180 gr Nosler Accubonds, and 168 gr Barnes TTSX. Have once fired federal brass

2) Tikka T3 Lite stainless/laminate in 300 WSM with same conponents available above. Have once fired Federal brass.

3) Rem 700 BDL 308 with 20.5" fluted stainless bbl and sitting in a hogue pillar/glass bedded stock. Also have same components available above. Have Lake City brass that is fully prepped to load.

4) Ruger M77 Compact Stainless laminate 7-08 with 16.5" bbl. Have all powders listed above and only bullets I have are 139 gr Hornady SST. Have 308 Rem brass necked down for these. I shot factory 140 gr Winchester ballistic silvertips at .75" today.

I am open to suggestions on some good combos for what I have. I don't mind to get a few new things, but I really don't want to go buy 4 new powders and 5 boxes of bullets!

Any help you guys can offer? All is appreciated and feel free to chime in on your results with factory ammo if you have these guns. Thanks!

 

[mattech]

I'm new to reloading to, but I would concentrate on one gun, and go from there.

 

[mdgreco191]

I'm new to reloading to, but I would concentrate on one gun, and go from there.

X2! Especially with rifle cartridges! Find your best load with one and then move on to the next caliber.

 

[fishtail]

Just so I don't have to dig and suppose, please list the barrel lengths on #1 and #2.
On #3 and #4 don't use IMR4350 and IMR7828. Varget and IMR4064 should do great and #3 should produce excellent grouping at 308 velocities with the 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.
Seating the bullets to the rifling will improve accuracy on all of these but I would first work on the load combinations.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

I have a .300 WSM built on a Remington 700 action. I found that my rifle likes a little slower-burning powder than those listed. My "go-to" load is 68.5 grains of Re. 19 behind a 180-grain Speer Grand Slam bullet. The Speer bullet is a little shorter than other bullets, which allows for a little more powder room in the case.

Another trick is to back off the sizing die about a 1/4 turn, so as to not set the shoulder back any. This seems to help my accuracy, as long as the case was originally fired in the gun I'm sizing it for.

If you do this, you will notice that there is resistance when you chamber a round and lock the bolt. As long as the bolt handle will turn down, it will fire just fine. If there is too much resistance (and you can't turn the bolt handle down without hammering it), you can try sizing it a little more, until the bolt turns down.

 

[sea trout]

our ruger m77 compact 7-08 loves 140 gr Winchesters also!!! How cool!!!!
I hope you get your hand loads right, I'm not a reloader yet but I'm interested...and love reading these post.

 

[308 WIN]

For the 308 WIN, 44.0 grains of that IMR 4064 should shoot lights out with 150gr bullet and just about any brass and primer you choose. I prefer Winchester brass and CCI 200 primers.

I don't load for the others. Good luck.

 

[Bill Mc]

I start out loading 5 rounds each varying the grains of powder giving me 4 groups. Shoot each group and see which groups the best. Then maybe varying that load by 1/2 grains and trying again.

Then do the some thing using a different bullet. If a certain bullet gives a better result, then try changing seating depth but within the restraints of your magazine.

Seems like a lot to do but then, that the fun of reloading.

And keep good records so you won't be repeating yourself.

Good luck.

 

[WGSNewnan]

I start out with 3 rounds for a particular rifle starting at the starting charge and working up to the maximum charge in .5 gr increments.

for example - my .308 load with varget and 165 sst started out looking like this.

3 rounds - 41 grains
3 rounds - 41.5 grains
3 rounds - 42 grains
3 rounds - 42.5 grains
3 rounds - 43 grains
3 rounds - 43.5 grains
3 rounds - 44.0 grains

I will shoot these and then study the targets. When I start to see good grouping I focus in and around those loads.

I noticed that my rifle liked the range between 42-43 grains so I started to load in .2 increments.

3 rounds each - 42 / 42.2 / 42.4 / 42.6 / 42.8 / 43.

It took 3 trips to the range but my load with 42.6 grains shoot lights out into 1/2 moa.

I have found that you can make anything shoot well in any rifle if you are willing to spend the time. In most cases that is.

I carry a sharpie and make notes on the targets themselves for future reference.

 

[jglenn]

for you 300 wsm try the imr 4350


4064 or varget for your 308

 

[Bill Mc]

I start out with 3 rounds for a particular rifle starting at the starting charge and working up to the maximum charge in .5 gr increments.

for example - my .308 load with varget and 165 sst started out looking like this.

3 rounds - 41 grains
3 rounds - 41.5 grains
3 rounds - 42 grains
3 rounds - 42.5 grains
3 rounds - 43 grains
3 rounds - 43.5 grains
3 rounds - 44.0 grains

I will shoot these and then study the targets. When I start to see good grouping I focus in and around those loads.

I noticed that my rifle liked the range between 42-43 grains so I started to load in .2 increments.

3 rounds each - 42 / 42.2 / 42.4 / 42.6 / 42.8 / 43.

It took 3 trips to the range but my load with 42.6 grains shoot lights out into 1/2 moa.

I have found that you can make anything shoot well in any rifle if you are willing to spend the time. In most cases that is.

I carry a sharpie and make notes on the targets themselves for future reference.

And that's how it's done.

 

[chuckdog]

The majority of my manuals contain entire chapters dedicated to load development and precision loading.

I will say uniformity is a must. Each round should be as much like the others as possible. As with most undertakings "the devil's in the details."

Don't take any info found on forums as gospel. Manuals are where to find your answers.

 

[Big un]

powder

I agree with the others on powder selection, you will benefit from a slower burning powder than what you ate using for the 300 wsm.

 

[aaronward9]

Thanks for all the help. Shot again today and man, so much better! Loaded a 168 Berger VLD at 2.996 OAL (.0015 off the lands) and 43 gr Varget in Lake City brass and shot a .279" group! Outside diameter of the group was .588"!

I think I figured out what my main problem was... I have been using a Hornady digital scale and going off that. After some doubt, I decided to weigh out some powder to 65 gr on the digital scale. Went to the 5-0-5 RCBS balance scale and loads were up to .8 gr off each direction. There was over a 1.5 gr swing in the charges. I was floored! I loaded all my loads today with the balance scale and will go back to using that full time!

 

[Darkhorse]

This is how I test my loads and keep a record at the same time. In this one you can see the relationship of seating depth and barrel harmonics when searching for the "sweet spot". I do the same thing with powder charges. After shooting all targets are kept in a notebook for reference.
Regardless of powder and bullet selection, you must learn to load concentric rounds for optimal accuracy.

 

[guesswho]

I don't like to use a digital scale for the same reason. I will stick to the good ole Redding balance beam scale.

 

[Elkbane]

I have 2 - 300 WSM's, a Kimber and a Savage (have owned two Brownings also but sold them). IMO, with the WSM's, you have to have decent brass or they can be hard to load for. All of mine shot OK, but never great until I bit the bullet and bought some Norma brass. I've had Win brass that had 2 thousands difference in case neck thickness (I couldn't even turn them to the same thickness, ended up pitching them)and Fed brass that lost primer pockets after the second firing. Get some good brass to start with.

Each of your chambers will have different dimensions. You'll have to take that into account in setting up your dies. I'm lucky - I set mine for 1.5 thousandth shoulder bump on the Kimber, then set the Savages headspace (i.e. took the barrrel loose and snugged to down on a Kimber fired case) so that they matched. WIthout the ability to set the headspace, you'll have to set the dies up for one rifle, then use the Redding custom competition shellholders to adjust the shoulder bump for the other rifle. This is really important in the WSM's - every one I've shot had pretty sloppy chambers and it really helps to load them with minimal shoulder bump - so that you can just feel it on the bottom third of the bolt throw when you chamber a round.

You'll do ALOT or trial and error unless you get a hornady tool for your calipers to measure case length to the shoulder. But once you get that solved, I've found that load development isn't that hard.

H4831sc is my go-to powder for the WSM's - works well for either 165 or 180 grain bullets - I use Fed 210M (match, not Magnum) primers. I typically shoot Accubonds for game (elk) - one rifle likes 165's an one likes 180's. Nosler BT's have the same shape and are cheaper so I do load development with them then switch to Accubonds for hunting and final sight-in. I typically find a sweet spot with H4831sc within .5 grains of Nosler's listed max load for either bullet.

With the 7mm-08 - same issue on brass. If you necked down 308 brass, you have really short and thick necks. 308 brass is 2.015" before you neck it down and about 2.018" after. The spec on 7mm-08 is 2.035". You may want to look at some Norma brass for it also - it's superb. IMO (and I have 3500+ rounds through one 7mm-08 and about 600 through another) If you can't get 139-140 grains bullets to work with Fed 210M primers, decent brass and 42-42.5 grains of Varget, there's probably something wrong with the scope or the rifle. That load had shot great in all 6 of them I've loaded for with minimal rifle-specific tweaks.

Elkbane

 

[rayjay]

Windflags.

T36 Weaver scope.

Jewel BR trigger.

High quality front rest and rear bag.

A setup that lets you drop powder charges and seat bullets at the range.

For free you could go spectate at a Bench Rest match and watch and learn. You will see more reloading and accurate shooting in one day than most reloaders do in a year.

 

[BRDWG]

You may want to anneal the cases of the reworked 7mm-08 brass. I struggled getting my son's M77 compact -08 to perform until I annealed the cases. Using imr4064 and .030 off the lands turned it into a sub MOA rifle.

I used a propane torch in a semi dark room rotating the cases in my bare fingers until the neck glowed red. Then quench immediately in water. You only want to heat the necks of the cases. Hence using your bare fingers will let you know if you are heating entire case too much. Good luck.