locknloader wrote:
When you guys reload a round and pick your target figures for OAL and powder charge, are you trying to get that EXACT number every single round or do you have an acceptable tolerance range?
To give you a meaningful answer to your question, what kind of shooter are you? Are you a precision shooter looking to shoot five shots at 600 yards and end up with one hole? Or are you punching paper on the weekends at a commercial 100 yard range just trying to get five shots into a 1.07 inch circle?
It makes a difference because for the first type shooter, a tolerance of 0.1 or 0.2 grains might be too much.
My powder charges are very consistent. Usually i hit my target weight, but i will sometimes see a .1 and rare .2 variance high or low.
This will be exceptionally good if you can get your measure to hold that variation when you start throwing 20 to 25 grain loads.
I load on a single stage press. I want my powder charges to be exact, so I throw them light from the measure and then trickle up to the exact desired weight.
I don't load max loads, i stay low or in the middle of suggested range to play it safe.
I read that sentence to say you picked a load in the middle of the published range. Is that correct? If not, go on to the next quote, otherwise recognize proper load development is to begin with the Starting load and then increase charge incrementally until 1) desired velocity and accuracy are reached, 2) you see pressure signs, or 3) you reach Maximum load.
For bullet seating, not so consistent. Seeing variance of about +/- 0.010 but most of them are around the same and i get the odd ball every few rounds.
10/1000 is a fairly big range, but nothing to worry about unless you're not part of the "five shot, one hole" crowd.
Still, you might want to investigate whether the variation is caused by your equipment or variably in the length or profile of your bullets. Cheap bullets often have considerable dimensional variation (some expensive ones do, too) and that could explain the variation.
Can i shoot for a tolerance range on the seating? I know powder charge is critical and i want that was exact as possible but i can live with .1 off for how i am loading right now.
Again, if you're a precision shooter, each variable you have in the round is a potential source of inaccuracy. If you are not a precision shooter, recognize that the degree of inaccuracy caused by each of these variables is tiny.
When I got started loading 223 in 1979, I would wipe my brass off with a shop towel, lube it, run it through the sizer (which also decapped and expanded), didn't bother to measure, trim, chamfer debur, debut the flash hole, uniform the primer pocket, just resorted to priming on the press, threw powder out of a repurposed Lee Load All, dropped it in the case and seated a bullet on top. The process sends shivers down my spine now, but it still all went bang and to within about an inch of where I had aimed it.
I still don't debur flash holes or uniform primer pockets, but my process is much more delibertate, careful, uniform and consistent than it was 38 years ago. But, the accuracy of the ammunition has not changed during that time; it is still capable of accuracy better than I can coax out of the gun.
, always in the pursuit of the perfect country song.