Load workup methods?

[RoyceP]

RoyceP : You are relatively new to the neighborhood. Welcome!

I'm an Old guy with 50 years handloading experience.

Wow you have been reloading maybe 5 years longer than me. You must be really good. Truth is I joined this forum after I retired in 2019. I had been reading it occasionally prior to that but after retiring I finally had something to say.

I don't think there is any law against disagreeing when someone calls you something you are not. Uncle Nick is saying I am using unsafe loads somehow - I am not. Any load I use is researched, published, and well below maximum.

 

[MarkCO]

I use Satterlee 1.0 then 2.0 with a new barrel.

I'll take a known good (bottom end of the load charts) load, or even factory if I have some, and shoot enough through the barrel to settle it. It might be 20 or as much as 100. I am Chronographing through this process and working on fundamentals.

When it has settled, I do 1.0. 10 rounds, with 0.2g variation, starting at the low end. Pick the node, and then do the 2.0, again with 10 rounds. I've not had it not work yet. I'm typically getting SDs of under 5 shooting groups with the final load. Saving lots of time and effort too. The Redding Comp shell holders have also been a big help.

With semi-auto handguns, I am more picking a load based on experience and just going with it. I'll drop back a bit on charge and work it up consistent with best practices, to where I want to be. With lever guns and revolvers, it is picking a load, working up to the powder charge I'd like. With shotgun, I follow the recipe I like.

 

[Nathan]

Can we just back off @RoyceP and talk about load work up? I’ve started at mid range before. There are techniques that can allow that to work. There is risk. Heck, there is risk going to a movie nowadays.

Lots of us are developing off load techniques that use 1,3,5 shots with the same load to tell you the performance of a charge or seating increment. Do you find your small count groups match up when you shoot 4-7 groups for Sd or accuracy?

I guess I’m wonder if all the incremental load development I did for years was mostly a waste!

 

[Unclenick]

The concern I expressed is just to make it clear, especially to beginners reading the thread, not to use old manuals nor to start in the middle of a load range. I and others have had some bad surprises at the bottom load level, as described, and I don't know of any technique that would have reduced middle load pressure to the starting load level.

One contributor to this situation is the aging of manuals.

I am trying to imagine where you are coming from.

It's based on your post #7. Along with newer sources, you said you included consulting 1957 and 1977 Lyman manuals. Those are aging manuals.

From Lyman #50, page 15:

”1. Reloading Manual
Remember that all data sources become obsolete. The ballistic characteristics of specific components can and do change over time. It is possible for a component to undergo a substantial change without a name change. Thus, data changes with the passage of time. Failing to keep your data up to date can bring on serious consequences.”​

If you are familiar with how the old data performs in your guns with your old powder, you are in a special situation, but you didn’t specify that in post #7. I just don’t want beginners reading the thread to assume grabbing granddad’s old load manual and relying on it is a good idea, so I mentioned why it is not. This may not apply to you personally, but without any caveats in #7, the casual reader cannot tell that it is not universally OK to use old data.

Uncle Nick is saying I am using unsafe loads somehow - I am not.

As I said at the start of my post, I am advising others not to copy the example of starting with a load chosen like this:

…decide on a load, generally around the middle…

Again, from Lyman #50. Page 23:

”CAUTION!

Always start with the exact powder charge weight shown under the starting grains column…”​

The starting grains column is their bottom load. There are similar or analogous cautions to be found in load books by Hornady and Speer, among others. Again, I don’t want beginners, in particular, to think picking a load in the middle of a published load range is a good idea, for the reason of the examples I already gave.

 

[MarkCO]

Can we just back off @RoyceP and talk about load work up?

I guess I’m wonder if all the incremental load development I did for years was mostly a waste!

I do not think it was a waste. You learned a lot, and the information was less available then than now. I've blown up well over a dozen guns on purpose, for testing purposes and all behaved like they should. But that "like they should" is based on years of load data, knowledge, etc. from loading over 1 Million rounds. So, not a waste, but if you know what you are doing, it is a waste at this point in time. All 4 of my squibs, FWIW, were factory ammo.

Also, every single case I have worked on with a blown up gun that were handloads are from folks trying to cut corners and just going straight to a load without the background to know if it is correct or not.