need a little advice

brickmaster1248

when you start using or experimenting with a new powder, and you load to...lets say, middle of the road according to what the book says what makes your decision on whether or not to continue with said powder. Do you have to "tweak the load" before deciding or do you use some sort of criteria before continuing on?

rg666

in most cases your looking for consistency of the load. your gun may need a little more or a little less than what mine does because of the various differences in each individual firearm's.Guns can vary even the same brand & model from gun to gun. once your done tinkering and find the load that shoots the specific bullet weight your trying to load up stick with it.

bpost

There is good information available here on a load ladder to tweak the load. A powder that shows promise will tend to group round groups. Do a search for it and you will get some good info. Most loads, powders and rifles seem to be more consistent at the upper levels of safe charges. They just seem to settle down to good repeatable results.

nononsense

brickmaster1248,

This is an explanation of the Audette Load Ladder method of testing:

http://www.lima-wiederladetechnik.de/Englisch/Laddertest.htm

Please read the whole explanation as there are some illustrations and more collateral data than with the original paper. The basic explanation is under the title: "The Incremental Load Development Method". Just scroll down a bit and you'll see it.

Best.

RCrosby

The "ladder" may address this, but I can't open it at the moment, so I'll throw this in for what it's worth. Where you go with the load development depends on where you want to get. If I'm loading for paper punching and that first mid-range load gives me all the accuracy I know that me and the rifle are capable of, I may stop there. If it's a hunting load and velocity is 100 or 200 fps below factory, or accuracy is unacceptable, then I'll start working up until I find what I'm looking for. Personally I don't try to exceed factory velocity in this process. (Except with my .257 and 7 Mauser)

Mtnlover

I think the process is best done by comparing the new powder to your original powder. Load 3-5 rounds with each powder, changing ONLY the powder, to roughly the same % of maximum, and compare accuracy. If there is a clear winner, continue on with it and repeat until you get the accuracy you want. If the best powder still doesn't get you there, go through the same process with bullets and seating depth. It will be hard to determine a final selection without a chronograph. The best load for your rifle will have excellent accuracy and uniform velocities within a group; e.g. 20 fps spread in 5 shots. Above all, keep good records and enjoy the process. When you finally get that ultimate load, you will have satisfaction that buyers of over-the-counter ammo could never appreciate.