Newfound Reloading Apathy

[DaddyFlip]

I used a Lyman reloading manual when I first started reloading 50 years ago. They used to list a "most accurate" load for every bullet weight. Wish the new manuals would list the same.

They still do. Notice one load for every weight is printed in bold. That's the load with the most potential for accuracy according to Lyman. It's stated in the fine print on each page.

 

[Dhutson]

Everyone is correct. The difference between .5 grams or .1 grams or a three-shot group of 1 in or 2.5 inches will make very little difference when you are about to shoot a buffalo at 50 yards off sticks. None of those matters. I don't know anyone show can shoot that good under that situation. The kill zone is a lot bigger. The real question is can you hit that area consistently. And when the bull starts to take off a three-inch group really doesn't matter. Can you hit the black part fast.

With all that said from me it is the experience of the process. I enjoy it all - shooting a thousand rounds to get ready, finding the right load and then making it better, (you are welcome Midway USA) and even having multiple conversations about issues and opportunities with my good friend Rafiki. It's just like most of us in here haves said about hunting, it's all about the experience.

 

[Gomer]

Here is a 9-shot group at 400 yards, fired off a pack on a stump. “Load development” was as described in the OP. The orange circle is 6”, the ring around it is probably about 9”. That’s safely within the lung area of anything from small deer/pronghorn on up. It’s not that impressive, but that kills an animal.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

For me, handloading/reloading used to be such a nitpicky and laborious effort. I tried to eek out every last bit of accuracy. But then I had an ah-ha moment: a properly bedded action into a stable stock, a free floating barrel, and a properly mounted scope will be accurate enough for any big game hunting with just about any consistent ammo out to 300 yards, sometimes 400.

So now, reloading is purely to use the bullets I want at a lower price compared to factory ammo. I don’t have the time or resources to get good enough to realize the benefit of being nitpicky. Now, my barometer for accuracy is the pie plate. As long as I can keep them on a 9” pie plate at 300 yards, I’m good. This is pretty easy to achieve. Sometimes I can stretch that out further and that makes me happy.

I don’t obsess about seating depth, nodes, or weighing individual components. I only get fussy about not changing components and I weigh every charge within 0.1gr. This alone gets me much better SD/ES than factory anmo.

I just open the bag of brass, lube/full length resize, trim and chamfer, prime, pick a charge about .5gr under max, seat the bullet on the cannelure or at the OAL the book says, and that’s it. I load a few batches of 10 cartridges, each batch using a bullet that works for my purposes and pick the one that groups the best.

View attachment 769944

@Gomer I've been doing something similar for years
Pick projectile
Pick powder
Load dummy round to determine seating depths.
Load 5 rounds
Take 20 empty cases powder, scales and projectiles to the range.
Shoot
Pick load that gives good accuracy and velocity and done.
When I loaded my son's 308 for Namibia I landed 3 150gn accubonds, 50gn of cfe223. Set the length ( forgot what it was. First three shots went into .3" and a bit over 2,900fps. Loaded three more for the same and got sub half moa and same speeds. Called it done.
I like easy.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

@Gomer ive come to the same conclusion, but I still wan’t 1” groups; I’ve just realized that milking every last FPS of velocity is a waste of time on game.

I’ve found best accuracy usually comes somewhere between 0.5-1gr of powder under max published load.

Years ago I also came to the conclusion that heavy for caliber bullets at modest velocity are much more effective on game than velocity.

@deewayne2003
I agree to a certain extent. Depending on the size of the game sometime a lighter faster bullet works better.
With fallow deer I have found an SST at high velocity 2,900-3,300fps seems to kill quicker than a slower round nose heavier bullets.
The problem arises is there's far more meat damage with the lighter and faster. This also depends on construction be it cup and core or bonded or mono.
Bob