I was wondering when most of you develop the loads you are going to use? Do you do them in the winter or heat of the summer? It seems hard for me to find the time to do alot of testing in the summer what with my 20 lists of honey-do's. What is the best temp to do load development in?

I develope a load when I have the time and/or need. Another reason why I don't motor my loads at the top end.
This time of year, I do my shooting early or very late. The range I have to use now doesn't have the positions covered. In between shots, I'll cover the barrel and action with a white towel. For long cool downs, I'll move to my truck that is running with the A/C going full blast. cools me and the rifle.

I'm in Arizona. The heat is a fact of life for us 9 months of the year. I shoot as many PD's as I can and it is HOT up north!!

I work my loads up when it hits 90 degrees. The best testing for me is when it hits 110+ that way I know the pressure won't be an issue.

If I should ever get lucky enough to draw a big game tag I run out to the range and shoot my loads at about 70 degrees. That suffices for the "fall/winter" temps here.

Greg

Man oh Man shooting in AZ this time of the year only if I HAVE TO !.

Then only North of the Salt River and East of the Colorado normally up by Prescott Valley or out side Flag !.

Yuma - Douglas are BRUTAL areas after June 15 Th. and that Shit hole Phoenix I don't even drive through !.

As we're outside Sedona it's slightly cooler , SOMETIMES !!!.

It was 95 up in Seligman when I was shooting PD's two weeks ago.

110 in Phoenix as I type this. I'll go to the range in the AM to shoot a ( mm I'm working with. It was only 90 at 0600 this AM!!

Greg

We get our assets roasted here in Northern Nevada, too. Got to be out there and be done before about ten or the heat starts swimming so badly out at the target, you can't even see the thing...

I just don't shoot in June, July, August and most of September, not much in May either. If it gets real dry and I get a 15 mph wind in the morning then I might go. If it is not dry the mosquitoes will eat you up and the humidity is high. If it is dry it will be hotter but much more tolerable with a good breeze and no skeeters.

The humidity is the killer and sweating on your guns is not fun. Almost any day during the winter is good though with no snow to worry about.

quote:

Originally posted by icemanls2:
I was wondering when most of you develop the loads you are going to use? Do you do them in the winter or heat of the summer? It seems hard for me to find the time to do alot of testing in the summer what with my 20 lists of honey-do's. What is the best temp to do load development in?

I do my load development during hunting season so temperature differentials don't come into play. Once I developed a 6.5x55 load during the summer in 95 degree heat and did a 200 yd zero. That winter on a 28 degree morning, a six point buck stood up 200 yds away. I leveled the crosshairs on his shoulder, squeezed off the shot from a rest and the bullet went about an inch under his belly judging by the sand splash. That cured me.

I do most of my load development from January to about mid May. I get one or two loads close in the colder months of January and February and then fine tune March -May. Those months are generally close to the temperatures during deer season here in November and December.

Shoot all year round; mostly in the morning, even when it's chilly.Seems like all I do is develope loads. roger

90 degrees at 0800 as I type this. Mostly cloudy. Looks like perfect chronograph weather.

The good thing is handgun ammo just doesn't seem to have that big a swing in velocities in the smaller calibers. I've seen it on 44 Mag back in the old days but Arizona doesn't get that many to worry about much.

Greg

I shoot year round and my testing with a load can be in 2-3 different temp ranges by the time I`m done.
I normally fine the loads I prefer due to accuracy or a desire for a particular bullet is normally not at max, and the few fps I might lose to temp changes isn`t a problem. I hunt in some thick stuff though, and most shots are within slingshot range. The little bit of drop or any change in POI I have seen to date in my loads won`t make or break a shot on game at <300yd

quote:

Originally posted by woods:
I just don't shoot in June, July, August and most of September, not much in May either. If it gets real dry and I get a 15 mph wind in the morning then I might go. If it is not dry the mosquitoes will eat you up and the humidity is high. If it is dry it will be hotter but much more tolerable with a good breeze and no skeeters.

The humidity is the killer and sweating on your guns is not fun. Almost any day during the winter is good though with no snow to worry about.

Awe come on Woods, it ain't all that bad round here in Sprimmer, is it? Yea I spelled it correctly as we sometimes get about one month of spring, usually proceeded by our one or two month fall, and followed by our 8-9 months of summer. Winter, well it looks good on TV.

I try to get my development done before July, and get back on it again around the end of August or be done at least by the end of Sept. That's, more or less, why I look for loads which will cover just about anything I want to use that rifle for. Once I hit a great load I usually keep it so I don't have to work up another.

Like Woods said, it isn't so much the heat as the stifling humidity, the heat indexes soar around here once the temps get over around 85.

I have worked up nice loads in the mornings and blown primers in them by afternoon. Heck I have been in the woods deer hunting when it was 95 in November, so I like to know my stuff is more or less pressure proof, as for any loss of velocity when it does actually get cold, <40 degrees, I don't worry about it that much as it usually warms up to around the 50's by mid morning.

quote:

Originally posted by woods:
I just don't shoot in June, July, August and most of September, not much in May either. ...

Is there "another" problem with the Browning and Sako(junk) barrels melting down??? Or do the "Thingys" refuse to operate with SWEAT running down all over them?
-----

Hey IceMan, I try my best to get Loads Developed for the Rifles which will be used in the higher Temps done during the hotter part of the Summer. Occasionally Jun-Sep can be at or above 100deg, but mostly in the upper 90degs. Knowing that, it is easy to get the right Loads for that Temperature.

I Develop Loads which will be used in the cooler months - during the cooler months.

There are certain Powders which are much less Temperature sensitive than a lot of the ones I began with. But, so far, even the newest ones can cause slight Point-of-Impact shifts - for me.

One big issue for me in the heat is the temperature of the rifle to start with. If it's 100 degrees out there and you are trying to work up loads the barrel is almost to hot to touch to start with. Preheating is not a good thing.

The rounds start cooking as son as they are chambered and pressures will go up drastically. I learned to not chamber a round until it was time to shoot because of this.

Also the sweat in the eyes can be real detrimental to a god sight picture!! LOL

Greg

I will be gettting my stuff out to start shooting more this month some. I have a hunt coming up September 18th so i am working on a new hunting load for my .308. I was going to take my .300 Win Mag but the ranch owner doesn't want me to bring it. He asked for somthing smaller. Not a .300 fan i suppose. He said i will be shooting at deer up to 250yrds.

quote:

Originally posted by icemanls2:
I ...am working on a new hunting load for my .308. I ...will be shooting at deer up to 250yrds.

That is a perfect Cartridge for your Game and Distance. Varget seems to be less Temperature sensitive than IMR-4064 in my 308Win(s).

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

Thanks Hotcore. I am going to a Ranch for a hunt that i won for widest rack. I entered my deer last November and was suprised to win with a 17.5" spread. I won a hunt for a 150 class whitetail at Rack-A-Tack Ranch in Leroy, Michigan. It should be a nice pre-November hunt. I am taking a buddy and he's going to video it for me. The guys at the ranch seem to be real nice guys.

Hey IceMan, That might just be real close to the Rut in Michigan. Down in the sunny South, the Rut typically begins during the second week of November.

If you have a "Full Moon" during your Hunt, you might have a good chance at a Trophy during mid-day. I've had great success by watching the Moon Phases and Hunting appropriately. Of course, the weather can change and make the Moon secondary.

Anyway, best of luck on your Hunt!

Thanks Hotcore. The owner told me they see the best deer in the middle of September. I don't believe in penned hunts and asked if the fences were jumpable and they said yes, so what do you do if you won it? Might as well go.

quote:

Originally posted by icemanls2:
what do you do if you won it? Might as well go.

Absolutely! Wouldn't it be something " if " you re-won the W-i-d-e-s-t Rack Contest with a Deer you got on this Hunt?!?!?!?!