Do you have a point , when you first start developing a load , that you say this load is just not worth pursueing? For example say your first 10 shots from a new load produced a 12 inch "pattern" , would you continue to try and develop it?

Strange question, Jim. My answer would generally be NO. But there have been times in my life when someone would give me a BIG amount of powder or bullets. I was and am a terrible scrounger. I'll keep something forever before I'll throw it out...at least with gun stuff.

What I would usually do is just change directions. Example: If a powder didn't want to work with one cartridge, I would try another, and so on. USUALLY, you can find something that will work with something...if you have several rifles to load for and work with.

Conversely, if I don't have much of a powder or bullet that doesn't seem to want to work...I'll say to hell with it. Shoot the rest of the box of ammo busting rocks and forget it. No sense flogging a dead horse.

I don't see every load as a personal challenge. If my guns like it, they will tell me. If they don't, they tell me that too. I try to listen to them. Saves me lots of trouble.

jim---

If I shot a 12 inch group the first thing I'd do is fix the rifle! I've never seen a load, that was supposed to work, shoot that bad from a good gun.

Sometimes experimenting just for the hoot of it (like shooting 60 gr. 25 auto bullets in a 25-06) there're some spectacular failures, but for the most part any load in a manual will give you decent groups.

The FIRST part of accuracy is the gun. Not the load.

what does it shoot at 25? if you say 4", well, try another bunch of compoments, begining with primers.. but make sure the action is tight in the stock, your scope anit loose.. another scoop, iron sights, boe sighter.. anything

12" is crazy, even for a "crawfish hole" barrel sks
jeffe

Hyperbole aside, I've reached much the same conclusion as Pecos: while you can't always make your components work in conjunction with one another in a particular firearm, you can make your components work for something.

If I'm not getting the accuracy I want I suspect the bullet first, then the powder, and then my scope mounts. Modern firearms are all capable of good accuracy IMO, but some may be a bit more finicky than others. 10 shots is not enough, for me, to make that sort of determination however. I'll stick with is at least until I've run strings of various charge weights from min to max before I switch to a different bullet.

Only time I have seen near that was with a "sporter" sold by Sears years ago. They had run a .30-06 reamer up some surplus Mausers in 7.65 and sold them as .30-06.

.30-06 case loaded with the right size bullet (I forget whether it worked out as .312 or .313.) shot real well.

I guess that is load development.

Have NEVER had a gun that will not shoot, if I have the patience. Took me 6 years to find a load that finally worked in one of my .25-06's.....and ended up with two of them.


This group measured around 0.489-inch, for 5-shots at 200-yards
It was fired using a Ruger 77R in .25-06 Remington with Leupold 10x optics
Case: Remington
Primer: Winchester WLR
Powder: 52.5 grains of H-4831
Bullet: Sierra 120 grain Hollow Point Boat Tail
Velocity: 2,922 fps 15' from muzzle


This group, which measured somewhere around 0.717-inches for 5-shots at 200-yards.
It was fired using a Ruger 77R in .25-06 Remington with Leupold 10x optics
Case: Remington
Primer: Winchester WLR
Powder: 53.3 grains of H-4831
Bullet: Nosler 120 grain Spitzer Point Boat Tail
Velocity: 3,076 fps 15' from muzzle

I tried 6 different bullets, 14 different powders and 4 different primers before it would shoot! Not to mention several bedding modifications.

After all, isn't that what handloading is all about?

Jim, Interesting question. I guess my answer is that if a given load is not performing "near" my expectations after 6-9 shots, I'll try something different w/ one of the main components, either bullet or powder. This is w/ guns where that have a known track record so that I know pretty much what to expect. In my 20+ years of handloading, I've only had one instance where a gun absolutely HATED a load to the point where it would hardly keep shots on the paper at 100 yards. I have an old 270 Win that will shoot MOA w/ it's best loads. I wanted to develop a load for it w/ the Hornady 130 gr SST. RL 22 has always worked good w/ this gun so I used this powder plus my usual brass and primers. After 9 shots at a notebook-sized sheet of paper at 100 yards, there were a total of 3 holes in the entire piece of paper..... Had not shot the gun since the previous year so I immediately thought I had a problem w/ scope, rings, mounts, etc. But.... it promptly shot 3 other proven loads w/ it's usual level of accuracy.... Understandably, I quickly lost my enthusiasm for the SST project and haven't pursued it any further. Gary T.

I would abandon a powder for use with a particular bullet if the first couple rounds showed a velocity grossly below what I'm trying to reach -- e.g., if I started 4 grains below max in something like a .30-06 and the velocity was 400 fps below what I'm trying to get.

I might abandon a bullet if I'd tried a couple of different powders and gotten no promising groups.

If I tried several bullets and powders in a correctly bedded barrel, in a rifle in good condition, and never found anything I liked, I might think about rebarreling, as I am now with a .30-06.

John

It is certain you have a major problem in a rifle or the scope that produces a 12" 100 yard group. I would first change scopes to a known good shooting scope. Since I develope all my loads using the ladder test method to conserve reloading supplies and you give so little information it is very hard to help you with your problem. Every rifle is unto it's self and no two will react the same with any given load. For any rifle to shoot that badly there is a major flaw. If your rifle were shooting a 2" to 4" group at 100 yards I would say it just did not like the powder or bullet, but a 12" group is far past that stage.

Jim ;yours other loads(not that one) were they accurate.