Let's say you have a new rifle in 30 cal. You have 165 grain bullets from three manufacturers and all three will do the job on selected game. You have the manual from all three bullet manufacturers and you have three powders listed in the manuals for given caliber and bullet weight.

How do you find "the load" for your new rifle? I have gotten into reloading and am having a ball, but I'm gonna shoot a barrel out trying to make sense of all the variables! There are many combinations above and it is a real world scenario (mine)...so how do you sort through the options and test the load?

Thanks in advance.

Just pick a combo and start working with it(within the guidelines of the manual of course). It depends on how much you really want to shoot your weapon to find "the load". Condensed version= pick a combo, doesnt matter what brands you use(unless you already have a fav powder/bullet mfgr) as long as you are within the recommendations of the manuals. Roll 3 at a time starting at 10% under the starting charge in the book, and go up in one grain increments up to the max load recommended(doesnt mean you will get to shoot it, you might find your max before that). Go to the range, shoot your 3 at a time, checking brass for pressure, and recording the group. The Chrono helps if you are worried about bullet velocity. If you are not concerned with bullet velocity, then take your info and load up the powder charge that gave you the best group, and be happy with it. If you want to be a stickler, take that load that grouped the best, and load more 3 at a time going up and down in 1/10gr increments from that baseline. After that, mess with seating depth.

If you have a combo that shoots like garbage no matter what powder charge you put in it, then dont waste time, change bullet, powder, something and move on. dont waste time trying to make something work that your rifle doesnt like. I am sure I missed something, others will have input too.

That's how I do it too. To decide on a starting point I usually pick the powder/s listed that give the best velosity, allowing for the "catch" of the barrel length used in the manuals.