Fellow reloaders,

after a break of 3 years without reloading, I need to start again and thus I am thinking again about the most important factors which make a precise (hunting-) load.

* In my opinion, the most critical issue is the seating depth close to the lands. This, of course, in most uniform cases of one brand and one weight.

* Powder charge is not that critical as long as the powder is not totally unsuitable for the caliber desired (eg. Hodgdon 1000 for a .308 Win). The powder charge has its effect, but within the "range of data" published in several manuals the powder is ok.

* Further down, as long as the load is not precise enough, swapping primers, cases or possibly bullets might give better results.

Would you share this opinion on the importance as stated above? Any hint is greatly appreciated.

Hajo

Welcome back into the fold.....

As far as your questions: Seating depth. In my opinion, seating close to the lands is highly over-rated for hunting rounds. As a matter of fact, I have a 270 that won't shoot, unless backed off by .2" (.5 cm).

Consistent seating depth, now that's a different story.

Powder, as long as the max load fills the case by 80% or better, go for it.

As far as tuning for hunting rifles, I stopped playing with bullets and primers. I pick the bullet I want to shoot, and I only use one kind of primer. Then I work up to the desired velocity with that powder. Then tune seating depth to find accuracy. If it is below 1" (2.5 cm) at 100, I'm done. If not, I try the same procedure with another powder.

For target/varmint, now that's another story.... FWIW, Dutch.

Seating depth , I would say is one of the most important factors that needs to be taken into account when working up loads . As has been said every rifle likes its own seating depth , powder charge , primers etc. That is what makes reloading so much fun .... and agony . My 7x57 Built on a Mauser 98 action , sporting a Musgrave medium profile barrel likes the seat to be ecaxtly 1.0 mm of the lands , i know this sounds extreme but the seating depth was found by pure luck as I set the seater plug to far in , and only realized this after a stunning 4mm CTC 3 shot group at 100 m . The rifle now consitently groups under 10 mm at a 100 m . Anything but a millimeter of the lands & she wont group at all.

Regards
Rudie

Thanks for the hints so far.

Hajo

You specified for HUNTING.

The first thing I would want you to understand is all guns are different. What shoots in mine, may not in yours. So there isn't a fixed answer here.

I agree with Dutch that seating depth isn't that big a deal for hunting. Certainly be consistent.

Probably the quickest way to change the results good or bad is to change bullets. This can have a wild effect on a rifle's performance even when all other factors are left unchanged.

Powder is next. Same rules apply.

Primers seldom make much difference in most rifles.

That's how I would rate these items. The main thing is just getting to know your gun. It will tell you what it likes.

[ 06-26-2002, 01:18: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]