I am a basic reloader. I reload for production and not experimentation.
I found a few loads that i like and i produce them enough to hunt and shoot.
however I have heard some people say "I was getting 3" groups till i switched primers then i got .5" groups"
REALLY??
whats the smallest change you have ever made to a load that had the most dramatic results.

I've never encountered such a dramatic improvement unless there was a change in the bullet I was using!

I've never had primers change much of anything.

I was working a load up for my .222rem with 55gr Hornady interlocks. I was struggling to do better than 2" in a known very accurate rifle. Using Benchmark, going from 23.5grs to 23.7grs reduced the group from two inches to .4". Amazing change for such a small tweak in powder.

This happened last weekend!

any big changes from brass? i have alot of FC and a good amount of RWS, Hornady LC ect. i plan on centering my loads around the FC since i have more of it. probably against logic since Fed doesnt sell brass anymore.
i can get once fired match from most LE departments.

quote:

whats the smallest change you have ever made to a load that had the most dramatic results.

The most dramatic change I've seen results from absolutely no change in the load itself, but rather changing the shooter behind the gun .

If changing nothing other than substituting a different bullet of the same weight qualifies as a "small" change, then that would be it.

Who'd ever thunk .2 of a grain of powder would result in 1.6' in group reduction. I would have to try .2 more. Maybe the group would have disappeared?

quote:

The most dramatic change I've seen results from absolutely no change in the load itself, but rather changing the shooter behind the gun Wink.

as usual stonecreek hit the nail on the head

Most dramatic change I had was with the 243 Win, by switching from Win LR primers to CCI 200.

quote:

Originally posted by eddieharren:
Who'd ever thunk .2 of a grain of powder would result in 1.6' in group reduction. I would have to try .2 more. Maybe the group would have disappeared?

Amazing isn't it??



Actually, I just realised I lied, the extra .2gr only reduced the group from 1.5" to .4". It took half a grain to get it from 2" to .4"



This bottom group is very typical of what this rifle does with tuned loads.

.5 grains in my 7mm RM made a big difference, shot around an inch with those loads. Lighter weight of powder and it was around 2 inches. This was with Mag Tips and RL 22.

I was having problems with my 300 WSM not grouping and presure spikes, Found some posts on this site about the magnum primers in the short mags causing problems switched to CCI 200 and I was able to load more powder, no presure spikes and dropped the group size in half or better!

A rifle I work with will give anywhere from 5" groups to 0.75" ten shot strings @ 100 yards by changing bullets. Powders and seating depth come in second and can affect the way the rifle prints by an inch or two but the seating depth is generally strongest. Primers Could have a HUGE effect on your load but that is probably very dependant on your powder type and quantity.

What kind of scales or powder measure was used?

I've seen some major changes in group size from three things:


1. Incremental changes in the powder quantity

2. Change to a different bullet manuf.

3. Not related to handloading but... reduction in the trigger poundage.


I haven't really quanatified the amount of change but would guess that 1 and 2 above are good for an improvement of around .25" each and 3 above can move groups .5 to 1.0" closer.