Often I see a bit of discussion on load development techniques. Looking through the various postings it occurs to me that many of the posters are probably wondering (although they don't actually say so), "how does Leeper do it?"
Well, wonder no more.
When I'm going to work up a load for a new rifle I start by preparing establishing the proper OAL for the bullet I intend to use. I do this by mashing theneck of a case to hold the bullet then seat a bullet in it by chambering it in the rifle. This will be my starting point.
I select the most likely powder to use by looking in the powder cupboard to see which one I have the most of. If this happens to be near the burning rate I'm after, it's a go.
I rely on my store of knowledge about such things to come up with a reasonable starting load and set my old Bonanza BR powder measure to throw this charge. I load 10 at this charge then a couple more batches of ten with an additional grain of powder in each batch. I segregate these in the loading block and identify them with little Post-it notes I then take the loading block and the rifle along with some targets and a stapler out to the shooting bench. it is after I staple up the first target and sit down at the bench that I realize I have forgotten my hearing protectors. I go back to the house and get them.
When I get back out to the bench I see that a bit of a breeze has come up and the post-it notes are gone. No matter. I can just throw a charge from the measure and weigh it and I'll know what the charge is. I'm pretty sure the starting load is on the left. Unless I turned the block around.
Blocking these negative thoughts from my mind, I select the first cartridge from the left side of the block. It chambers nicely and I settle in and fire. There is no hole in the target and I realize my bore sighting technique has failed me. When I go to open the bolt I realize that relying on that store of knowledge for a starting load might not have been the best way to go. After tapping the bolt open with a handy piece of wood which the pointer has brought over, I take the loading block back to the house and pull the remaining bullets.
I consult a loading manual and revise the measure settings. I reload another 3 batches of 10 with a 1 grain difference in each batch. Back to the bench and start fresh. I reboresight then settle in to fire the first group. At the first shot I'm rewarded by the appearance of a hole in the upper left corner of the target. Another shot produces another hole about an inch and a half away. Well this sucks! I adjust the scope then reach for the next load. This time the two holes are only 3/4 inch apart but the third opens it up to an inch. I decide this powder sucks so I go back to the house and pull the bullets from the rest.
This procedure is simply repeated until I find a load that produces acceptable accuracy.
The benefits of my technique are numerous and include:
An increased level of fitness from repeated trips back and forth from the bench.
Proof testing of the barreled action. You won't know your limits if you don't exceed them.
Increased bullet pulling expertise. I can pull 'em fast and with little damage.
Renewed familiarity with the contents of the powder cupboard.
Practice at setting and using the powder measure.
Development methods as described by Creighton Audette and by other posters on this forum are well regarded primarily due to a lack of alternate methods being put forward. I think that this post will go a long way toward relegating the "Audette Method" and others to the reloading history books where they belong. Regards, Bill.

Bill,

You really should write a book, that was entertaining. Chapter 1: Elk hunting, Chapter 2: Developing Loads.

Patiently awaiting "Chapter 3"....

Bill

This humor is so refreshing. It's the same as turning the radio station to classical music and a smile comes on my face.

Keep in mind that this is like reading Babe Ruth on how to hit a baseball. Leeper knows the rifle before he loads for it. The riflesmithing part is where my techniques and Leepers Laugh's are similar.

Just sitting in a Deer Stand yesterday listening to a Senior Citizen off in the distance Disk his small (10min) garden for over an hour. He stopped long enough to attach a bush hog and apparently decided to hog up some scattered Rebar for another 30min or so. (Must be one First Class bush hog.)

While enjoying this bit of diversion from having to concentrate my focus on spotting Deer, I thought, "G-O-S-H!!! I sure WISH Bill Leeper would share his Reloading Techniques with all of us!"

...

Must admit Bill's method is as good as any I've seen that "claims to improve" on the Audette Method.

Well, it sounds like you're at least blessed with a back yard range.

I have to drive 8 miles to our National Forest range. Got there one time to test some loads and I'd left the damned rifle bolt at home.

Another time, I grabbed the 30-06 shells instead of the .308's. I found this out only after driving 12 miles to the field where I'd gone to groundhog hunt.

And then there was the time when I'd taken no notice of the fact that the loading block was overhanging the edge of the bench by a couple of inches. After I put about the twentieth casefull of painstakingly weighed powder into that block, over she went, cases and all into the floor.

And I hate myself to this day for this: I pulled twenty cartridges apart because I'd found a better recipe with another powder. I dumped all of the IMR 4895 from those cases into my can of IMR 4350! Well, at least it was only a one pound can...

Thanks for the post Bill. Good one indeed!

Dan

Howdy Leeper,

Classic, simply CLASSIC. I laughed so hard that the kids in class sent someone running for the school nurse. They thought I had had a stroke or something. Maybe that is just wishful thinking!!! Keep the good humor coming; how refreshing!

Coach

Good post Bill, way too funny and great entertainment for a Friday

Double Amen to all Bill said

My favorite one is that ONE time I figure, heck, it's a 7-08 (or 308 or whatever), so, I'll just load up a batch that worked so well in all the previous ones, THEN discover, after dragging all the shooting paraphenalia to the range (fortunately it's right across the road), set up the targets, chrono, etc.., that my new rifle won't chamber them, because the throat on THIS one is 0.100" shorter than SAAMI says it should be, and that all my other ones are. I figure that one minute it would have taken to verify O'AL cost me, oh, about an hour

Hey, green788, got you beat on the bolt thing. I hiked about a mile over mountain and glade to get to that prime deer hunting spot way before sunup, only to discover no bolt in the rifle when I decided to load 'er up after I got to my stand. It was still sitting back on the table beside the cleaning vise

Another time, over same mountain/glade, discovered that the "Quik-Clip" (remember them) I pulled out of my pocket for my Rem 700 30-06 wouldn't fit into the 270 I ACTUALLY had in my hands, which didn't have a Quik-Clip setup. There was an upside to this one, though - after stomping out of the woods, into the house (absorbing many chortles from the missus), and getting the proper ammo, I got a nice buck on the way back to the stand.

(edit) Almost forgot this one. You know the MTM Case Guard 100 ammo carriers that hold 100 rounds? When doing load development for a variety of rifles, I can test up to 4 different loads for each of 5 rifles (4 rows of 5 rounds each for whichever rifle), with 4x6 lined note cards carefully outlining which load is in which row for which rifle. On the flip side of the card, I record velocity and such, then store the card for a permanent record. Pretty good, huh? UNFORTUNATELY, if you don't SECURELY latch the little plastic hickey to lock the lid closed, it will flip over when you pick it up and dump all the carefully loaded ammo all over the floor, along with the carefully filled out note cards. So, you stand there thinking 'hmmm, I wonder which powder was in THAT one, etc..' The only loads I could positively ID were one each in 308 and 7x57 that had the distinctively colored Ballistic Silvertips in them and one in 30-06 that had gold R-P primers. The bad thing was, I even thought 'boy, wonder if that thing is latched' before I picked the carrier up. One second of stupidity wasted hours of careful load prep. On the bright side, my roses are some of the best around - all that old powder that I couldn't identify when I broke them down made great fertilizer.

R-WEST

[ 11-01-2002, 20:39: Message edited by: R-WEST ]

Gentlemen,

I really cannot see why you think this very funny.

This is EXACTLY how we do things here too

I usually have problems at the top end of the range with load development...
Painstakingly mark the strikes and info. with a red felt pen, on returning to the firing point for penultimate shot a rain squall blows across and smudges all the info. Spend the next hour playing Sherlock Holmes and finally conclude.. I can't reach any firm conclusion.
Or stand admiring my sub-moa group, as a breath of wind lifts the corner of the paper (where I ran out of staples/or the stapler played up)to reveal the true group on the ply below!
Or shoot Dan Newberrys' "round robin" system with great precision only to realise I have one cartridge left over!!

Bill and others,
I read you post with a large grin, the kind that
my grandfather used to say was a good thing the Good Lord knew how to put in, or it would have cut my head off.

I have gotten to the range after a 20 minutes drive to find my bolt was not in the rifle. What a humbling experience, and there is noone you can blame but yourself. I also have gotten everything set up to find out that my chronograph battery has died and I must go pick up a new one. That is only a ten minute drive, but if there is no one else at the range to watch your gear, you gotta pack it all up. And please don't mention having a brain fart and dumping a quantity of one powder into a container of another.

Goes to show we are all human, and have not discovered anything new yet, not even how to screw up. Ku-dude