Im just trying to save myself some time, Would you recomend ajusting the the charge untill you got the best group first, or ajust the seating depth for the best group. I cant seem to find a strait answer
thanks

I would expect the powder charge to make the most difference. And your best seating depth may not fit in your mag. anyway.
John

quote:

Originally posted by tim blake:
Im just trying to save myself some time, Would you recomend ajusting the the charge untill you got the best group first, or ajust the seating depth for the best group. I cant seem to find a strait answer
thanks

When I load up, I make sure the oal will fit in the mag, and in some cases not be into the lands, too. I would say that powder charge will affect your accuracy more, from the loading and shooting I do seating depth doesn't do nothing as far as accuracy goes. Unless, your shooting a VLD type bullet, these need to to be right on the lands. BTW, What ya loading up? Jay

My experiance differs from the others, I find bullet, then distance from the lands, powder, and lastly charge wgt are the order of factors that affect my accuracy.

I work my loads up with the bullet about .005" off the lands. After I find what seems to be either the most accurate charge or max charge, depending on what I`m looking for, I adjust the seating depth looking for a gain in accuracy.

Seating depth, charge wgt, primers, ect are all just part of the tweeking process.The only way to tell what will work best for you is to experiment yourself with your rifle and loads.

Powder charge!!

Have to agree with Old Joe--I start with a charge of the selected powder that is 1.5 to 2 gr below max and load 3 or 5 rounds .005" off the lands, then .015" off, , 025", .035". I shoot them and evaluate accuracy. In my experience, once I've found the sweet spot in distance off the lands, I can tinker with the powder charge with little to no impact on ACCURACY. The point of impact changes with charge changes, but not the group size. This may mean that I have ammo that won't function thru the magazine, and thus my current M70 FW in .22-250 is a 2-shooter--one in the chamber and one in the mag.

powder charge,...seating depth is a tweeking proceedure and usually best evaluated at longer distances to determine the benefit/caveat.

When I develope a load for a hunting gun, I load up a few rounds with different charges until I get the velocity I want (I don't care if a load for my 300 win mag is accurate if it produces 308 velocity). In general I usually get the best groups when I get within 2 grains of the max load.

Next I set the COL .01 off the lands or to the max magazine length and tweak the charge a grain either direction.

When I find the best charge I vary the seating depth .005 each direction until I get the best load.

thanks for the input

I use the starting load with different seating depths,starting shy off lands (or magazine length if needed) and select the best grouping one to go on developing the powder charge. IMHO, it takes less shots to find the petload this way.

I do the best powder charge for accuracy first, then I start messing with seating depth etc. Having said that, if the accuracy is good I just leave well alone.

John

quote:

Originally posted by tim blake:
Im just trying to save myself some time, Would you recomend ajusting the the charge untill you got the best group first, or ajust the seating depth for the best group. I cant seem to find a strait answer...

Hey Tim, Since you are "trying to save yourself some time", I'd recommend just looking in the Load Manual from who ever is making your bullets and pick the Starting Loads and Overall Length for whatever Powder you have on hand.

Then when you become interested in "Accuracy" rather than "time", develop your Load using the never improved upon Creighton Audette Method. Pick the best "gorup clusters" from the initial shots and then Fine Tune your Load by adjusting the Seating Depth. Only problem is this will take some "time". And of course, a person never goes wrong gaining more Trigger Time.

Best of luck to you.