Whoopee! I did it!

[mugsie]

I did it! Hooray! I recieved my Dillon 550B the other day, got it all set up and started loading already. Ran 300 rounds through it already! What a pleasure to work.

Now for a quesiton. I loaded .38 specials, 158grain RN Berry Plated bullet with Unique powder, 4.1 grains and the accuracy was way off. I upped the charge to 4.6 grians (wow! I sould just like a reloader!) and I was able to hold groups of about one inch benched out of my Tracker .357. Has anyone else had similar experience that the accuracy goes up as the velocity increases? If this is a general rule always true, then why not load for max velocity all the time?

Thanks guys....

 

[.38special]

Welcome to the club man!!
I started reloading about 2 weeks ago, and found the same thing true.
The range master at my local range who has been loading for 20 years told me that sometime bumping up the charge just a few grain can really affect the accuracy. He said "it just makes the bullet fly a little better". Obviously the velocity is higher, so that helps to.

But i think there is a line, to where P+ loads arent any more accurate than medium loads at short range but i could be wrong.

 

[SASS#23149]

accuracy can be a life long chase

different bullte in differnt cases using different powders usd in different guns on different days will shoot differently.
Or not.

 

[facedown]

SASS has a point - different guns will like different diets so, unfortunately, you'll have to experiment a lot.

For both my 4" and 2", a load of 3.5 gr W231 under the same bullet you're using is optimal. I've gotten the same results from HP-38 which is essentially the same powder.

The classic target load for .38 is 2.7 gr of Bullseye under a 148 gr Hollow Base Wad Cutter. Set them flush with the case mouth and crimp just enough to hold them in the case. Rather low velocity but accurate as heck.

Reloading isn't a hobby, it's an affliction. Enjoy!

 

[mugsie]

Thanks guys. I'm loading some +P's this week and I'll see how they go too. I pushed the .38 up to max load according to the Speer manual and I'll see if it's any better in the groupings. If not then .1 grain off max for Unique is probably what I'll use.

Now I need to buy more guns som I can reload other calibers - boy this really works. I shoot so I can load, I buy other guns so I can load other calibers - how much better can it get?!

Thanks again....

 

[BluesBear]

That extra .5 grain of Unique in a .38 Special case gave you much better load density.

Too little powder bouncing around inside a case will cause erratic ignition. Erratic ignition causes erratic velocities. (Your standard deviation measured with a chronometer would be horrible.)
Erratic velocities create awful accuracy.

Accuracy is about so much more than velocity.