Opinion wanted.

[ms6852]

As I dive into the world of reloading, research seems endless as are the tools available to increase accuracy. It will be about two months before I do my first load in 223 for my rock river arms predator pursuit when I ran into an article about using a bullet comparator from hornady. It allows you to measure from the ogive and have the desired distance to the lands for best accuracy.

Here is where I need your opinion. My rifle shoots sub moa 5 shot groups with factory ammo .680 as a matter of fact besting the factory guarantee of 3/4".
Should I bother purchasing another tool if so how can it help me? I get bored with this rifle at 500 yards.

 

[rcmodel]

My rifle shoots sub moa 5 shot groups with factory ammo

Then you cannot improve on that with all the tools in the world.

All you need to do is pay attention to all the minor details when you reload for it.

And seating to the lands is not one of them!!

I keep repeating over & over again on this forum that Factory loaded Match and Varmint ammo is all loaded to standard length, with no regard to where the lands are in every match or varmint rifle ever made.

And you should be very pleased once you learn to reload the same quality ammo, at the same standard length!

rc

 

[grubbylabs]

It's nice to know the numbers I guess, but it's pointless when you have to ignore the numbers so your rounds can fit the magazine.

 

[1911 guy]

Again, what RC said. The comparator allows you to locate the ogive and set OAL to the lands. Your rifle obviously does not like to be loaded to the lands or it wouldn't shoot like than from a magazine.

All you need to do is spend the money you'd be wasting on the comparator on testing bullet and powder combinations. My first step would be trying to replicate that factory round that's giving you .65 MOA groups.

 

[ms6852]

I figured as much since I plan to do a ladder test at two hundred yards since that is all my range has. I'm saving for a magneto chronograph thus the reason for waiting two months to reload. I believe that if I perform ladder tests on every rifle I will reload, this, than eliminates the need for the hornady bullet comparator. Am I correct in thinking this way?

 

[rg1]

If your Rock River has the Wylde chamber the only bullets you can get anywhere close to the lands would be 80-90 grain match bullets seated so long that you have to single load them into the chamber one at a time.

 

[1911 guy]

I'll tell you what I do and let you take it into account (or disregard) as you make your decisions.

I base initial powder choice on two primary things. 1) velocity in the middle to upper range for charge weight and 2) volume. I want my charge to fill as much of the case as I can and still cram a bullet in. If I get no satisfactory results after attempted load development, I go on to the next powder.

I select a bullet I want. Load samples of five rounds at each charge weight from min. to max. Narrow it down to the best performer and then begin tweaking OAL. Again, be prepared to scrap it and start over with another bullet, as with powder.

If you're after wringing the most accuracy you can out of the rifle, be prepared to spend a lot of time between "roughing in" your load (selecting a powder and bullet the rifle likes) and then fine tuning that load (primers, OAL, specific trim length, crimp or no crimp, etc.

 

[ms6852]

1911 I like your idea, at least this way I do not have to wait the 2 months I was going to wait to get my magneto chrono. I don't mind if I have to do it over and over until I get it right, it means I'll be shooting more.

 

[Eb1]

I find primers have had more effect on accuracy than powder.

 

[Blue68f100]

The crony is nice but the bottom line is what the accuracy is. It has been stated here many time the vel spread and mean means nothing if it shoot accurately. We did not have the fancy tools 35+ years ago. What counted was the target and it still trumps any crony data. Beside the distance your shooting it will not have much impact on accuracy. Do the ladder test and find tune your load to your gun. I would definitely sort head stamps due to different volume.

Good luck and happy shooting...

 

[ms6852]

The reason for my chrono is that when I start shooting long distance this will help me with my ballistic calculators. My brother has a 300 win mag sendero which I plan to show him how to start shooting all the way to 1500 yards maybe 1700 if his scope has enough elevation.

 

[Vol46]

No need to crowd the lands, particularly in a semi auto. I have several bolt actions with very long leades, & because I could not get close to the lands and still have enough bullet in the case, I started loading them to book length - lo & behold, I found some very accurate loads. I will still play with seating depth, usually after I have a good load, to see if I can fine tune it a bit, but I use book length as a baseline.