Thank you and next steps

[rjfunk]

First of all a big thank you to everyone that has been posting on this site. I've been lurking on this site and one other one for a while, and finally stepped it up and started reloading. Simple Lee Breech lock reloading kit and a lot of answers from you (you've almost answered every question I had if I searched a bit).

Here are the results of the load workup (Hdy 130 grain SST, RL22, Fed primer and brass, COAL 3.360 just fits inside the clip). Gun is a Browning A-bolt 270 and was a moa shooter with factory hornady's.







I'm really happy with a .438 grouping, but I still want to play around the 58.8 to 59.3 mark to see what happens in between there. There were no pressure signs that i could see at all.

Thanks again. This success is largely a result of the help of this forum.

 

[john16443]

Welcome aboard

The addition only gets worse from here. No it's rifle, when will handgun reloading begin?

 

[Hondo 60]

Glad to have you post!

This site gets it right because of all of our collective experience.
So every little bit helps.

 

[rjfunk]

I'm in Canada. We have crazy handgun rules. Still interested in it though. Now I need to develop a low recoil round for my wife and daughter. Also, what are the next steps for this load. Maybe I can get it to shoot 1/4 moa.

 

[Jeeping]

rj, look at your COAL. That’s the first thing that I do when looking for accuracy. Pick a powder charge, then just change the COAL. Play with that, make the rounds longer/shorter by 0.002in and see how group turns out. Then I'd look at different powder, brass, primer.
1/2 inch at 100 yards is good, now you are getting in to race car territory. To shoot 1/4 inches you need the most consistent ammo you can make. Start with brass prep; here is what I do: clean, neck size, trim, flash hole uniform, weigh, neck size again. Then you need very accurate scale, I like ones that read out to 0.00.
Try all that see how it turns out.

 

[MtnCreek]

Good shooting. Good advice on brass prep from Jeeping; anything you can do to make your ammo more consistent will help your groups. I would also increase groups to 5 shot; that will give you better info. Try adjusting powder charge by 0.1 or 0.2 grs.

 

[rjfunk]

Jeeping, my COAL is the max that my clip will hold. Rifle has 3.380, so I'm about .02 off right now. How much shorter would you try? Is it like the nodes of a barrel where it could get worse and then better again, or if I try shorter and it starts to spread, do you just stop? I guess I could go a bit farther and just manually load as well.

I will definitely work on my case prep as well. Thanks for that advice.

Mtn, I will be playing with .2 grain increments around 58.8 now. The 5 shot groups sounds good to. I tried not to have any flyers resulting from my shooting, but you never know.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Funshooter45]

You have done very well indeed. As Jeeping said so well, when you get to 1/2" groups with a stock rifle, there might not be a whole lot left to accomplish. If I were you, I would take the distance out to 200 yds and try shooting 5 shot groups and see what you see. Sometimes the results at 100 yds don't translate directly out to longer distances.

 

[rjfunk]

Thanks funshooter. I'm lucky enough to have a 200 yard range at home (I can actually stretch it out to about 400 yards now that the field is harvested), so I will take it out to longer distances. Hopefully I can keep 1/2 moa groupings. It's been very windy lately, so it's hard to find a calm day to shoot for prime accuracy.

 

[Jeeping]

rj,
At this point to shrink your groups even more, it will take some considerable time, effort and later money. I have no doubt that you are very detriment to wring out the absolute max accuracy out of you/ammo/rifle.
This is how I look at sport of shooting "one hole groups". There are three basic components to shooting accurately: rifleman, rifle and ammunition. First is the monkey behind the trigger, the most important thing for me, is a trigger pull. Make sure that you are applying even/consistent pressure straight back. The actual shot should come as a “surprise”, sort of speak. Second is your ammo, you have 100% control over how consistent round after round is. This is where you get in to some serious cash if you want “race car” performance. With the equipment that you have right now (please tell us what you use) you probably can still get batter groups, by trying different COAL, powder, primer, brass, bullet combos. Check your head space, that’s where I start. Sit the bullet so that it touches the rifling, then back of .002 inches at a time. Most rifles will have a sweet spot between touching the rifling and .020 inches away from it. Once I hit a point where it’s not getting any batter I stop and back track, this is where good documentation comes in handy. You did good, by starting .002 off the grooves, see if shorter OAL will help you any.
Let us know if we can help with other questions.

 

[Walkalong]

I'm really happy with a .438 grouping, but I still want to play around the 58.8 to 59.3 mark to see what happens

Yep, keep playing. One group means nothing, nothing at all. Repeatability is where it is at. Shoot an aggregate when you think you have something.

If it is a hunting gun, three shot "groups" are fine. Let the barrel cool completely between groups. The first one, or maybe two, shots from a cold/cool barrel are all that count.

If it is a target gun, shoot five 5 five shot groups, without taking a long time between groups.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Now I need to develop a low recoil round for my wife and daughter.

That's an easy one. Give the Hodgdon Youth Load Data a try before anything else. They have developed a lot of data for light loads and a formula for anything they didn't list. There are 2 loads listed for the .270.

Welcome to the forum...

 

[john16443]

That's an easy one. Give the Hodgdon Youth Load Data a try before anything else. They have developed a lot of data for light loads and a formula for anything they didn't list. There are 2 loads listed for the .270.

Welcome to the forum...

ArchAngelCD - Link returns http Error 404, site not found. Where can this data be obtained from their web site?