Thread: .243 load development part deux

Note on language -

You can't tighten a group. It has already been shot, it isn't getting any tighter than it is. You could put a patch over one of the holes I suppose.


When you make changes in your load specifications, what you hope to do is improve the precision of the system. You hope that you'll shoot smaller groups in future as a proxy for measuring the precision of the system. However with 5-shot samples we actually have basically no idea what the precision of this system is at the moment, and it is impossible to measure any improvement or attribute it to any changes with any evidential basis.



Have a flip through this thread - I spent 15 years following the same handloading approaches and achieved some good results over the years in spite of the process rather than because of it; and with a lot of uncertainty and wasted time/components/effort. Essentially I realised I end up with the same result no matter what I did, the process was actually pointless, just fooling myself fiddling with characteristics that didn't actually change anything.

There is a simpler way - follow the simple process and you'd be in a position now of knowing much more, with less components used. I would prefer if others didn't have to waste their time and components either.


https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....opment-106057/



If you're seating the bullets anywhere in the functional window you should be (0.030-0.100 off the lands, or mag length - whichever is shorter) I have yet to see any convincing evidence that tweaking the seating depth makes any difference to precision. I have tested it with a few bullets and I cannot find a difference with valid measurements. Likewise powder charge. But, maybe this is the situation where that doesn't hold true.


However, given the initial results with those massive groups - first step for me now would be immediately dropping the bullet and trying another, or looking at is there something wrong with the rifle/scope mounts. Do you have a bank of previous data from the factory ammo with this bullet?