Thread: Load Development - Velocity vs Accuracy

well OK then I will answer that there question Mr Zimmer

Joe Bloggs has a load...lets just for arguments sake say 24.5grns of AR2206 behind a 52grn projectile in mixed brass for his .223
Joe has been using this same combination for 20 years and rifle will consistantly put all projectiles into ragged wee group somewhere between 1/2 and 1" all day everyday....animals fall over dead and Joe is happy....UNTILL Joes mate....Blowie buys a chronograph and they test Joes load and find its only going 2900fps which just isnt good enough so Joe pokes more powder in to get projectiles going 3100fps.....
see Joe WAS happy as pig in shit with what he had..... now he has mind game going on,is new load better??? is old load better??? do I need to tweak seating depth??? shit I may need a faster twist barrel to use heavy projectiles...1:8 or 1:7????? this old mini mauser wont handle that ,maybe I need to buy a new rifle????

Joe was much happier just shooting shit.
the group wasnt destroyed....Joes happiness with a perfectly good load was.
title of thread...accuracy Vs velocity.....take away the velocity bit by removing chronicgraph and its a non issue.
and 4" difference at 500 yards ISNT a wounded deer if aiming for high shoulder......its a lower chest/shoulder hit=dead deer.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

well OK then I will answer that there question Mr Zimmer

Joe Bloggs has a load...lets just for arguments sake say 24.5grns of AR2206 behind a 52grn projectile in mixed brass for his .223
Joe has been using this same combination for 20 years and rifle will consistantly put all projectiles into ragged wee group somewhere between 1/2 and 1" all day everyday....animals fall over dead and Joe is happy....UNTILL Joes mate....Blowie buys a chronograph and they test Joes load and find its only going 2900fps which just isnt good enough so Joe pokes more powder in to get projectiles going 3100fps.....
see Joe WAS happy as pig in shit with what he had..... now he has mind game going on,is new load better??? is old load better??? do I need to tweak seating depth??? shit I may need a faster twist barrel to use heavy projectiles...1:8 or 1:7????? this old mini mauser wont handle that ,maybe I need to buy a new rifle????

Joe was much happier just shooting shit.
the group wasnt destroyed....Joes happiness with a perfectly good load was.
title of thread...accuracy Vs velocity.....take away the velocity bit by removing chronicgraph and its a non issue.
and 4" difference at 500 yards ISNT a wounded deer if aiming for high shoulder......its a lower chest/shoulder hit=dead deer.

Ah, MD, first cab off the rank eh...

You still haven't convinced me how the chronograph is to blame for that. The issue is down to Joe Bloggs not accepting his load for what it is (satisfactory for his purposes) and going off chasing the velocity demon. I have never ever chased velocity over accuracy. That all comes out of the head of Joe Bloggs, not the dumb chronograph.

I would say further, that I have developed some very accurate (evaluated at only 100 yds though) loads which had high ES. I have stopped further development of that load and gone for different powder/primer combinations.

Also keep in mind that although the hunting element is predominant in this forum, it is still a hunting and shooting forum and for many of us we are unfortunately no longer able to enjoy hunting. So shooting becomes our pastime. A satisfactory hunting load has more leeway (except for extreme long range hunting) than a load for say a PRS shooter that he may be happy with or a fullbore shooter etc. Horses for courses.