Thread: Load Testing Analysis. What do i make of this?

Hey Team,

Have just got done shooting my first ever batch of reloads. After shooting the 4 groups I am unsure what to make of the groupings. I was unable to shoot over a chrono so cannot comment on the difference’s in velocities but was reasonably happy with my reloading. Obviously being my first time though anything could have gone wrong of course.
I was shooting off of bags so all the shots felt solid. There was slight wind but I tried to shoot in the luls. I was expecting to see more tighter groups and some more spread out. Where do I go from here? I want to be shooting towards to top end of the speed spectrum so would prefer the higher charges but seen as the 63gr group was really bad i’m not sure what to think.

Hopefully there should be 4 photos attached

Cheers, 7RMBoy

well it could be worse.......
how do you and rifle go with factory ammunition????
if you have a factory grouping of CONSISTANT half inch.......you could do a hell of a lot worse than to TRY THIS.....set your seating die using factory round,if your chosen factory round has SIMILAR type olglive...the roundy tapering bit...it will mean you have SIMILAR projectile jump to rifling.
if grouping tightens....well and awesome...tootoo slightly with seating depth...if nothing changes,and grouping still at the 1.5moa you getting now,look for another issue.
the whole reason for factory grouping is it gives you a base line to work off,if your best factory load grouping is 2 moa...your reloads are better....keep doing what you are,but look for any other possible reason.

paper manual has 162grn hdy spbt as imr4831 61.8grns MAXIMUM

Firstly, dont get hung up on velocity - its way overrated. Those groups look pretty good for a first time, and consistent. If you're keen on 63gn's, reload some more and try again cos that could easily be a wind gust, your technique or any one of a number of variables. But I'd be plenty happy with any of the first 3 as a starting point, hell I'd call it quits and just load up for 62.5gn's and have at it! 61 gn's is the listed book max, so you should consider your pressure signs when choosing your load. If you want to look at making them tighter maybe play with your seating depth with one or 2 of those loads to see if that helps. But, good start in to the deep dark hole of reloading, well done.

The ammunition i am shooting for hunting at the moment is the Norma 154gr Oryx and it shot at about 1moa when sighting in

Funny I've always set intpital seating depth using factory ammo before faffing around, I'm yet to find that seating closer to the lands etc make a blind bit of difference. Powder charge seems more influential. Maybe if I was a ftr or similar shooter but I work on "within a 4 inch circle at the maximum range I am prepared to shoot at an animal at is acceptable and all I need". For rabbits and hares however it's half that,

Or try Re25 or Ar 2217. Thede are slower burn rate powders

Bullets had a COAL of 3.350” sitting 0.016” off of the lands

Originally Posted by Woody

Or try Re25 or Ar 2217. Thede are slower burn rate powders

Want to try get the 4831 shooting well as i have a heap from when dad used to reload

great you can see point BOTH Husky and I made politely........your FIRST RELOADS are at book MAXIMUM right off the cuff
just about EVERY SINGLE bit of reloading literature ever written will spell it out in big letters
start 10% below and work up.
you know your seating depth and distance off lands...how does this compare to your ornx?????
and please be aware folks get knicker in a knot if you dont SAY WHICH 4831 you mean each n every time as the hodgdon and IMR stuff have quite different burn speeds and charge weights....in poohseventy the minimum for one is maximum for other.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

great you can see point BOTH Husky and I made politely........your FIRST RELOADS are at book MAXIMUM right off the cuff
just about EVERY SINGLE bit of reloading literature ever written will spell it out in big letters
start 10% below and work up.
you know your seating depth and distance off lands...how does this compare to your ornx?????
and please be aware folks get knicker in a knot if you dont SAY WHICH 4831 you mean each n every time as the hodgdon and IMR stuff have quite different burn speeds and charge weights....in poohseventy the minimum for one is maximum for other.

Apologies, the powder is IMR 4831.
I dont own any comparators so I cant measure how far the Oryx sit off of the lands. The only was i know my distance from lands for the accubonds is because i found the jam length and then seated back off of that.

Yep, Nosler reload guide states 63.0 gn as max with IMR4831. Your 62.5 gn load shows promise, try 62.3 and 62.7 gns.
Also have you measured your max COL ? Ie where the ogive hits the lanz? The saami COL at 3.29 is almost certainly still quite a big jump to lanz. Seating pills longer, reducing jump may tighten up your groups.

Your brass is probably not Nosler in which case their reloading specs will not apply. At the very least, as others have recommended, drop back 10% to 57 grains and do a ladder at 0.3 grain steps up to 61 or so. This will give a better picture to assess. Use magnum primers too.

ok fair enough.....maybe TRY what I suggested.....place one of the ornx in base and put seating die in,screw stem out a fair ol way....drop ram handle to bottom and start screwing stem down watching it like a hawk...when it starts to "quiver like your old fella when pretty girl walks by"....stop screwing it down.... then try one of your reloads in dies set up as it is......it will either be shorter,longer or bang on....any which way it gives you somewhere to start...Ive loaded this way for 30 years.