Thread: New to reloading - to what fraction of a grain do you test new loads? 0.5gr, 0.3gr...

Originally Posted by Pav

New to reloading - Just wondering to what fraction of a grain does everybody generally test to when making a new load? 0.5gr, 0.3gr?
Current cartridges are .308 and .222 predominantly used for hunting with a little target shooting for good measure.
Am I right to assume that a charge difference of 0.3gr will have a more noticeable result in the smaller 222 case than it would in the 308? And to what fraction have you noticed significant variation in results before you contend with human error etc in charge weights eg. 0.2gr, 0.1gr?
Cheers

Avoid over thinking, if possible, find yourself a local reloading guru/sensei. Grey hair and hearing loss are usually good signs that they have been shooting for a while

Read this first (Richard Lee's Modern Reloading) : http://marvinstuart.com/firearm/Manu...%20-%20ocr.pdf

Most important factors in descending order:

1. Tools used for measuring and dispensing powder

2. Type of powder

3. Case capacity

1. Tools
Try and avoid weight measuring with the whole beam scale balance and powder trickling setup. Waste of time, money and sanity if you are just making rounds to go hunting and plinking with. Use a volumetric measuring system (Lee scoops or powder thrower) with a small set of electronic scales to measure the initial charge then work from there. No point trying to measure down to 0.1 grain if your equipment only has an accuracy of +/- 0.3 grains.

2. Powder
Choose a good powder that 'meters' easily (ball powders or smaller stick powders). If you can get some Varget powder then you should be covered for both .308 and .223/.222

3. Case capacity
As you rightly pointed out, a 0.3 grain difference will matter a lot more in a .222 case vs a .338LM case. You might encounter the problem of compressed charges further down the line, but really nothing to worry about. There are some guys who literally use a primed case as a scoop, credit card to strike off the excess powder at the neck and crunch a bullet down onto the powder (really depends on the components, don't try this!). Not best practise but hey ho it works for them!

Best of luck and enjoy.