Reloading accuracy

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peterk123

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Specifically 308. Hunting purposes, so I'm going for more of a "get it within six inches of aimed spot". Gun sighted at 200. Would shoot target at anything between 100 yards and say 250. Not sure I would go further at this point for fear of wounding an animal.

How much accuracy is lost when using the brass the 2nd,3rd and fourth time? Insignificant for hunting purposes?

I use nosler right now for my hunting ammo but it is costly. Reloading, I could halve the cost. I will have the time this winter to finally road again.

Thanks. Pete
 
I can't believe I have not reloaded for three years. Granted, I have a good inventory, but is it ever enough?

Guy at the range today was shooting through a chrono. Not reloads, but it really got me excited to start load development again. I bet I can get close to the noslers in performance. Even if my reloads were used for practice only, it would be so worth it. I just dropped 200 bucks for a 100 rounds.
 
peterk123 said:
Would shoot target at anything between 100 yards and say 250.
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most of my reloads in ar10 go at 1/2 - 3/4 moa, but even 1 moa at 100yds is just 1 inch.
for hunting, the hands tremble and cardio is way more challenging than ammo, i would not think of it, not even worth to worry about.

the truth is - stock ammo can have powder drops deviating to almost a whole grain. if not more. in reloads we, as obsessed idiots :) - get down to the 0.1 grain drop consistency.
any reload it always, almost always always is head and shoulders better than a stock ammo, especially if you ran a ladder and tuned the load for the gun.
 
peterk123 said:
I just dropped 200 bucks for a 100 rounds.
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the horror and an abomination!!!
:)

but, damn, it hurts to see prices on powder and primers. still, especially for higher end loads, there is no altermnative to reloads. noslers on sale can be found at $30-$20 per 100, but lately it was a trick to find 175gr RDFs. custom competition is more common and is in stock in a couple of places right now, in .308 175gr.
 
peterk123 said:
Specifically 308. Hunting purposes, so I'm going for more of a "get it within six inches of aimed spot". Gun sighted at 200. Would shoot target at anything between 100 yards and say 250. Not sure I would go further at this point for fear of wounding an animal.

How much accuracy is lost when using the brass the 2nd,3rd and fourth time? Insignificant for hunting purposes?

I use nosler right now for my hunting ammo but it is costly. Reloading, I could halve the cost. I will have the time this winter to finally road again.

Thanks. Pete
Click to expand...
No accuracy lost.

In fact, I even stopped cleaning my brass. Ran a test, reloaded new brass vs 4 times reloaded clean brass vs 2 times reloaded dirty brass.

No difference. The reloaded brass was a little more accurate than the new brass.

When you have once fired brass, you can size it back 2 thousands, which should make it more consistent than factory ammo. But you also need good brass and need to be consistent.

Pic below -- Yesterday, 2x reloaded brass, not cleaned. 200 yards. 6.5cm. 4 shot group, 1" squares.

20231004_085602.jpg
 
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paul73 said:
we, as obsessed idiots :) - get down to the 0.1 grain drop consistency.
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.02 for me. [rofl]

Would go for .002 but that gets expensive. At this point I know my ammo can shoot a 1hole group at 200, the fliers are all my fault. So it makes no sense to drop more money on a $1K+ powder drop.
 
Broc said:
No accuracy lost.

In fact, I even stopped cleaning my brass. Ran a test, reloaded new brass vs 4 times reloaded clean brass vs 2 times reloaded dirty brass.

No difference. The reloaded brass was a little more accurate than the new brass.

When you have once fired brass, you can size it back 2 thousands, which should make it more consistent than factory ammo. But you also need good brass and need to be consistent.

Pic below -- Yesterday, 2x reloaded brass, not cleaned. 200 yards. 6.5cm. 4 shot group, 1" squares.

View attachment 802928
Click to expand...
Broc, that is great shooting! Off the bench?

I have forced my wife and myself to shoot off of our packs only and on the ground. We are both consistently within four inches of center. Also limit magnification to 6x. I have no idea if our shots are considered good at 200, but it will drop a deer or an elk. I wish I had results like you though!
 
peterk123 said:
Broc, that is great shooting! Off the bench?

I have forced my wife and myself to shoot off of our packs only and on the ground. We are both consistently within four inches of center. Also limit magnification to 6x. I have no idea if our shots are considered good at 200, but it will drop a deer or an elk. I wish I had results like you though!
Click to expand...
No, laying down, using a bipod and a very uncomfortable rear bag. I need a new one, the Caldwell doesn't work well with a Chassis and the bipod adjustments are either a little too high or a little too low for this range and the angle.

I have a nice bag, I just have to fill it with sand or rice, not sure what is best.

It was also early morning, so as the sun came out the evaporation form the wet grass made it somewhat shitty.

This is why I said, it is not the rifle ir ammo at this point, it is 100% on me making small mistakes.

This is the setup.

20231004_090041.jpg
 
For hunting purposes, inside of 300 yards, don't worry about any of the benchrest tricks for accuracy. Dump powder into whatever brass you have and cap it with the bullet of you choice. It's pretty hard to NOT get minimum 2moa out of any rifle. That's 6" at 300 yards.
 
Broc said:
No, laying down, using a bipod and a very uncomfortable rear bag. I need a new one, the Caldwell doesn't work well with a Chassis and the bipod adjustments are either a little too high or a little too low for this range and the angle.

I have a nice bag, I just have to fill it with sand or rice, not sure what is best.

It was also early morning, so as the sun came out the evaporation form the wet grass made it somewhat shitty.

This is why I said, it is not the rifle ir ammo at this point, it is 100% on me making small mistakes.

This is the setup.

View attachment 802935
Click to expand...
What scope is that?

And what magnification are you using for 200 yds?
 
peterk123 said:
How much accuracy is lost when using the brass the 2nd,3rd and fourth time? Insignificant for hunting purposes?
Click to expand...
You'll probably gain some accuracy by using brass fired from that gun. Factory brass is sized small enough to fit slightly undersized chambers so it rattles around in your chamber. No matter what size the brass is, firing shapes it to your chamber.
Back the sizing die off the shell holder a little so you are mostly neck sizing.
 
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Broc said:
No, laying down, using a bipod and a very uncomfortable rear bag. I need a new one, the Caldwell doesn't work well with a Chassis and the bipod adjustments are either a little too high or a little too low for this range and the angle.

I have a nice bag, I just have to fill it with sand or rice, not sure what is best.

It was also early morning, so as the sun came out the evaporation form the wet grass made it somewhat shitty.

This is why I said, it is not the rifle ir ammo at this point, it is 100% on me making small mistakes.

This is the setup.

View attachment 802935
Click to expand...
Nice sniper legs.
 
You don’t say which particular Nosler bullet, but if going for whitetails … I know of more than a few guys who have hit and lost some nice bucks by using too heavy a constructed bullet.
 
BACKFIRE TV has a good video on YouTube about using Hunting bullets VS competition bullets. He has shot deer with both.
 
Lefty38-55 said:
You don’t say which particular Nosler bullet, but if going for whitetails … I know of more than a few guys who have hit and lost some nice bucks by using too heavy a constructed bullet.
Click to expand...
I dropped a 250 muley in its tracks at 200 yards with it last year. 165gr ballistic tips. I don't put much faith in stories about bullets not working. I think 99.9% of the time it's not the bullet.
 
Broc said:

View: https://youtu.be/8yCddWv62Ig?si=QYHbRDSUE-5wYidr
Click to expand...

This dude puts out some good vids.

We hit the range this afternoon because son in law has a new scope and we needed to sight it in. Well, since antelope starts tomorrow (we drew tags this year, woohoo!) And regular rifle starts in another week, every station was being used. So what does one do????? Go to state land that is five minutes from the house, that's what!

20231006_135956.jpg

Once we got it sighted at 200, I decided I wanted to try my hand at 250 yards. With just a 4 inch drop it shouldnt be too difficult. I was quite happy with the results, especially since that is my self imposed max range for hunting. Wind was at my back, so that made it much easier. Hope we find antelope tomorrow and I can get that close.

20231006_151619.jpg

300 yards is next, but now I'm starting to deal with a drop in the ten inch range. I don't dial, so it will be interesting to see how I umm, guesstimate.
 

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