clarythedrill said:
schmellba99 said:
I reload for a bunch of calibers, pistol and rifle. 6.5G is one of them.
What, specifically are you asking for?
I can't remember my load data - that's why I write that down and I won't be back home until Friday to look it up unfortunately.
H335 is a good ball powder, meters extremely well and burns fairly well. But it generally isn't the most accurate powder listed in any caliber loads - it's great for things like .223 where you are often loading more plinking or bulk rounds and not necessarily aiming for MOA accuracy. That being said, it is absolutely capable of producing very good loads when you take the time to meter loads out to consistent charge weights.
My powder for 6.5G is H4198 or Varget (I think - goes back to the "I can't remember squat, so I write it down" thing). Hornady 123SST projectiles produced the best groupings out of my gun, new brass, Winchester SR primers.
A poster above mentioned neck sizing - I used to be in that camp, but haven't been for a long time for varous reasons. Full length resize is the only way I go with rifle brass now.
Since you have a bolt action, you could take advantage of small things like neck turning - not really something in my AR platform I worry about, but I do it with bolt action rifles. I use a Lee FCD to put a slight crimp on my rounds as the last station in my press. I like it better because I can easily control the crimp and it is one of the few Lee items that I think is a really solid piece of equipment.
As far as load development goes - I typically do a decent amount of research and find different places with data to kind of get an overall picture of min and max loads. I usually start about 7-8% below max and work my way up in charge weights (usually in .5 grain increments, depending on case capacity - might be smaller at times) using the OCW method until I get groups that I like without pressure signs, then work on little things after that to tighten them up (things like distance off the lands, .1 grain increments in powder charge weights, different brand primers, etc.). Honestly, can't say I've ever found a really good load on the bottom end of the load data. Rarely at the extreme top end either, it's usually somewhere 3-5% below listed max in my experience.
Take a sharpie and write your load data on the brass as you finish up a batch. Much easier to not get something screwed up or mixed up when you have the actual load data on the brass versus on a piece of paper that you hope you put the correct order in your ammo box. Something simple like:
H335
29.5 Grain
120 TSX (bullet weight isn't necessary if you are using the same pill for all loads)
Some folks like ladder testing, and it works, it just seems to me to have a lot more room for error or interpretation over the OCW or even the old school "shoot a group of 3 (or 5) of the same load at one target, then do another load at another target, etc.). If you do go with the all rounds at one target approach - have somebody go to the range with you to help spot you, but also to be the one that decides which load to give you without you seeing it so that you have a truly unbiased set of shot data.
Thank you for all that information, which is what I am looking for....just good overall advice.
My intent is to load five sets of five rounds, each set being a different charge weight. I will do this for the Barnes bullet and the Hornady bullet. I will look at the reload data published by each bullet brand and have my max charge just under their listed max charge, and go backward in increments of .3 or .4 of a grain.
So at the range, I will have a total of 50 rounds, 25 of each bullet brand. I will start off with the lowest charge and shoot all five of that charge and check the group. Then move to the next highest charge and shoot all five at a new target, and so on and so on. I think this will work out for my first trip and I can change it up if a reason arises to do so. Thoughts?
That's the start of the OCW test essentially. I'd recommend not shooting all 5 of the same charge weight in a string and moving on, but rather mixing the rounds in an ammo can and pulling them out randomly (remember my comment about writing the info on the brass above) so that you eliminate any inherent bias, the occasional pulled shot, etc. In your case, you'll set up 5 targets at the get go, labeling each one with the charge weight, shooting at the specified target based on the round you pull out of the can randomly.
What you want to look for is not necessarily the load that groups the absolute best or hits closest to the bullseye - rather look for the targets that have point of impacts that are similar. What you'll usually find is that those are all within a few tenths of a grain of one another on charge weight.
Say you load everything up and find that the common groups end up at (just throwing numbers out here for example) 27.1, 26.8, 26.5 with your H335.
That would put the OCW at 26.8 grains - which means that you have some flexibility or fluff for variances in brass capacity, brass age, brass brand, primer brand, variances in projectile weight, true powder burn, temperature or whatever else because you have a load range from 26.5 up to 27.1 grains. From that point you can further fine tune with smaller powder charge increments and/or work on seating depth to see if the actual group improves.
OCW builds on the principle that while every gun is unique, every gun is also common. That's why factory loads tend to work in any make, manufacture, etc. of that caliber - because they put in the time to figure out what the OCW is for that caliber and that is what they load their rounds to, or why you can get on any reloading forum and ask about a caliber and powder combo and you'll get a whole lot of responses with damn near the same formula - because that is the combo that just works across the board for that caliber.
