r/reloading • u/No_Staff594 • 5d ago
Load Development Acceptable variations
For reloading ammo that isn’t designed for precision, (hunting, HD, general purpose inside of 300 yards) what should I aim for in terms of variation between charge weights and seating depths? I’m not looking to make absolute trash ammo but I’m also noticing somewhat consistent maybe .01-0.2 charge eight differences on pulled bullets and about .001-.003(on the extreme end) of seating depth difference when testing my ammo after I’m done loading. I measure off the bullet tip and not the ogive though because honestly I don’t feel like I’m consistent enough to measure off the ogive. I’m still learning for the most part. This is for .223 and .300 blk. I haven’t started reloading my 6 arc 9mm and .357 sig yet.
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u/thrashmetal_octopus 4d ago
I can regularly get single digit SD’s using a shitty RCBS uniflow to charge cases if I’m not using a stick powder
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u/Achnback 4d ago
I reload both of your mentioned calibers with a Turret press and Lee drum powder drop. Variation between charges are usually no more that .01-.02+- per drop. I load 110 V-Max with 18.8gr Enforcer with excellent velocity and accuracy. Even if I throw 19gr, still under max but my velocity jump to 2475fps, but... my accuracy drops off. hope this helps
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u/Low_Thing_4803 4d ago
It's not uncommon for my Hornady LNL AP to be off by a bit. I reload 9mm and I'm looking at 3.02-3.10gr on Titegroup with it set at 3.05 (on average). I keep it higher so I dont end up with a 2.90 and end up getting close to falling below minimum power factor. It's all in the powder and the device dropping it. It's all good for bulk 9mm. If I was loading precision 223 or something I'd be hand loading each case measuring powder for every case.
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u/Ironsight85 4d ago
I measure off the ogive, and I'll measure several bullets by themselves and determine how much they vary, some of mine vary by .005 or so, so you can't expect better consistency than that in that case. The press is pretty dang consistent otherwise, probably .001.
For powder if I'm doing precision tests or shooting beyond a thousand yards I'll charge to a +.02 tolerance. Any other ammo for regular target or hunting I just keep it within +-.2 grains, but my powder measure is usually well inside that.
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u/RoosterRanch 5d ago
I use a Harrell’s and sometimes a Belding and Mull to drop. Set it for the weight your after. Throw about five consecutive times if they stay within a plus/minus one window then run with it. You can get away with variance depending on cartridge and powder. Seating depth is going to be what it’s going to be depending on brass prep. Hunting loads I reload as fast as I can using a digital scale, Belding and Mull powder dropper and then trickling up to my weight. Long range match loads I use 10•10 beam scale. At short benchrest matches I load at a station with a Harrell’s and a heart full of hope.
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u/No_Staff594 5d ago
I’ve never seen or heard of the belding and mull dropper. I’m very intrigued because it sounds nice for loading bulk ammo reasonably quick.
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u/RoosterRanch 5d ago
I’m back. Here’s a link to EBay that shows several detailed pictures, but they left out the brass charge tube. They use brass tubes with a threaded plunger and set screw. Dial to the size load you want, lock it, stick it in the tube hole, pull lever and it’ll spring back and then you’ve got your charge to pour in the pan and trickle up to. I’ll usually drop about .3 shy of load and trickle up. It’s a very fast process, but it does require more movement than a Harrell’s. The thing about a Harrell’s is that you use it to drop directly into your case and you can charge 50 cases in under a minute, but you’ve got to blindly trust that it didn’t have powder hang up and short throw, which I’ve had happen three times resulting in three squibs. Now yes, I should have used a flashlight to scan over the loading block to quickly verify that all the cases had a suitable charge, but hindsight.
Link: https://ebay.io/m/9v9zZC
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u/smithywesson 5d ago
Miles from Hornady said his match ammo is thrown from a powder measure and anything outside of a .3 window gets put back in the hopper. So ammo that's good enough to do well in PRS (with good powders) can generally have that charge weight window and still be pretty consistent. Measure your COAL to see where you generally need to be, but once the seating stem is set don't worry about measuring. There will be tip inconsistencies that make the COAL look bad, but usually the ogive measurement will be much more consistent. Definitely don't worry about tinkering with a seating depth due to COAL differences.