Reloading Match Ammo

When loading ammo for a match, do most shooters weigh out every charge? Or, use a dipper or rely on a powder measure either on the press or stand alone. Do they weigh out every bullet too? Are reloading press powder measures accurate enough?

I do not.  When I start a loading session I'll check the first ten or so rounds to make sure the powder measure stayed set from the last time but that's about it.  I hardly ever weigh bullets for any reason.  For the distances we shoot, I don't think there will be much benefit to weighing charges and bullets.  Good luck.

John

No need to weigh every charge.  If you use large flake powders like Red Dot, then you might have a problem with bridging, which can wreak havoc and leave you with a bullet in the bore. So be careful with small cavities in measures like the Lee Disk types.  Otherwise, once you've set your powder measure, you're OK. You won't be able to tell the difference with 0.1-0.2 grain difference between loads, unless you're master class.  

75-80% of your accuracy is in the bullet.  The only time I'd bother weighing them would be for the long line with cast bullets.  Swaged and jacketed bullets are extremely consistent, but cast can develop small cavities which can make your bullets spin slightly off center.

I've had good luck over 20k+ rounds with the Hornady rotor style powder drop on my LNL AP presses but I do recommend a powder check die in case of a mechanical failure, I've caught a couple squib loads with those dies, usually the linkages or the rotor sticking, never caught a double charge.

I also occasionally shoot F class mostly recreationally and shoot 6BR currently, also loaded 6mm Fat Rat and .308win. I've shot 1/2 moa groups out to 1000 with mostly factory rifles and just Hornady Amax bullets, I weigh each charge with a RCBS chargemaster and try to be thorough in my case prep. Your expectations with a rifle are much higher than with pistols so it demands the extra attention.

These targets were shot yesterday and the ammo was leftover chronographing ammo.  Each of these two targets had about 25 rounds fired.  There were some containing 3.8 Gr, 4.0 and 4.2 Gr.  A couple of called fliers, fired from a rest.  As you can see, except for the fliers these are 10 ring sized groups. So powder amount, isn’t as critical.  The gun is a box stock S&W 745 except for the reflex sight.O

Are those 25 yard or 50 yard? I know it's a TF/RF 25yd target but didn't know if you were shooting at 50. Those groups are nothing to get too excited about at either yardage so it's not exactly conclusive proof that powder charge doesn't matter.

25 yards.  Like I said it’s an out of the box 745...  I’d like them to be solid X ring size and perhaps with one charge weight and a better shooter, it might.

I've found that the quality of the bullet is by far the most important component in reloading match ammo. Good powder measures should throw charges consistently in the + or - tenth of a grain. That is plenty good enough.

Wobbley wrote: A couple of called fliers

I'm not sure I follow. Aren't "fliers" unexplained deviations from point of aim and shots with seen errors in execution are "called"?

Aprilian wrote:

Wobbley wrote: A couple of called fliers

I'm not sure I follow. Aren't "fliers" unexplained deviations from point of aim and shots with seen errors in execution are "called"?

Strictly speaking yes, but the “fliers” on the targets shown were called for at least 2 per target.   Bad shots, high right etc.

I am still working hard because I am still not happy with this at 25. I think I can get it down to 1 big hole even using a sandbag and a 5 gallon bucket.

Flyer.


Might be from the CCI SV itself, or being the last round in magazine, or who knows?  I doubt it was from the Ransom

I think there are flyers & "called" flyers.

Flyers can be from just about any thing.
Called flyers can usually be attributed to the shooter seeing his error and not being able to stop himself.

The only thing I change from loading practice ammo to match ammo is brass.  Same brass except for matches I use brass fired less than 5X.  Don't want any cracked brass during a match.  I can mess up enough all by myself without faulty ammo helping me.  After the fifth firing, that brass goes into the practice tub and is reloaded until it cracks.
Phil

Thanks everyone!

Nopro wrote: When loading ammo for a match, do most shooters weigh out every charge? Or, use a dipper or rely on a powder measure either on the press or stand alone. Do they weigh out every bullet too? Are reloading press powder measures accurate enough?

  I once spent an evening dropping and weighing charges of WST and Bullseye from a Dillon RL550B.  What I determined was that the Standard Deviation of dropped charges was about equal to the Probable Error of my digital scale, ~0.05 grains.  So I expect ~66% of the dropped charges to have an undetectable deviation from the nominal desired weight, and ~95% to be within 0.1 grains of the desired weight.

  My conclusion was that weighing charges is not time well spent.

  Weighing Remington and Nosler bullets is a bigger waste of time.