Thread: I think I may have F@#%ed up...

Good evening friends.

For your amusement, I have, successfully I hope, uploaded a photo of the target from my first ever attempt at hand loading ammunition.

Please dont hurt yourselves laughing...

nah man...its ALL learning curve....post details of what you did and between us all we sure to suss out what went amiss....good on you for having balls to post .many wouldnt,so miss out on learning from community wisdom.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

nah man...its ALL learning curve....post details of what you did and between us all we sure to suss out what went amiss....good on you for having balls to post .many wouldnt,so miss out on learning from community wisdom.

Yup, agree. Give up some details, at least you have a baseline now to start from. And you've made a start.

Nice pattern. 00buck was it?

Jip. One at a time.

Shes a .223 with i believe a rather odd 1in13 twist. Shoots cheap factory 63gr and 55gr ammo sort of acceptably(under 2inches at 200m)

Was hoping it could make do with a heavier projectile for deer, and instead of cloning and perfecting a known good load, i just cobbled shit together and off to the range i went!

Originally Posted by DCN808T

Shes a .223 with i believe a rather odd 1in13 twist. Shoots cheap factory 63gr and 55gr ammo sort of acceptably(under 2inches at 200m)

Was hoping it could make do with a heavier projectile for deer, and instead of cloning and perfecting a known good load, i just cobbled shit together and off to the range i went!

With a 1:13 (my old one was 1:12) I could never get it to shoot heavier projectiles. Try a 50 gr or even lighter...Mine really liked the 45,50 and 35gr vmax. The slower twist really lends itself to faster lighter projectiles. I never found one over 55gr that wasn't 2" or more at 100m but the 435 and 50gr were mostly same hole...

Originally Posted by timattalon

With a 1:13 (my old one was 1:12) I could never get it to shoot heavier projectiles. Try a 50 gr or even lighter...Mine really liked the 45,50 and 35gr vmax. The slower twist really lends itself to faster lighter projectiles. I never found one over 55gr that wasn't 2" or more at 100m but the 435 and 50gr were mostly same hole...

Ill go buy some more factory ammo of differing projectile weights and test them. People with the same model rifle mentioned to me the had luck with heavier stuff which is what prompted me to try. In my mind a deer is more dead the heavier the bullet!

As with all light calibers it's all shot placement me personally I like head or neck shooting as dead is dead or completely miss

I'm guessing you tried to do a ladder test,but instead of aiming at one point to establish accuracy nodes, you aimed at different point each time. Oh well next time you'll know what to do.

Originally Posted by mawzer308

I'm guessing you tried to do a ladder test,but instead of aiming at one point to establish accuracy nodes, you aimed at different point each time. Oh well next time you'll know what to do.

I fired at least two (no point in firing all 5 with that result) rounds of each load at the corresponding dot for that load. None of the loads resulted in two shots even remotely close to each other or the dot i was aiming at

Originally Posted by DCN808T

I fired at least two (no point in firing all 5 with that result) rounds of each load at the corresponding dot for that load. None of the loads resulted in two shots even remotely close to each other or the dot i was aiming at

Greetings DCN808T,
I believe Timattalon is right. Your problem is likely lack of stability due to the slow twist. It is projectile length rather than weight that is important so stick to flat base projectiles with a blunter profile. It would help to know what projectiles that you have tried. Also I would suggest a larger aiming mark that would allow you to quarter it with the cross hairs. Measure the twist in your rifle to make sure you know what it is. If it is, as you believe, 1 in 13 inch then this will limit what you can shoot in the rifle. The fact that you can shoot 63 grain projectiles suggests a good place to start. .223 rifles generally shoot better than 1 MoA with any decent load so there is plenty of room for improvement.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings DCN808T,
I believe Timattalon is right. Your problem is likely lack of stability due to the slow twist. It is projectile length rather than weight that is important so stick to flat base projectiles with a blunter profile. It would help to know what projectiles that you have tried. Also I would suggest a larger aiming mark that would allow you to quarter it with the cross hairs. Measure the twist in your rifle to make sure you know what it is. If it is, as you believe, 1 in 13 inch then this will limit what you can shoot in the rifle. The fact that you can shoot 63 grain projectiles suggests a good place to start. .223 rifles generally shoot better than 1 MoA with any decent load so there is plenty of room for improvement.
Regards Grandpamac.

Thanks. Maybe i should have not bothered with the heavier projectiles and stuck with what works.

Originally Posted by DCN808T

Thanks. Maybe i should have not bothered with the heavier projectiles and stuck with what works.

Greetings DCN808T,
With stability sometimes you need to go past the brink of what is possible to find out where that brink is. There was a box of 70 grain Speer projectiles on my shelf for years that I was always going to try in my 12 twist .223 Brno but never quite got round to it, They should have gone quite well in its long throat. Too late now as the rifle has moved on. Another trap is what may be stable at 100 metres may be rubbish at longer ranges. The only way to find out is to try them at longer ranges.
One thing I find useful when developing a load is to try a mid load for the projectile first with just two or three rounds. These are chronographed to validate the load data I am using. Once this has been done I can calculate a likely max velocity and test closer to that. I have not found working up in tiny increments to be worth the bother, quite the reverse in fact. There is little point in testing loads that deliver a velocity that you are not happy with. Happy to answer any questions.
Regards Grandpamac.

Well for starters they went bang and not boom so you're on the right track!