tried and true accuracy?

[lunicy]

I seems as if my lead loads aren't as accurate as factory. Is there a tried and trued method to improve accuracy with my lead?

[405]

Uhhhh,
Really, I'm with you. Except for shooting a Sharps with a swaged, paper patched bullet over BP.... I have always found cast to be more difficult to load for accuracy than most any j bullet loading. I don't shoot factory any more but I remember shooting competitively in PPC and shooting factory loaded wadcutters by the 1000s. I load wadcutters now and have a very difficult time duplicating those consistantly accurate factory rounds. May have something to do with 25 year old eyes then old eyes with floaters now :(

Any real help may depend on what type of cartridge/gun you're loading for. I have been amazed sometimes by how well soft cast bullets shoot using the faster powders at lower velocities. The same would hold true about shooting factory swaged... like the Hornady swaged handgun bullets. I've had impressive results using those in both old Colt revolvers and even some rifles- like shooting the Hornady .430" swaged SWC in my Winchester 92 44-40 over Trailboss (a fast powder). In another instance the best accuracy I have ever gotten out of a Win Highwall in 32-40 was 190 gr. Ideal style hardcast GC bullets over either 4759 or 5744 loaded near max. Never could get the gun to shoot with a usually accurate, softer alloy, long bearing, short nosed bullet over faster powder at lower velocity. So.... there may be no true secrets just guidelines and generalities with some nuggets of specific recommendations... as many post on this Forum. There is a huge amount of knowledge here.

A few among many I'd look at in no particular order:

1) slug bore and size bullet to groove diameter, then try .001 over, then .002 over.
2) try to match bullet length to best for bore twist rate.... some long bullets will be inherently innacurate in slow twist barrels and/or at lower velocity.
3) try at least three different burn rate powders suitable for the cartridge/bullet and test three spreads of charge within each powder.
4) try seating bullet to engrave into lands.... beginning with start load and working up.
5) try bullet with longer bearing surface, more lube volume and shorter nose.
6) try a couple of different hardnesses of bullet- say BHN 10... then try BHN 20
7) try different crimps (bullet tension or "pull")
8) absolutely clean bore!!!! and clean after 10-15 rounds of testing.
9) try plain base bullets and gas checked bullets.
10) reset sizing die to partial full length sizing.... can be seen by marking neck with felt tip then noting how much length is sized. Try for enough sizing so cartridge chambers OK and bullet base is within resized portion of neck.
11) take care in seating bullet- reset neck expanding die so bullet base easily enters mouth but not so much as to cause light bullet neck tension.... cannot be corrected by crimp but can be made worse.
12) try something that is off the wall but SAFE of course..... you never know!

The list could go on but too long winded now- good luck!

[dubber123]

What gun/ boolit/ load combo?

[waksupi]

405 has a good list to start with. Be aware, if you are going to shoot cast, it is an advanced form of reloading, and you must like experimenting. There is no instant gratification, for the most part. I don't have any rifle that won't shoot under 2" at 100 yards with cast, more are closer to an inch, and two in particular seem to like to shoot at a half inch or so.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

In addition to the above, in schuetzen, we usually use nose poured bullets, sometimes multi-diameter, the front portion riding on the lands. In addition, we weigh and inspect them, Separating them into light, normal, and heavy, saving the light and heavy for practice, throwing out any that have deformities, especially on the base(the steering part). Most of us never size the bullets, which actually while it seems to improve their appearance, magnifies any abnormalities with regards to accuracy. We either pan lube them, or use a Pope style lube pump, which doesn't size them. After all this has been accomplished, the final secret to accuracy is the lube. Lube can make the difference between an accurate load, and a mediocre one. My late friend and Schuetzenmeister Charlie Dell, of Christiansburg VA, was perhaps the most knowledgeable man with regards to bullet lube that ever lived. He experimented, even building a rail gun to test them. It would behoove you to try different ones.
Morgan

[truckjohn]

The basic idea with accuracy testing reloads is to absolutely minimize sources of "Noise" that might cause erratic results....

1. Most stable shooting position -- Benchrest or supported prone for rifles. Machine rest or benchrest bags for pistols. NO OFFHAND ACCURACY LOAD TESTING. You can't tell much difference in loads if your rifle technique with a known highly-accurate rifle is only capable of 1.5" at 100 yards or 4" at 25 yards for pistol.

2. Gun is capable of consistent accuracy. The gun itself has to be capable of stable, predictable accuracy. This includes bad scope mounts, barrels that foul like crazy, dinged crowns, over-gassed semi-autos, worn out springs, inconsistent or super heavy triggers, etc.

3. Size the bullets properly to the actual gun. Slug the bore and throat.... don't just guess.

4. Excellent QC practices for selecting bullets for accuracy testing. Crappy cast boolits = crappy performance. Pick your most perfect-est boolits for accuracy testing.

5. Excellent QC practices for loading accuracy test ammo. Weigh or precisely throw charges, Bell mouths properly for cast, Verify OAL is the same, don't ruin the bullets by crimping too hard, etc.

6. A chrono helps too. Typically, the most accurate loads fall within similar ranges of velocity (2585 - 2615 fps for a 308 Win for example.) Chrono your reloads, then adjust powder charges to match the velocity of your most accurate ammo.... it will probably show similar accuracy.

Remember, you are trying to test the LOAD, not the bunged up barrel crown, erratic powder charge, undersized boolit, or unstable shooting position.

Yes, it takes way longer...... but you are ONLY loading up a few rounds of each combination. You are trying to prove out a load... not load up for a long weekend with your buddies shooting cans.