Anybody Else Abandon Their T&E Plans?

[Silver Jack Hammer]

All winter I read reloading data and plan on trying all these various promising loads, but then shooting weather comes around and I’m just cranking out the same old load and sending a lot of lead down range.

Anybody like this?

I’ve got great molds, many different powders, lots of boolits cast up and sitting in boxes.

I shoot Colt’s single action revolvers mostly. I set my Dillon 550 and load for quantity rather that T&E. The loads I’m shooting today are the same loads I’ve been using for years.

All my winter plans to test new loads fade away in exchange for hours of repetitive practice.

[Thumbcocker]

I am moving more and more to a few loads per caliber. Testing just involves me looking through a spotting scope and cussing.

[Neverhome]

I’m the opposite. The ultimate in boredom for me is shooting the same load all the time. As soon as it shoots well I’m bored and need to move on to a new project, new bullet, new load, whatever.
I’m also an extremely low volume shooter. One carefully crafted care package at a time.

[dtknowles]

I usually develop 2 or three loads for each firearm.

For flat shooting hunting rifles they are often a varmint load and a medium/large game load that use jacketed bullets. Usually the best accuracy with a quality bullet with the appropriate terminal ballistics. Standardize the loads, build drop/drift tables and sight in the gun.

I don't do a varmint load for my 30-06 but instead I have target loads with target bullets of high ballistic coefficient and high quality to go along with my hunting loads.

handguns, target loads and full house loads. Sometimes I have two full house loads, one jacketed and one cast. Target ammo is always cast.

Cast bullet only rifles and antique handguns are the exception. Antique handguns I just have a single low pressure load with a cast bullet, ballistics don't matter the bullet just needs to get out of the barrel and hit the paper. Cast bullet only rifles I don't have standard loads, might be a new bullet, alloy, powder, load each trip to the range, still looking for the magic forumula.

Tim

[Winger Ed.]

The loads I’m shooting today are the same loads I’ve been using for years.

Nothing wrong with that.
For me, that's the whole point of developing a good load for what I want to do with it, and what I want it to do.

That- 'The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence' deal isn't exactly true.

If I get some super cut throat deal on a big container of powder, I develop a load or so with it,
use it until it's gone, then go back to what I normally do with the powders I have to pay full price for.

[charlie b]

Once I find "the" load then I just keep using it. Sometimes that load is a bit difficult to find. My .308 has been really picky about loads so it has taken me a long time to find the right ones.

But, once I find that load I don't change. Load up a bunch of ammo and go shoot.

[Froogal]

I did the testing of various powders, amounts, etc. and I am satisfied enough with everything except for the 9mm. I hope to find a load that is a little more pleasant to shoot.

[FergusonTO35]

As much as I enjoy trying new loads, I rarely get to do it with working two jobs and having a four year old. For now, I just stick with proven loads. Sometimes I adjust the charge up or down a bit to see what happens.

[wv109323]

I am of the school that practice is more important than the "last ounce" of accuracy. While ultimate accuracy is important, shooter error far exceeds the MOA gained in load development.

[Don Purcell]

I am of the school that practice is more important than the "last ounce" of accuracy. While ultimate accuracy is important, shooter error far exceeds the MOA gained in load development.
Yes, this. Nothing makes up for trigger time.

[skrapyard628]

I guess Im a bit of both crowds. I like to experiment with different powders and bullets all the time. But I still crank out 1000s of my tried and true loads for target shooting.

Each year I usually with pick up one or two lbs of powder that I havent tried using before.

I will then create test loads for almost every single cartridge/bullet combo that I can possibly load with that powder and whatever bullets I have on hand.

To me its just purely for data collection. I like to know that in a pinch if I cant find my favorite powders in stock, I still have data and will know the outcome if I need to load target rounds with a powder other than my first choice.

IMO its also a good way to find that perfect target load. Sure, you could just accept whatever load book or internet experts tell you is the best powder for something. And its usually close or spot on info. But where is the fun in that! Its the journey, not the destination, that makes it fun.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I am of the school that practice is more important than the "last ounce" of accuracy. While ultimate accuracy is important, shooter error far exceeds the MOA gained in load development.

This is why I’m loading quantity, to increase trigger time. I pretty much quit bench rest ammo testing, I am the weak link to accuracy, not the load. Humans cannot hold an object like a gun rock solid. We get better at a skill by practicing.

I’ve gotten good tight groups with a load, only to be unable to duplicate the previous results at the next range session. Huh, maybe a session or two is insufficient to tell the entire story of a loads potential.

[Texas by God]

I like to keep some "pet" loads boxed up and ready while I dabble with "play" loads. Sometimes one of the latter moves into the former group.

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[samari46]

I nbasically have one load that I have shot in pre '64 model 70 match rifles,one standard M70, and My Sako 75 hunter with just changing bullets. Either 168 grain SMK's or 165 Nosler Ballistic tips. And I have one post '64 M70 match rifle in 30-06 like all the rest. And have no doubts that load will shoot just fine in that rifle. Frank

[Norske]

It depends on which rifle I'm playing with. I have rifles that are bullet brand selective, rifles that are only accurate enough for hunting with a few loads (two are accurate with only a single load), or the rare rifle that interlocks bullet holes with almost anything I feed it ( Tikka T3 6.5X55 Mauser). That boring one has overlapped 100 gr, 129 gr, 140 gr, and 160 gr bullets in our indoor 100 M range consistently. Our chief safety officer made me promise to sell it to him when I'm too old to hunt anymore.

[375supermag]

Hi...
I settled on my favorite plinking general purpose target shooting load for each handgun caliber years ago and see no reason to test anything else.
I do constantly tinker with new loads for hunting with my revolvers.
Rifles are constantly being tested with different powders and bullets.

[onelight]

Depends on my mood , for the last few years I shoot mainly handguns in the 3 to 5" barrel lengths all have iron sights and are shot at the local indoor range. I could not use my crony at that range so most of my work ups have been a guess as to velocity . Recently picked up a LabRadar and have been enjoying velocity and consistency testing of a lot of different loads so I have been doing quite a bit of T & E lately .One of the things I have discovered with two of the guys I shoot with is that my loads are much more consistent than theirs are , that's the good news . The bad news is they still outshoot me most days.:violin: but I have only been shooting 50 years maybe I'll get better.:veryconfu

[wonderwolf]

If it's a work gun I'll do a lot of reading and research, come up with a test batch of loads test and start from there...with handguns I usually find what I want somewhere in that first test. Occasionally I'll have to change my plans and go a different direction. A bullet I had high hopes for tanks ( I've recently learned penta HP's dont do well at long range).

I have pet guns I'll retest loads in but generally I have a staple load I'll stick to

Everyone does it differently, you put into it what you want to put into it......but you also get out of it what you put into it. I've spent a day finding a match winning load....and I've spent years figuring out how to get something to just get on paper.

[JSnover]

Can't stand shooting the same load over and over, when I get one that works I move on. I built a couple of breech seating tools but then the 'Rona came along and shut down most of the ranges around here.

[dverna]

I surmise it depends on two factors...in no particular order

Is the person primarily a shooter or reloader/caster?
How anal a person is.

IMHO, there are a few here that span the spectrum....being both shooters and reloaders; and who know when to be anal and when it is a waste of time.

I am anal about rifle loads but currently have only one load for my 9mm’s, .40’s, and .357’s. I will have a second load for the .357’s this year.

Once I find a “good” load I stop testing.

[Dave W.]

Over the years I have purchased several different reloading setups from widows, so I always developing loads depending on what power the previous owner had. For hand guns, accuracy just has to be good enough, hitting a dinner plate at 50 yards is fine.

Now, for long guns, accuracy is more important so I tend to stick with the proven loads.

Not sure there is a "right" way, it is up to the individual.