Good reloading practice

[John25]

Oi, are you accusing me of being a rotten reloader?

I've got one of those!

[EagerNoSkill]

Really important sage advice to all
We get tame with seriously high pressures
308 run 55000 psi if my memory is to be trusted
A few minutes saved versus a lost eye or worse- I take my time

Each gun is unque andvsome things done slowly!!!
Thanks

[TattooedGun]

The first lot of ammo I ever did, I didn't build up the loads.... I asked advice on here and had to pull all 30 bullets as I would have been in danger...

from then on when getting a new load, its been worked up from 10% below maximum.

I'm fairly close to maximum powder charge on my loads now, but I know they work and there are absolutely no signs of excessive pressure in either mine or the other rifle I load for (which was worked up too!).

I heeded the advice of others on here, and I'm fairly sure although I've had no training other than self taught from the internet, that I'm a safe reloader :)

[Meaty]

I have recently asked for advice on working up a load as I am a relative newbie to this 'roll your own' stuff. On the whole the advice given has been good, but having found a goodish load by ladder testing (appprox 0.5 grains below a conservative book load) I started trying to eek out a bit more by varying the seating depths. I asked a friend what he thought and the reply was "just jam them into the lands-that's where they need to be"
Me being me, I spent a few hours on the net and found out that this could have caused a massive pressure spike and blown me and the rifle to bits!! The "advice" was from a regular F class league shooter
Maybe its just that he didnt like me :)

[EagerNoSkill]

Dont presume malice when incompetence or indifference can be attributed!
Can have same effect though!

[Dougan]

I originally came to the forum for reloading advice - and have to say that I've found the advice and information given to be very good. It's interesting for a beginner to know what loads people actually use or end up using, but I've always felt that I've been encouraged to be safe and start lower and/or use published data...I've certainly never seen anyone advise something as stupid as 'just jam it in the lands' on here...infact quite the opposite.

At the end of the day, there is a warning at the top of the topic, and also in every loading book and manual.....

[John25]

[quote="just jam them into the lands-that's where they need to be"
Me being me, I spent a few hours on the net and found out that this could have caused a massive pressure spike and blown me and the rifle to bits!! The "advice" was from a regular F class league shooter
Maybe its just that he didnt like me :)[/quote]

Some calibres, 6.5x284 and 7mm being two, can benefit from being loaded to seating into the lands by a few thou.

If the advice was indeed 'bung them into the lands' it was poor advice.

Into, or short of the lands by a few thousandths of an inch will increase accuracy depending on calibre. Excessive pressure could result but if you are careful and only change one element of your reloading procedure at a time, you should see any signs long before it becomes dangerous.

However, unless you are sure of what you are doing, you should take advice or do a course.

You can't be told too many times, not to exceed the manufacturers recommended loads.

Your gun has to be up to it too, what we are talking about here is advanced reloading and you need to know the state of your chamber (exact length to within a thou) and condition of your bore.

This is only a precis of what you need to know, best advice I can give is, not to run before you can walk and read all you can, there is a lot of good stuff (and some rubbish) about.

Sorry if this sounds negative, it's not meant to be. Reloading is time consuming, absorbing, and tremendously satisfying.

There is no satisfaction greater in shooting, than to construct your own ammunition and perform well with it.

Enjoy!

[Meaty]

Just to clear something up- the advice to "just jam it into the lands" was not given by a member on here and was taken by me as a rather flippant remark. I too have been given great advice when I have asked questions on here, but to me it was a bit of a wake up call that any information given should be treated as one persons personal preference and not gospel. I use it as a starting point for further investigation and armed with various peoples info,and hours of trawling the internet,and the data from various reloading manuals I can hopefully come up with a good starting point. It is a great hobby but mistakes can so easily be made-especially by people who are novices (as I consider myself,as I have only been reloading for 2 years)
To me, finding a sweet load has been a long and sometimes frustrating, but enjoyable journey and I know that there is more to be done.

[CopperSkink]

I totally agree with the advice given here.
Always use your own worked up loads and never put someone elses in your gun.
To get around the rushing loads to get to the shoot the next day (mainly because I have been lazy the week before), I just have a few boxes of factory always on hand, that way I can shoot and not worry about bad reloading practices and save the stress of thinking I have to reload the night before.
But that of course doesn't work when it is a official shoot and your after a perfect shot every time if possible.

[Angelfire]

Never had a tool to measure correct chamber length, so I resorted to the old fashioned way of making a dummy round for each callibre and each different weight boolit head. Select a nice clean brass from your tumbler, prepare it as you would for reload, re size, trim length etc etc, leave out the primer and powder of course, place head just into brass and chamber the dummy nice and gently. Withdraw the dummy, measure length, then reduce by a few thou, or whatever suits your rifle. Crimp the boolit, check length again, mark with coloured felt tip pen for identification purposes and Bobs your uncle Fannie is your aunt, job done. You can now use this dummy round to set your press up for that particular boolit head. Make a single round and remeasure length again. If all is well, start reloading from 10% lower than the max load given in your reloading manual. You will find factory loads will be slightly shorter than your reloads, they have to be to be certain of fitting into different rifle manufacturers chambers. This is primarily why only your rifle should fire your reloads, your mate's rifle may have a slightly shorter chamber, making the round well pressed into the lands, not an ideal situation by any standards.
This system worked well for me for the duration of my shooting career, without a hitch. It's a little time consuming, but do it right, take your time and your loads will be good uns.,

Regards

Phil*