Loading for better accuracy

[Raydee38]

Thanks to the a lot of reading and help from the forum members here I decided to start reloading for better accuracy. I do have some questions and concerns now though.

I was re sizing and loading .223 bullets to the standard specs that are in most books using an OAL of 2.25" and using bulk Hornady .224 bullets with the cannelure and boat tail. In my semi-auto's this worked fine but when I use them in my bolt action I am seeing that they are not very accurate. I noticed that even the neck tension on the bulk bullets seemed to be very inconsistent so crimping was almost always needed. I have since switched to Hornady V-Max bullets and have measured the OAL in my chamber to be 2.34". Would it be a good idea to load to 20-30 thousandths under the max OAL and work from there?

My second concern is that going from a boat tail to the V-Max with flat base. The BT bullets would sit in the brass case and were easily seated but the V-Max with the flat base won't even sit on top of the brass case and I am nervous that as soon as I go to seat the bullet it is going to crush the case. I was going to load a couple to 2.31-2.32" and see if they will seat without deforming the brass but I figured I would make sure I am on the right track first.

[Tcon260]

Ahh...the road to loading for accuracy in a bolt gun. Many barrels have been shot out on this quest. If you choose to accept this mission, I'll share some of the techniques I and others use in F-class prone shooting. A lot depends on how far down the road to benchrest loading techniques you want to travel knowing that the further you go, the less incremental improvement you will see. Especially in a factory rifle.

The first step is prep"ing the brass (trim, flash hole, chamfer, etc). Lots of information on the net if you choose to do this.

Sizing brass for accuracy is usually not done in one step, but rather separated in body sizing, shoulder bumping, and neck sizing. The neck sizing is done with a bushing die so that you can control the neck tension. If you are sizing in one step, it is possible that you are trying to seat a flat base bullet in a neck with 4-5 thousands interference...tough to do. Consistent neck tension is important for accuracy.

Seating depth in a bolt gun can have a lot to do with the accuracy. Assuming you are not limited by magazine length, anywhere from 30 thousands off to 30 into the lands is common.

[Raydee38]

Well I am not sure how far I plan to go with it since I am not competing, I am just trying to tighten up my groups. Right now I am full length resizing but I plan to fire form my brass. I am hoping I can use my full length sizing die adjusted just to do the neck but I am not sure if that will work correctly?

As far as the flat base bullets go I tried to load a few earlier this morning and they seem to seat just fine. I did chamfer the inside of the case mouth so I think that helped.

Mag length is def not a problem so I am going to seat to 30 thousands from the lands to start and go from there.

Sent from my Galaxy S4

[Tcon260]

As far as using a FL die to just size the neck...guess you could, but it will still be sizing some of the body as well. Thats why they make neck sizing dies only. Typically if you don't want to FL resize you use a shoulder bumping die and a neck sizing die. Although FL resizing is not necessarily required for ammo shot out of the same chamber, shoulder bumping is usually required between firings. If you raise the die up to neck size only, you will not get any shoulder bump.

[Raydee38]

Would you suggest I set up a new tool head with just a neck sizing and a shoulder sizing die? If that is the case I might as well put a universal decapping die in there too?

Sent from my Galaxy S4

[Tcon260]

What press are you loading on...assuming a progressive. For me, how I set up the tool heads is going to depend on how I'm going to handle powdering and case lube. From my experience, powdering and case lube don't play well together. Plus if your going to use stick powder, the Dillon powder measure is just not gonna work.

One way is to set up a tool head with a universal decapping, die, shoulder bump and/or FL body die, and bushing neck die. On the first pass thru the press (after case prep) and applying case lube, decap in station one, FL resize in station 3, shoulder bump in station 4, and neck size in station 5. No powder or priming in the first pass.

Next remove the lube. Either tumble or wipe with a towel including inside the neck.

If you are using ball powder and the Dillon powder measure is up to your standard of accuracy, set up a tool head with a seating die. No crimping is required. Neck tension is set with the bushing size. Prime, powder, and seat the bullet.

If you are using stick powder, then you are going to have to prime, throw powder/weigh/ adjust, and then seat.

After loading thousands of rounds using stick powder, I have gravitated to using on of my 650 essentially as a single stage press with quick interchangeable heads. Only capitalizing on doing a couple of the sizing steps at the same time.

[Raydee38]

I am using the RL550B with the standard 3 die set. I normally clean my brass, lube, decap and full length resize in the same die. I then remove, Do all my case prepI and then back on the press for primer, powder (ball powder) and then bullet seating.

The reason I am looking to neck size is only to extend case life. From most of the reading I am doing it looks like no matter what I will have to full length size eventually. There have been many posts saying that partial full length sizing gives you the best of both worlds by sizing the neck and most of the case length. What I am concerned about is not bumping the shoulder back at all with the partial method. I am guessing that at some point the shoulder is going to have to be bumped back too so if that is the case I may as well keep what I have now and just live with limited case life.

Sent from my Galaxy S4

[Tcon260]

I would just live with what you have. I don't think you will even notice limited case life by FL sizing.

[Raydee38]

I think using the V-Max bullets over the bulk and seating closer to the lands will make enough of a difference for now.

Sent from my Galaxy S4

[dauntedfuture]

At the end of the day, seating depth only matters so much. The combination of bullet, powder and primer (primer less than the others) is what matters. extreme SD and or ES is an indicator that your powder and primer are not working all that well together. Most of the time flat base bullets shoot better than BT bullets. Without the rest of the information about your guns its hard to know what is the issue if there is one. Do some research on some of the "standard accuracy loads out there" and try them in your guns; most factory guns are 1-2" MOA at best for 10 shots at 100 yds. The sierra book lists several goos loads. Sorting brass will help quite a bit, weighing brass helps too, uniforming flash holes and primer pockets help as does making sure the trim too lengths are all the same. Try 24g RL 15 with 55-77g bullets seates to mag length in sorted and trimmed brass and see what happens.....

cheers.