Loaded my first 5 rifle rounds tonight…

[Letfreedomring]

Welcome to the world of empty wallets! Only thing I can advise as a new reloader myself is to get a rhythm going. Nothing says "doh" like getting your bullet seated and aol measured only to look back at the scale to see powder still in the pan...

 

[VarmintHunter59]

I just got my .308 dies in the mail this morning too. I haven't gathered enough components to actual load anything yet but you have to have dies. Bidding on some .243 dies also. Will also gather some 30-06, .270, .44 Mag, and maybe .223 or 5.56.

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

And it continues…. After further inspection my first 5 rounds from yesterday were in fact seated deeper than 2.800. My calipers must have been giving me issues last night. Anyways, I got my bullet seating die tuned to 2.799 so I loaded 25 tonight for a ladder test. 5 rounds each in the following grains. CFE223 is powder choice for now until I find different powders.

46.0
46.2
46.4
46.6
46.8

I’ll see how these do and then see if I can find the lands… Someone should buy my hunting ammo i have posted in the classifieds so I can afford more reloading gear. This addiction is a wild one.

 

[swampratt]

Here is another what the heck is going on for ya.

My older .308 had a sweet spot in temperature it was when the barrel reached 80° f.
And stayed until 105° f.
Below that the groups were a little larger and over that were a little larger.

When I made loads like you have made I shot them "Round Robin"

Instead of shooting all of the 46.0 one aft the other I would shoot a 46.0 then 46.2 and 46.4 and so on.

This eliminates any barrel heat or carboned barrel messing with a certain load.

Of course I made different spots on paper to shoot each different load at.

Enjoy and keep us posted.

 

[thor447]

Here is another what the heck is going on for ya.

My older .308 had a sweet spot in temperature it was when the barrel reached 80° f.
And stayed until 105° f.
Below that the groups were a little larger and over that were a little larger.

When I made loads like you have made I shot them "Round Robin"

Instead of shooting all of the 46.0 one aft the other I would shoot a 46.0 then 46.2 and 46.4 and so on.

This eliminates any barrel heat or carboned barrel messing with a certain load.

Of course I made different spots on paper to shoot each different load at.

Enjoy and keep us posted.

Clever!

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

Here is another what the heck is going on for ya.

My older .308 had a sweet spot in temperature it was when the barrel reached 80° f.
And stayed until 105° f.
Below that the groups were a little larger and over that were a little larger.

When I made loads like you have made I shot them "Round Robin"

Instead of shooting all of the 46.0 one aft the other I would shoot a 46.0 then 46.2 and 46.4 and so on.

This eliminates any barrel heat or carboned barrel messing with a certain load.

Of course I made different spots on paper to shoot each different load at.

Enjoy and keep us posted.

that’s a pretty good idea!

 

[Rustytigwire]

Red green yellow blue black magic markers on the bullets to identify the different charges. Color coded impact holes. But that helps me because I can't count to 5 without forgetting which fingers I used.
Well done and welcome to infinite self doubt!

 

[ramco]

Get a chronograph if you don’t already have one. Best instrument for checking your consistency which is the most important goal in manufacturing ammo. Find a powder that you can use for several different calibers. I found good loads of IMR4350 for .243 Win, 270 Win, .308, .30-06 and .300 Win mag. Varget is good for several calibers. I commercially loaded ammo for 25 years and now you can hardly find components.

 

[Gunbuffer]

Congrats! They look purty

 

[cdschoonie]

Pretty sexy lot there…As has been said, it’s very addictive! Lol