new rifle. what is your process for developing a load?

[vujade]

hi guys,

Say you have a new in box rifle. I'm curious to know what is your are your procedures/philosophies on STARTING to build that load.

Do you run some factory ammo in there first and see which ones 'work' and then start by replicating it (using the same bullet type/weight and velocity)?

Do you use a known good load that you've had success with another rifle and then work it up/down/sideways (change something else) until it's customized for that rifle?

Say you don't have factory ammo and would rather use reloads from the get go - do you start by pick any bullet and then do the ladder test to discover the best powder weight first? Or pick the a middle the road weight and try out a whole lot of bullets?

[herr.baer]

I first pick a bullet that is suited for what I am going to use the rifle for. Example: I just picked up a Rem 700 AAC in .308 for rifle competitions. Since it has a 1-10 twist I opted for the 175gr Sierra Match Kings.

I check a couple of different loading manuals for the min and max load for the chosen powder. In this case it is Varget. I load 10 rounds at a middle weight. These are used just to get me on paper (if you haven't sighted in your rifle yet)

Then I use the OCW test to find the right load for that barrel/action combintation. All rifles are different and may/may not shoot the same loads identically. I start at the low end and load up 5 rounds with that weight. Then the next 5 rounds are loaded at .3grs more and so on until you get close to max.

I shoot them round robin at dot targets for each weight. Once you find the node that is all in the same general area you have found your load. You can then play with seating depth to tighten up the groups.

[roverboy]

I agree with herr.baer. All rifles are different and sometimes won't like the same loads. If its a caliber I already have I will try loads from other rifles and see how they do. I bought another .308 and tried some loads that worked in a rifle I already had and they did shoot good. I'm gonna try some more loads though and see what I come up with.

[Jonnin]

I would try a few brands of factory -- gives you some brass to work with, lets you try out a few bullet weights, excecises the rifle for any break-in and any problems (unlikely, but anything can have issues). Whichever of those seemed to do the best, start in the neighborhood of that load and go from there. If you want to start with handloads from the first shot, do the same things, try a few different bullet types and pick the best one to build from, but I would still make a box or 2 of "generic" loads to run through it to test function before even looking at where they landed.