How to Begin Reloading Consistent Hunting Rifle Cartridges
We need to reload consistent hunting rifle cartridges in order to help establish the best accuracy we can get from our hunting rifle (zeroing it in at the range), which translates directly to consistent and reliable results in the field, where it counts.
The secret to reloading consistent rifle cartridges is to use components which vary as little as possible in weight and/or length compared to their family members. Reloading truly useful hunting rifle cartridges is a process based on "acceptable variation" in weight and/or length of every major component - case, powder and bullet. Read on to find out how to get on the fast train to reloading hunting rifle cartridges consistently...
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- A reloading kit that consists of a press, dies for your caliber, scales, a priming tool, a flash pocket cleaner
- Bullets, primers, powder and cartridge cases
Instructions
-
-
1
Caveat: We are not discussing bench rest rifle accuracy here, which is measured in fractions of Minute of Angle (MOA). The average hunter is looking for 1 MOA accuracy for most any game, which translates as the maximum spread of bullets on a target as 1"@100 yards, 2"@200 yards etc. Some varmint hunters that shoot very long distances at very small animals may be looking for 1/2 MOA as their accuracy goal. For the rest of the hunting community, 1 MOA will do just fine.
The four components of a "round" of ammunition are: Case, Primer, Powder and Bullet. When the hunter purchases the components to reload his own consistent and reliable ammunition, there is a sorting process you must go thru.
-
2
Choose the Best Cases - The best cases to use in your bolt action and single shot rifle, are cases that have been fired once in your own rifle. The first time you fire a case in your rifle, the cases have been "fire-formed" to fit your chamber, which is like having custom made cases, and you can't do any better than that. When you full-length resize a case, you lose the "custom" nature of the case after it has been fire-formed. If you don't have once fired cases, you will have to buy some bulk cases, most likely 100 at a time, from a reloading supplier like Grafs, Midway and Midsouth Shooters Supply.
Here is a really anal-retentive tip about loading your fire-formed cases into your magazine or rifle: Each time you put the cartridge in the bolt-action magazine or the single-shot chamber, always put the case in the same orientation within the magazine or chamber, with the head-stamp in the same place. As you only neck-size fire-formed cases between reloadings, by placing the case head-stamp in exactly the same location every time, this will make sure the fire-formed case is always in the perfect position in the chamber, and should add to more consistency. This is a bench-rest trick, so you may or may not notice a difference in your hunting rifle.
-
-
3
Decap and Resize the Case - The very first thing you do if using once fired cases, is to decap (remove the spent primer) and resize the neck if you have a single shot break-open or a bolt action rifle. The neck resizing die usually comes with a decapper, so both tasks are done with a single stroke. If you have a pump action, semi-automatic or lever action, it is advised to decap and then do a full-length resize of the case, to ensure consistent and reliable chambering of each round in these repeating rifles. Like the neck sizing die, the full-length die usually has a decapper built in.
-
4
Measure the Length of the Case - Using a pair of calipers or a special case sizing tool, measure the case end to end. The case needs to be within the range of minimum and maximum case length according to the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI) and their European counterpart. For instance, my 22 Hornet has a case length between 1.393" and 1.403". When reloading consistent hunting rifle cartridges there is little if anything to be gained by standardizing on any case length that is within the SAAMI specification. If it is within spec it is good to go for our purposes.
-
5
Inspect the Cases - If a case is within spec, it needs to be inspected under a strong light and preferably with some magnification. You are looking for signs of over-pressurization or over use which results in head separation, cracks or bulges in the body of the case or cracks in the neck. If the case passes inspection it is good to go for our purposes.
If any cartridge is longer than the maximum overall length, it should be put aside for full length resizing and trimming.
-
6
Sort Cases by Weight - After any resizing, inspection and trimming, weigh the cases. The weight of a case is often related to the case's powder capacity. So cases of the same weight will have pretty much the same capacity for powder. It is a good enough measurement for our purposes.
Place each case on a scale and sort into groups based on 1 grain variations. For instance, one brand of 22 Hornet cases I use weigh in around 55gr. They can be as light as 53.x gr and as heavy as 56.xgr. I place a strip of masking tape on my desk, and write down measurements in 0.1gr increments. I then line up each cartridge behind its weight on the tape. Once you have sorted the cases, you will likely end up with the cases forming a bell shaped curve - most in the middle of the range separated by as little as a few tenths of a grain, and a few that are at the extreme low and high weights.
The easiest way to create a "consistent" case lot is to count the cartridges between measurements that span 1gr. For instance, count the cases between 55gr and 56gr. Then count them again between 55.1gr and 56.1gr. You will soon see large lots and maybe one or two small lots of cases across the full range of weights.
Choose your lots and put them aside in a plastic bag, ammo box or light fixture grid, and label them with a lot number and the range of weights they represent. The accompanying photo shows a very innovative way to use a fluorescent light fixture grid as a great way to allocate the cases as they are sorted.
The "acceptable variation" in case weight to create a discrete case lot is 1gr.
What to do with the cases that end up not being assigned to a lot, and there maybe 6 or 7 cases per 35 cases sorted? I have an ammo box called the Fun lot, which consists of any cartridge, any bullet, any powder charge and any primer. My boys use these to snipe clay targets at 50 and 100 yards...as the name suggests, just for fun, nothing critical about these loads, and no waste either as they do not have to go into the scrap brass box.
Never mix case lots unless they are going to be put thru a full resizing die and trimmed back to the minimum length specification.
-
7
Prime the Case Lots. For simplicity, you should start off with one, and maybe two primer brands, of the same type, so you initially compare apples to apples. For instance, I have been testing with PMC Small Rifle and CCI Small Rifle primers. For the 22 Hornet I have also tested with Winchester Small Pistol primers. The permutations of possibilities grows very large with each additional variable component you add to the process. Primers do not need to be weighed or measured, just choose a brand and type and you are ready to go.
-
8
Powder Measurement and Dispensing. After the cases have been primed we add the powder. Consistency in powder means as accurate as possible charges added to each of our cases in a lot. Using a balance beam or a digital scale, you will be able to control charge weight to within 0.1gr with a balance beam, or better 0.01gr with a good digital scale. The powder dippers sold by Lee can also be safely modified to dispense very accurate amounts of powder, directly to the case, without having to check the weight of every charge.
-
9
Sort Bullets by Weight. Even fancy bullets like Hornady V-Max, Sierra BlitzKing and Nosler Ballistic Tip, can vary in weight in the same box of bullets. So measure all bullets weight to create lots. For example, my 40gr V-max bullets I have on hand vary by weight up to 0.5gr. A random sample of 10 bullets vary in length from 0.678" to 0.682".
The "acceptable variation" in bullet weight is 0.5gr, so I lucked out there.
The "acceptable variation" in bullet length varies and is likely nothing to worry about for our purposes. With .308 lead nose bullets, you might see 0.030" variation, which makes the .22 caliber V-Max look like fine engineering varying by as little as 0.004". So bullet weight is more important than bullet length. The consensus on this issue is as long as you choose a good brand of bullets, they will be fine as far as length is concerned, and any variation in length will not harm our goals. bench rest and long distance shooters will tell you that bullet runout is more important than any other bullet characterstic. See Step 11 for more details.
-
10
Bullet Seating Depth - One of the most important things about bullets, is how deep they are seated in the cartridge. By using a good dial or digital caliper, and a gentle hand on the seating die adjustments, we can get overall cartridge length from the bottom of the case to the tip of the bullet to within 0.001" or 0.002". So my advice is overall cartridge length (OAL) should be held as tight as possible.
How close the tip of the bullet from the beginning of the rifling, effects consistency and reliability, but for our purposes, measuring OAL is just fine.
An "acceptable variation" in OAL is .002".
-
11
Measuring the concentricity (runout) of bullets - This is finding out how straight the bullets are in the neck of the case. You should use a purpose built gage for measuring bullet runout, like the RCBS Case Master Concentricity Gaging Tool ($90). This RCBS tool, as well as measuring bullet runout, also measures case neck thickness, case neck uniformity, case length, and has a hook that detects incipient case head separation. That is an exceptional value in one tool.
You put the cartridge on its side with the bullet ogive under the probe and rotate the cartridge in the V blocks and watch the dial. If the bullet is not perfectly straight in the neck, or if the neck is not perfectly centered in relation to the case body, it will show up on the dial as you turn the round. So how much variation in runout is acceptable? A 1% variation in concentricity would be +/-0.002". This would be the maximum runout for most all purposes.
A way to get zero runout consistently is to use a Forster Ultra Seater Die, it is know to produce zero runouts more often than not, and a 0.002" maximum runout from time to time.
-
12
Let's Summarize:
Case Length - Within SAAMI spec is OK
Case Weight - Case lots consist of cases that vary by no more than 1gr
Primer - Use one or two different brands of the same type like Small Rifle
Powder - The powder charge should vary no more than 0.1gr
Bullet - Bullet lots consist of bullets that vary by no more than 0.5gr
Bullet Seating Depth - Whatever the reloading manuals call for
Cartridge Overall Length - Cartridge lots consist of overall lengths that vary by no more than 0.002"
Bullet Runout - Zero to 0.002" is acceptable for hunting purposes.Good luck, now you are ready to test the accuracy of your rifle at the range. What you have read is the easy part. Going to the range and recording results and then adjusting powder charge, primer, bullets, bullet seating depth and overall length is the hard, and fun part of it all.
Happy hunting, I hope you find the consistent loads you need.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Always follow the reloading manual load data.
Don't change too many componets between range visits. Work up to that consistent load slowly.
Reloading can be a safe and enjoyable activity as long as you follow the safety rules.
