I wonder if people shoot at the range to make themselves feel better or getting ready for a hunt. I believe that if you are a hunter you can get a load without all this messing around. If my hunting rifle looks better than 1 MOA at 300 yards, why spend any more time or money getting the last .100moa out of it? I don't care what my chronograph says. If I get a load that will shoot less than a MOA at 300yds with a clean, cold barrel I pack up my stuff and go home. If you like to hang around the range and fool around, go for it. It will kill no animals though.
I'll have to side with Butch here when it comes to hunting rifles. Due to the varying temps that most hunting rifles are subjected to, sometime squezing the last little accuracy out of a gun will hurt you at the big moment (that huge wall hanger). I tell this from experience. You want a load/rifle that will shoot consitantly in the varying weather and altitudes. I have found that the most accurate load at a given time can leave you when you need it. The first couple of years that I own a hunting rifle, it the test years. I wil develope a load slightly early to hunting season (never in the summer), looking for some basic charateristics and requirements. For a deer/elk rifle. I want a rifle to come in under 3/4MOA for a three shot group. I also want that group to form a triangler shape on the target. These triangler shaped targets seems to have less wind surprises. Of course, this doesn't mean I stop as soon as I get to 3/4 MOA. Here is my basic hunting rifle routine in .270 win.
1. Get Brass Ready (trim, prep, fireform, etc)
2. Set seating depth with a .010 into lands (if you can, if not, then as long as you can with enough bullet in the case that it will never cause a problem).
3. Two shots at a time, work up to hunting velocity range. For a .270 Win and 130 grn bullet: 3000-3100fps.
4. Three shot groups, varying bullet seating depth .005 at a time and watch the group pattern and velocity. Looking for the smallest triangler group I can get. Then don't pay attention to the wind flags and see what the group does. Pick the least wind effect, with exceptable velocity (hunting range), and MOA.
5. Next, I shoot the load over varying temps during the winter (single digit to 55 degrees is what I like). Also checking velocity when I can. Do not keep ammo and rifle in the warm and whip them out and shoot when it's cold. Let the ammo and rifle be the common outside temp.
6. I watch the patterns for two years and improve on the average over the spectrum if I can. Then I load 30-50 rnds and the gun is good for several years.
I will hunt with this rifle the first year if everything looks really good. I hate to own a hunting rifle that hasn't killed something.
I keep mentioning velocity and I think this is an area of little knowledge for a lot of hand loaders loading hunting rifles. Hunting bullet manufacturers design hunting bullet to function within a specifically specified veloctiy range. Now, in the last decade or so (really started with the nosler ballistic tip) this veloctiy range has widened but it still very important to understand and research should always be done to find out bullets "operating range" and the type of game it is designed for. I don't care how accurate a round is, if it is not in the bullets velocity range, it will more than likely let you down. Remember...a hunting rifle is for hunting.
It took me several years, probably 75-100 big game animals and several talks with my gunsmith to understand the balance between cartriages, bullets and velocity. I had lost a few game and noticed odd wound channels during them years. Once I understood what was going on. I haven't lost or missed an animal since 1996. I don't hunt as much big game as I used to (benchrest), but I still get 6-8 a year.
When it comes to hunting rifles...only rifles that kill correctly are fun.
Hovis
