Working up a load

[James M.]

Working up a load, continued....

When one uses the method that I described to work up a load in the thread "Working up a load" , he/she should be ready to "cut his losses" and retire a barrel. In the following picture, notice that I used the Tony Boyer method (starting at the just touching the lands). After many groups on the 10-2 Krieger (the second barrel chambered in 2010), I could not see a seating depth that would give consistent groups....so I decided to retire that barrel. Good shooting....James PS- the target on the left featured Berger Column bullets and the one on the right had Hottenstein BT (both excellent match bullets).

 

[Boyd Allen]

James,
Some time back, Jerry Hensler told me that there are nodes in seating depth that are similar to what we are used to seeing in powder charge. To me, that is what your targets seem to show at 28.8 with the Column bullets, and 28.6 with the Hottenstein BTs. Another thing that seems to be evident is that very small changes in seating depth have significant consequences. The smallest groups on your targets would seem to be competitive. Can you show us a test from a fresh barrel that does not have these variations? Just trying to learn something here. Thanks for posting the pictures.
Boyd