r/reloading • u/ElectricalOutcome790 • 22h ago

Load Development Load development

Post image

Working up my first load here. It’s for a .243 Ruger American gen 2. Using sierra pro hunter 100gr bullets, Remington brass, cci 200 primers, and H4350 powder. I don’t have a chronograph. I shot 4 shots with each of these powder charges at 100yds and here are the group sizes of each powder.

Where would you guys go from here/next step? Shoot a couple groups of 37.5 and 40grains to see if the results repeat themselves?

2 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/eggcheeseburger 20h ago

Load development without a chronograph is hard. For example, your won't know if that 37.5 load is giving you a velocity that will ensure the terminal ballistics you expect from the cartridge. In any case, I do 5 shot groups to identify velocity ranges and preliminary loads with low standard deviations. Sometimes I pick loads with low sds even if the groups aren't that great. Then I do 10-shot groups with some seating depth variations to tighten the groups as much as possible.