In search of the proper load

The goal of a person, who reloads rifle ammunition for hunting, is to find the perfect load for the rifle she/he is using. Indeed, each rifle is different and, therefore, a different load may be needed to attain the best round for each.

The first step is to decide what brass is needed. A reloader can pickup brass at a shooting range, purchase unused brass or buy a box of 20 rounds of ammunition. After the 20 rounds have been fired, the reloader can use this brass to reload future rounds.

The brass used in my reloading is a combination of these three. The trouble with picking up brass at the range is it is not known how many times this brass has been reloaded and fired. The number of times one piece of brass may be loaded is not endless, but the reloader can count on loading and firing it several times.

Next, there is a decision about what powder and bullet to use. There are reloading manuals available to help make this decision. The manuals will show a load for a specific powder and bullet.

There will have several power weights for each load. The hunter is interested in finding which load is best, so we pick a load close to the maximum load, just below the max, next to the max and the max. Next, we load five rounds of three different powder weights.

The suggested weights may be 54, 55 and 56 grain of IMR 4350 powder. The rounds are fired at a target through a chronograph. This is an instrument used to measure the velocity of a bullet.

The bullet in this load is a Nosler 165 grain Accubond, which has a white polymer tip. This has become my hunting bullet for big game, including deer, elk, antelope and moose.

The velocity numbers are the key to this test after the load is fired through the chronograph. But the speed of the bullet is not the only part of this test. We are also looking for pressure problems on the brass casings.

Too much pressure, because of too much powder may become evident as the experimental rounds are fired.

The best load, meaning the amount of powder along with the bullet in a specific brass casing, should be evident at the end of this experiment.

This is one load in one .30-06 rifle. If there is another .30-06 rifle owned by this hunter, a new load needs to be produced.

This is one aspect of reloading which makes the activity interesting and fun.