Sighiting in new rifle.

[Bwana416]

Usually I just buy a few boxes of whatever is a good buy and sight in. Now that I've acquired a real honey of a Sako Forester from Kenny Jarrett's collection which was custom glass bedded I want to do a better job.

Does THIS sound like a plan? First I would fire four 5-shot groups from each brand/type until I saw which grouped best. Then zero for THAT load. If I reload I was told to pick a middle of the road charge from a manual for a particular bullet/powder combo and shoot a box. Then load three boxes worth. One with the original load and one a grain under and one a grain over. Then see which way they trend.

If the higher one trended tighter I'm told to use THAT as the "baseline" load and repeat the process until I find the best load and then start with FRACTIONS of a grain up and down till it gets not tighter then try different primers and seating depths till it can't get better. Then I am supposed to have the optimum load for one particular bullet/powder setup.

Sounds like a lot of work but a .243 is supposed to be VERY accurate with the right loads.:confused1:

-Ray

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I load in .5 grain increments through the suggested loadings, 5 rounds each. I shoot them for groups. I take the best group and load it and the one above and the one below and shoot them again. Then I take the best of those and do it again until it is consistent. Then I sight in the rifle with that load. If I haven't developed a major flinch by that time I may try another rifle with the same load. There are some loads that shoot well in several rifles and others don't so much. I am still looking for a 30-06 that will shoot several bullet weights in the same vertical plane. When I find that one I don't know how I'm going to act towards my other rifles.

Alan

[Just a Hunter]

There was a time that I would try most every factory load in a manner similar to what has been posted above, but over time I've grown away from doing such.
The pursuit for the most accurate bullet became very expensive, and there was never a guarantee the bullet that held the tightest pattern would perform the best on the game I was hunting.
I finally decided to give up a reasonable amount of accuracy for a bullet I was more comfortable with in the field.
I stopped caring if brand X gave a 1/4" tighter pattern in a 4shot 100 group than brand Y as this would make a very minimal amount of difference at any distance I might wish to shoot from.

[Bill Gunn]

EASY WAY...

Call Kenny Jerrett, and ask him what load he used in his rifle...

http://www.jarrettrifles.com/

http://www.jarrettrifles.com/contact.html

[Sabre]

Try 38 grs. of IMR 4064 under the Sierra 85 gr BTHP. If it won't shoot that into less than 3/4" there's something wrong with the rifle. And don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you that bullet isn't deer worthy. It'll work on anything from crows to coyotes to deer and do a damned fine job on all of 'em.

[dave-t.]

For reloading there are several ways to test your rifle. I start at a minimum charge, and go up .5, or .7 grains in each cartridge until I reach the max, one shell per each different load, checking for pressure signs. If primers look good, bolt lift is easy/normal, and no marks on the case head, then any of the loads you tried are safe in your rifle.

I then look for what bullet I want to use and what speed (same components as used in above testing), and load 5 shells, .5grn below, 5 shells dead on, 5 shells .5 above, and maybe 5 shells 1 grn above (or below) the designated measure for the velocity I'm trying to achieve. I shoot them to see if any are more accurate than the others.

Then take the best recipe from the best group and load 5 at the same cartridge overall length, then load5 .01" shorter, another 5 that are .01" shorter again, and 5 loaded .01" over the original load. Test them.

Pick the most accurate of the bunch. You have just tuned your choice of bullet and your desired velocity to your rifle.

If you have a longer range to shoot from 200 or 300yrds, I've heard good things about shooting a ladder (start at minimum load with desired bullet, and run the scale up to max .2-.3 grn powder increase for each shell). When you shoot them you are trying to get closer to an accuracy node (barrel vibration is at the very top or very bottom of its movement) , you will have 2-3 or 4 shots clustering closer together than the rest of the shots eventhough none are loaded with the same powder charge. Load for the middle of the clustered group for the most forgiving and accurate load. (Forgiving in that if you are off .1 or .2 grns or more, the shot will still shoot true with the others that are loaded dead on) This shooting needs to take place at 200-300yrds for enough seperation between shots to see where the clusters fall. This is a benchrest load finding technique that may not result in finding the velocity you want, but shows what the barrel harmonics like the best.

[dave-t.]

My simple truth technique is to try to duplicate a factory load that I had tremendous success with for years and had no complaints about. If you have a factory shell that shoots very well in the rifle, buy the same bullets, cases, primers, and use my first method of loading close to and just above/under to try to duplicate the factory loads.

My 300winmag picked up right where the favorite factory shells were shooting after trying only 3-4 different powder charges in the desired velocity range, using the same bullets, cases, loaded to the same length, etc. This one was very easy to find a load for.

[LeeInSC]

I agree with shooting common factory loads first to see how well your rifle shoots all of them, and where it shoots them. You never know when you are going to have to run into a country store and buy whatever Remington, Winchester, Federal, or Hornady ammo they have sitting in there.

I have found that changing brands during testing affects accuracy, so I clean the bore a little to get the powder out between brands. Then I fire a fouling shot with the next brand and load, and shoot 5 shots with a lot of cooling time in between, because hunting depends on the first shot from a cold barrel.

Like dave-t said, if you find it shoots a cheap load super well, go with that.
If you can find the same bullets and duplicate the load, you can save about half the cost or more.

If it works out that a ladder of reloads ends up with a hotter load shooting best then that's fine, but accuracy counts a lot more than 100 extra FPS.

[Sabre]

Don't burn the life out of your barrel dinkin' around with different loads in search of the holy grail. Just pick the bullet and powder you wish to use, work up to a safe maximum load, then vary your bullet seating depth for best accuracy and go kill stuff.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

then vary your bullet seating depth for best accuracy.

You know, that is one area that in some 42+ years of reloading that I have never dabbled with. I always worked around the powder charge and kept the seat depth at the suggest OAL. Might give that a try.

Alan

[Bwana416]

I was always told that for best accuracy a bullet should just "kiss" the rifling rather than leap into it. The opposite of free bore.

-Ray

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

Yep, that's what I heard too, but I never did it except once with some .30 cal Barnes X bullets in 30-06. They didn't shoot well at all anyway, so I never bothered with again.

Alan

[ncboman]

Sounds like a lot for a 243.

The last one I shot, I hit a dime at 100yds with both Rem and Win bullets. I didn't know I could shoot that good. :wink:

243's and factory bullets are the most accurate combos I've ever shot.

oh, congrats on the new rifle. It sounds very nice indeed.

[dave-t.]

Sabre- That is what Herne's advice was for keeping things simple. To load for the velocity you want, with the bullet you want, and vary seating depth to get the barrel harmonics right.

Pressures may be higher if you load a bullet to be touching the lands. Some do it, but start well below book max and work up if that is what you want to try.

[Chuck S]

Several points. First the loading data within reason will likely give you an accurate round by most standards. For hunting, even at long ranges there are many other factors that religate the loading data to a very small concern indeed. Trigger pull, stock design, etc and most importantly how well you can shoot! Congrats on that new rifle, I also loved the two or three .243s I've owned and they are deer killers when the hunter does his or her part.

[T2133]

I take a rifle which I plan on hunting with and load cartridges near max from an acceptable manual. I take the gun to the range and I fire one shot from a cold barrel through my chronograph for entering velocity of the load into a ballistics program for an idea of trajectory. If acceptable, I take the same gun to the range and shoot once at a target. I adjust the scope to where I believe it should impact on the next visit. I do this for about four times, one shot through a cold barrel each time, adjusting the scope or sights as needed, using the same target. This process will reveal what I need to know, where the poi is most likely to be on my first shot.

[George Foster]

When I want to work up a new load for a rifle this is the method I use. I decide if it is going to be for a varmint load or deer load and pick the bullet I want to use for the application. I look at different reloading manuals to find the powder that is going to fill the case and give the highest velocity. I then load six different three shot loads starting at 0.5gr below the middle load and loading in 0.5gr increments up to the max load listed. I shoot the six different groups at 100yds and if I get one or two loads that I like then I will load 20 each of those and test them again. If I don't find a load that I like then I will choose another powder that fits my criteria and run the test again.

In the past 40yrs this method has worked very well for me. The only time I have used factory loads is to break in a new barrel.

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

In regards to bullet seating depth, I have one other cog to add to the machine. In my 308 Norma Mag, it is recommended to leave a degree of free bore in seating bullets. I don't remember what it is and I'm not going to look it up right now. The reason has to do with building up excess pressure, which I certainly believe. I worked up the load of 71 gr 4831 SC wit 180 gr Sierra GK Boat Tails a few years back when I didn't have this twitch every time I look at the rifle. Perhaps if I would put a recoil pad on the damn thing ......... ? Anyway, I've always seated the bullet to manual specs or to what would fit in the magazine in some cases. Only in 30-30 and in some pistol rounds do I seat to cannelure depth.

On the rare occasion I run into a rifleman such as Sabre, I defer to their experience in the choice of firearm, round, and bullet weight. For the rest of humanity, if they are Hell bent on using a 243 for deer I always suggest at least the 100 gr bullet. I've killed a number of deer with a 25-06 with 100 gr bullets I think I would have the confidence to try the 100 gr in 243, that is, IF I thought I needed a 243. I simply have no use for one. The local varmintry can be dispatched adequately with one of a number of 223 caliber choices and the 243 would just be a little more noise.

Now in the hands of an experienced rifleman it will do fine within it's limitations, as will the 222 and it's kin. Trapeze artists make their craft look simple, so do experienced riflemen. The average among us should stick to the ferris wheel and a real deer rifle.

Alan

[rimrock]

youll need a source of decent printable targets

heres some
just print the target , and sight in so your aiming at the lower x or dot and your bullets impact is 3"-or 3.5" higher,in the upper dot the area your bullets impact, will allow you to hold on the chest for a longer point blank range
http://www.grumpysperformance.com/trajectory.jpg
http://www.grumpysperformance.com/3inch.gif

http://www.mytargets.com/

http://www.mytargets.com/target104%20grid%203inch%20high.pdf

http://www.chuckhawks.com/bullet_trajectory.htm

and it helps to know your rifles trajectory
http://www.hornady.com/cgi-bin/ball10.cgi?firearm=Long&desc=180&wght=175&coef=.47&vel=2950&sight=1.5&temp=59&barom=29.53&zero=270&wspd=0&calcbutton=Calculate