At what point is a load good enough?

[shoot3gun]

I am not new to hand loading but I am new to loading very accurate rifle loads. Most of my loading has been for handguns.

I have recently started to play around with some small caliber rifles and my first venture into truly accurate loads. I started with my Savage 110 in .223. I'm using Hornady V-Max 55 grains and Varget powder. Two loads, using by the book overall length (2.20) looked promising; 26.5 grains and 26.9 grains.

I then took both loads and moved them .010 off the lands and grooves, for an overall length of 2.376.

The 26.9 grains grouped with all three shots touching and an overall outside dimension of .500.

My question is, at what point is a load good enough?

I have a couple of invitations to go prairie dog hunting and that's what started the load development.

Can you make the group smaller? Is it worth the time and expense to do so? What's your experience?

[tammons]

1/2" at 100 yards will turn into 2.5" at 500 yards.

I personally think for a small target like a pdog, 1/4" at 100 yards is good enough.

[trappst]

an overall outside dimension of .500.


Hmmmm..... .500"-.224"=.276" I'd say you've got a shooter on your hands! Try a couple five shot groups or even a 10 shot group and see what she does. If you get similar results, I wouldn't mess with it.

About the only thing I would suggest (if time permits) is to vary the OAL in .005" increments to see if it'll tighten up anymore.

[1Shot]

The 26.9 grains grouped with all three shots touching and an overall outside dimension of .500.
My question is, at what point is a load good enough?
Can you make the group smaller? Is it worth the time and expense to do so? What's your experience?


...Ask yourself at what point do you think is good enough for the intended purpose..??...Do you want to spend the time & trouble..??...Myself I will to a point...If the bbl. is showing me something...Not all factory bbl's will be hole drillers no matter what you do...lol..Here's 1 I was playing with awhile back..All 5-shot groups @ 100yds...Sometimes little moves pay off..Bottom target was with a cleaned bbl...Shot outside of bull was a fouler...Next 4 speaks for itself...Makes me happy as a little pig under a gate.. ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/sqek/8230f.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/sqek/BVSS.jpg

[Slowpoke Slim]

If that group was .5 measured outside to outside, you are DONE! That's a good group. Spend the rest of your time breaking in the barrel, and mass-producing ammo. If you're going p-doggin' for the first time, you aren't going to believe how much ammo you're gonna burn.

Just watch that barrel temp, and avoid the temptation to let it get hot. Also, shoot a long string of shots with that load at the range, not fast to heat the barrel, but to see how many shots you can get off before the groups start opening up.You will get to a point where the accuracy falls off. Each barrel is going to be different here, and you want to know at what round count you have to stop and clean the barrel.

[5spd]

Your load is ready for p-dog shooting as it stands. Load more & go remove some of them.

[82boy]

"At what point is a load good enough?"

When you can shoot 3 shots into the same hole, at 100 yards. The 4th and 5th just prove the shooter, and condition reading skils.

[Fjold]

When it will do the job that you want it to do.

99.9% of the time 1/2MOA will do anything that you want it to out to 1,000 yards. Next year I'll go to Africa to hunt Cape Buffalo and I expect that 99.9% of the time the shooting will be less than 100 yards so a 2 MOA rifle is more than accurate enough.

If you have a 2 MOA rifle sighted in correctly at 100 yards no bullet will be further than 1" out from your point of aim. In a 1/2 MOA rifle, no bullet will be more than 2.5" from your point of aim at 1,000 yards (if your hold, the conditions, wind reading skills, etc. are perfect).