Originally Posted by
CFJunkie
After reading this long post, you probably will regret asking the question, but here is the answer. I'll only hit the highlights because it would take about 10 pages to provide the data to substantiate the conclusions.
In November 2014 I found an old article by Christopher Long entitled “Shock Wave Theory – Rifle Internal Ballistics, Longitudinal Shock Waves, and Shot Dispersion”, written in 2004, that described the theory of how shock waves in a rifle barrel might change accuracy. It seemed to be a reasonable idea but there were no documented results in the report that proved that the theory had merit, so I decided to try testing to determine if the theory might work. I finally started to load ammo tuned for exit time early in 2015.
The theory is based upon the fact that as a round fires, the barrel chamber swells because of the explosion of the powder. The shock wave bulge from that explosion proceeds down the barrel from the chamber towards the muzzle. The speed of the shockwave and its subsequent reflections is affected by the type of steel in the barrel and its length, including attached muzzle devices. When the shock wave is at the muzzle, it expands the crown slightly and that was theorized to cause a slight degradation in accuracy.
The objective is to load a round, with the powder charge chosen to keep within the minimum and maximum recommended loads for the bullet and powder being used, so the reflection is at the chamber as the bullet exits. To do that, the powder, charge, bullet, case trim length, seating O.A.L. are tuned so the bullet exit time matches the time when the reflection will be at the chamber. The exit time is estimated in microseconds (thousandths of milliseconds) and varies by barrel length and the type of steel (reflection speed increases with the percentage of carbon making up the steel mixture).
To find the right velocity, you need to know the exact length of the barrel, including the muzzle brakes, flash hiders, etc. and the type of steel in the barrel so you can calculate the reflection speed. A classic old barrel has a reflection speed of 18,916 fps. A 3% carbon steel barrel (most of the Savage barrels) has a reflection speed of 19,107 fps. Barrels of 4140 and 4150 stainless steel have a reflection speed of 19, 969 fps and 416R stainless steel has a reflection speed of 20,014 fps.
Once you know the reflection speed in the steel in your barrel and apply it to the length of the barrel you can calculate which reflection to use ( the shock wave goes up and down the barrel after you fire and as the bullet is proceeding down the barrel). For example, a 24-inch Savage 3 % carbon steel barrel takes 1.256 msec. to make 12 reflections. That is in the range of the amount of time that a bullet exits the barrel with a powder charge within the minimum and maximum charges to stay within PMax. One of my 'nominal' 24-inch Savage barrels is 24.156 inches so the reflection time is slower.
My 18-inch Les Baer 416 R stainless steel barrel has a reflection of 0.899 msec. at the 12th reflection so I have to be really careful to stay within the PMax with most powders. For the most energetic powders, I have to use the 14th reflection of 1.049 msec.
You choose a powder charge, trim length, and seating depth to get the bullet to exit around the reflection time for each of your barrels.
Comparing results when shooting loads that were with 0.010 msec. of the reflection time with loads further away from the desired exit time, the improvement in average group size measured between from 0.052 to 0.177 inches across my 5 most used rifles with a weighted average of 0.117 inches.
With my most accurate rifle, the Savage 12 LRP 6.5mm Creedmoor, the difference is 0.069 inches. That means a 19% savings in average group size when the loads are tuned for 'bullet exit time'.
I find that using this technique with a new rifle minimizes the time it takes to get to the best loads.
Two of my shooting buddies have adopted the technique and also have found they get to an optimum load set more quickly.
J. Baker is right that you can wear out a barrel before you find what works.
When I started to reload years ago, I was fumbling around with powders, bullets, bullet weights, seating depths, etc. without a clue about what I was doing.
By the time I got a couple of things right and got consistently better results, I had shot over 6,500 rounds through my first Savage .308 and had to have the barrel replaced.
After that experience, I took what I had learned and seriously reduced the time with my newer rifles to get good results more quickly.
With the latest rifles, I was in the right zone almost immediately.
I haven't worn out another rifle yet, and I have quite a few of them and I get pretty good results with the majority of them.