I am a long time reloader but, by no means an expert. I have reloaded for pistol, shotgun and rifle. My question is, where to start, mainly for rifles.

Initially, I would start by picking up a book and use their COL and change the powder to see what that got me. Then when I got more technical, I would find the ogive and back off .05 leaving the powder the same. At what point when you have changed the powder or ogive do you stop and move to change the other.

I am not even going down the primer road. I am just not sure what is best to change first. I have Quickload and used it but, for more just making sure that I will not blow up my rifle. I used a Magnetospeed to get the velocity.

Does it even matter? When you get to 1 MOA +/- with one do you then start changing the other to get even better. Just seems like a person could drive themselves mad by trying to take into account all of the different factors.

Greetings. I have been reloading for about 44 years, 29 for service rifle matches, and most recently (5-6 years) for F class matches.

For the service rifle, I started with a known, common load within the competition community. I loaded my ammo to magazine length, and would tweak the powder to get as close to sub-MOA groups as possible.

Now, F class reloading is a little more complex. I determine length to rifling, and start just below max recommended charge. I set my seating depth 0.1" off the rifling. First, I fire for group at 200 yards. I then attach my Magnetospeed, and chronograph. I try to start with 4 or 5 charge samples. I strive for a standard deviation of less than 10. I am either shooting 600 yard or 1000 yard matches. In order to improve groups, I focus more on charge weight rather than change powders.

I do this for: 223, 224 Valkyrie, 7mm Rem Mag, and 308. For 223 and 308, I use either Varget or AA2520. For 224 Valkyrie I use Varget. For 7mm Rem Mag I use IMR7828SSC. For 308, I also use IMR4895 and IMR4064.

Good luck!

__________________
Judge control not gun control!

Think of rifle loading in this context. Any high intensity loaded rifle may not be able to do better than 3/4 inch or even larger. Use a 1000 primers in a rifle searching for the best load and IF you find a great one the next 1000 primers playing around makes accuracy in most riles start to lose that premium accuracy..by the third 1000 accuracy ...at least the great accuracy is generally gone or getting worse. There are some cals that is not true of such as the 222 and a few others. but those 55000 PSI and higher calibers do lose their best grouping by then...of course you can re-barrell and start over again. For an average hunting rifle for the average shooter 2-2 1/2 inches at 200 yds is more than adequate. Even though we all think we are 1000 yard shooter/snipers...it usually just isn't true... and to be honest I shot a bunch of groundhogs and PDs at some long ranges...I surely took more big game at shorter distances than the long 400-500 yard shots and 500 yards is a very long range even out here in Wyoming

There is an optimist in me that thinks there is a way to get most quality guns sub-moa. Likewise, if there is enough horse manure in the room I am sure there is a horse in there. I have a CMMG AR in 6mm ARC. I am right at about 1 MOA at 100. I am just trying to make sure that I am consistently at or under that magical MOA. By the way, if you see a horse, it might be the one I am looking for.

Accurate Rifle Reloading, is a term that has many meanings to as many people.

The type of rifle, type of magazine, Cartridge, and Distance would be a good place to start. We can start with 223 Rem. (I have 3, 2 single shot bolt actions and an AR) I load on bolt gun for out to 500 yards and the other for out to 1000 yards. The AR for Groundhogs and Coyotes to about 500, all three are different loadings.

Once those basic decisions are made, bullet selection comes next. Below 250 yards, just about any bullet can be made to work.

Holes in paper, hitting a gong, varmint removal, or meat hunting are all noble pursuits! A little research will pay a lot of benefits,

Ivan

BTW, 6ARC is very simular to 6mmPPC In a good AR 1/4 to 1/2 MOA should be pretty easy to obtain!

Ivan

That was my thoughts as well. My question is start adjusting the powder or seating depth? I understand the bullet is important also but, within reason, I believe that you can still get sub MOA with the correct bullet/twist combo. All that you need to figure out is the correct powder/bullet depth combo.

Depends a lot on the rifle's condition and quality of the barrel and bedding.

Then if the loads are for hunting, plinking or target shooting at short or long ranges.

Most loads will work for 100 yard shooting and do under 1" to inside a paper plate, for general work.

Matching the barrels twist with bullet length/weight, is a good place to start.

Lots of peices in this puzzle and you just need to know how picky you are about accuracy.

Take one bullet and one powder at a time and see what it will give you.
If you are very lucky, you might get a "Winner" right of the get go.

Have fun.