Issue with Inconsistent Reloading Results

S

sanikh101

New Member
I’m facing a frustrating issue with my reloading process and would appreciate any insights. Lately, I’ve noticed inconsistent performance with my handloads.

Despite following the same reloading procedures and using the same components (brass, powder, bullets), my groups at the range vary widely from session to session. Some rounds shoot accurately, while others are significantly off target.

I’ve checked for:

  • Proper case prep (trimming, cleaning, resizing)
  • Consistent powder measurements
  • Bullet seating depth
I’m starting to wonder if it could be related to:

  • Variability in brass quality
  • Differences in environmental conditions (temperature, humidity)
  • My shooting technique on different days
If anyone has experienced similar issues or has suggestions on troubleshooting this problem, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for your help!
 
I'm not a reloader. The only reloading I've done was during high school to save money on shotgun shells. Having said that, a few years ago, I got my first smokeless muzzleloader. I've learn there are a lot of factors involved. Temperature and humidity have different impacts on different powders. I'm a hunter so my accuracy requirements are fairly low. If I can get 1"-2" groups at 300 yards, I'm happy. I'm not shooting the SML further than that.

One more thought as you diagnose your issues. Elevation issues can be charge related. I use a Harrell's Custom 90 powder measure, but I also weigh each charge. I shoot to be with about .5 grains of my target. If I'm not, I dump the charge back into the bottle and try again. Elevation issues can also be caused by barrel heating. It can cause you to string shots vertically.

When I get horizontal issues I suspect shooting form. I like to use a Bull's Bag and rear bag when shooting groups at the range. I find a muzzle break also help reduce recoil and lessens unintentional flinch.

You might consider comparing your consistency with factory loads compared to your consistency with handloads. If they are similar, it might eliminate some potential causes.
 
yoderjac said:
I'm not a reloader. The only reloading I've done was during high school to save money on shotgun shells. Having said that, a few years ago, I got my first smokeless muzzleloader. I've learn there are a lot of factors involved. Temperature and humidity have different impacts on different powders. I'm a hunter so my accuracy requirements are fairly low. If I can get 1"-2" groups at 300 yards, I'm happy. I'm not shooting the SML further than that.

One more thought as you diagnose your issues. Elevation issues can be charge related. I use a Harrell's Custom 90 powder measure, but I also weigh each charge. I shoot to be with about .5 grains of my target. If I'm not, I dump the charge back into the bottle and try again. Elevation issues can also be caused by barrel heating. It can cause you to string shots vertically.

When I get horizontal issues I suspect shooting form. I like to use a Bull's Bag and rear bag when shooting groups at the range. I find a muzzle break also help reduce recoil and lessens unintentional flinch.

You might consider comparing your consistency with factory loads compared to your consistency with handloads. If they are similar, it might eliminate some potential causes.
Click to expand...
But your reply is too much professional, thank you so much.
 
Is this on one specific gun? Many? Were the previous loads accurate? Do you get variability between range sessions with the same batch of loads?
 
So iam a rather new reloader myself but i went in one year from hammering cartridges together with a lee classic loader kit for cheap practise ammo to 0.5moa monolithic hunting loads and i had alot of learning to do. Here is some of my experience.

shooting form tends to be easy to diagnose once you have shot 100+ rounds from the rifle, once i got a feel for the rifle i noticed when i pulled my shots before even checking the target and importantly by how mutch they would be off and in what direction.

What i have found with the cheaper lead bullets is that the ogive tends to be inconsistent, despite having the same setting on my seating die i might get 0.20mm difference in actual distance to lands wich is not insignificant. For instance LOS or GGG FMJ bullets both intended for military loadings of the 7.62 and 5.56 vary greatly, Have you measured and weighed your actual bullets?

Some powder/bullet combinations appear to be more sensitive to fouling and athmospheric pressure, i find particularly very fast and slow powders can be finicky about this due to differences in resistance encountered in the barrel affecting barrel time, sweet spot for me is a powder that burns out just a thumb length before the muzzle.

Have you tried partial sizing of the cases? my 30-06 for instance wants to be inconsistent with fully sized cases that have been fired 5+ times likely due to inconsistency in the annealing, neck concentricity and wear on the case in general. Sizing just enough to make them chamber snugly brings my groups from 1 moa to 0.5moa of less in that particular rifle, you essentially limit the influence the brass itself has during firing.

oh and the big ones: bedding, floating, crown. factory ammo will confirm such an issue.

temperature wise, well my loads from summer wont work in winter where iam at because its a 50 degree celsius temperature difference between juli and januari.
 
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