Reloading Newbie velocity issues

[HighlandLofts]

Something simple, there could be a few things affecting the various velocities. 

[jasnt]

Where are you located? How much are you bumping shoulders back?
How many firings on the brass? Are you metering charges or weighing each charge, how many rounds through the rifle? Clean bore? Fouled? What chrono?  Using a lead sled? Off bags? Bipod? What distance do you intend to shoot? How is the accuracy?
Need a lot more info to get good info back

[OltHunter]

These kind of posts are always hard to help on, so definitely finding someone/mentor to help out in person is the best.

If both you and your dad with 2 different setups are getting the same results, it's something in your process. If everything is right, it might be just as simple as your guns hate the powder/primer combo you are running. You should definitely try the H4350 in your 6.5, that is a great powder.

But, being that you are a newbie, let's start back at the start. What was your initial power charge ladder? You got some max powder charge, started 10% lower off that, and worked up in 0.X grain increments with 3x shots to max load and maybe 1 or 2 steps aboves. OCW is a popular method I've found in the hunting communities, but there are a few others. Hopefully you all didn't just pick a charge and load up a dozen or so.

You also measured your lands at what? And did you seat all your bullets -0.020 or more or to magazine length more off that measured by a comparator?

And neck tension on your resize was what? Should be in the -0.002 range as a starting point.

What are you resizing your shoulder to bump wise?

Also, when you seat, your seating die will not always put your bullets with a comparator at the exact same spot everytime, so need to measure each seat and adjust as necessary. If you are close to the lands or max powder or over, this could cause some variations.

Answering some of these questions could help, and if you can't answer some, then you're on the right track to finding out your issue.

[NWShooter]

Switch to H4350 and toss those LR Accubond’s in the trash. You can thank me later.🙃🙃🙃

[jrebel]

Switch to H4350 and toss those LR Accubond’s in the trash. You can thank me later.🙃🙃🙃

I do concur as it pertains to the accubond lr's.  Garbage in my opinion. 

[hunter399]

How uniformly accurate is your seating depth? To far from or to tight to the lands may be an issue if your seating depth is not consistent.  I'm no expert so just a thought. Neck tension maybe....to much or to little?

I measure the over all length of the factory loads vs my reloads and they are all within .001. The factory loads use the same bullet and weight as my reloads.

I have made a lot of copy cat rounds ,that copy factory rounds. Which sounds like your doing.
Switch powder maybe.
Some will tell ya you have to have a full case of powder.
That's not always true.
I don't load for creedmore .
Have you pulled a bullet out of a factory round and looked to see what the powder looked like.

[NWShooter]

With H4350 and the 6.5 Creedmoor. One would be hard pressed to find a load/bullet combo that wouldn’t shoot.

[10mmg]

Where are you located? How much are you bumping shoulders back?
How many firings on the brass? Are you metering charges or weighing each charge, how many rounds through the rifle? Clean bore? Fouled? What chrono?  Using a lead sled? Off bags? Bipod? What distance do you intend to shoot? How is the accuracy?
Need a lot more info to get good info back

Located in Chelan, not sure what bumping shoulders backs means, weighing each charge on a calibrated digital scale, 200 rounds through the rifle, cleaned after each outing, Caldwell chrono, lead sled, for hunting no mare than 400 yards, for fun out to 800 if it is possible. With factory loads I am getting 1/2 moa  reloads are 1.5 moa.

I loaded 5 rounds each starting at 37 grains moving up to 39 grains in .5 grain increments. I am not sure what the objection to the AB LR is but is it all of them of just for reloading. Asking only because I am getting great groups and speeds from the factory ammo.  Is there a better bullet to try? I’ll give the H4350 a try. I started with the rl15 based on the nosler book.

If my brass oal is the same as factory and my reloaded ammo is the same oal as factory should that answer how it is loading into the rifle? Not sure how to adjust neck tension or should resizing. How does one adjust those things on the die? Do I lower where the die sits in my press?

Thanks for the feedback. I knew I wasn’t covering all the info so thank for the patients. If anyone is in the Chelan area and wants to mentor a couple of newbies that would be great.

[jeffro]

I’ve never measured velocity, but only load one round to at a time the exactingly same specs.
As in once fired fired brass out of my gun! All the same brass….
Sized and necked
Good digital scale, double checked with balance, you may be shocked!

[jasnt]

The velocity variable could in part be the chrono.  Not all.  That chrono has an accuracy of +/-2% if your shooting square through it.  The “screens” are so close together that even a slight angle can off set the timer causing velocity deviation.  If you were closer I’d be happy to show you the ropes.  Re15 can be a good performer but too temp sensitive for my liking.  As for seating depth and shoulder bump you’ll need to order some more tools.  Comparator kit is a good start

[NWShooter]

 

That’s a start.

[hunter399]

The velocity variable could in part be the chrono.  Not all.  That chrono has an accuracy of +/-2% if your shooting square through it.  The “screens” are so close together that even a slight angle can off set the timer causing velocity deviation.  If you were closer I’d be happy to show you the ropes.  Re15 can be a good performer but too temp sensitive for my liking.  As for seating depth and shoulder bump you’ll need to order some more tools.  Comparator kit is a good start

Last time I was out shooting.
Crono said one of my rounds was 4888 fps second.
All the other rounds around 3050.

[jasnt]

The velocity variable could in part be the chrono.  Not all.  That chrono has an accuracy of +/-2% if your shooting square through it.  The “screens” are so close together that even a slight angle can off set the timer causing velocity deviation.  If you were closer I’d be happy to show you the ropes.  Re15 can be a good performer but too temp sensitive for my liking.  As for seating depth and shoulder bump you’ll need to order some more tools.  Comparator kit is a good start

Last time I was out shooting.
Crono said one of my rounds was 4888 fps second.
All the other rounds around 3050.

lighting can also cause some funky readings.  My old pro chrono had me chasing my tail till I accidentally shot it and ordered a magneto speed
Then I found out my es wasn’t as bad as I thought.
It worked well enough to fuel my passion till I was ready to upgrade 

[10mmg]

Update on this post. I switched to H4350 and got a comparator for my calipers. I found out I was not seating the bullet down far enough based on the comparator measurement against factory Nosler ammo. I loaded 41-43 grains of ammo in 5 round increments in 1/2 grain escalations. Factory ammo is giving me 1/2moa @ 2783 fps. After testing the reloads I am getting 1/2 moa and 2825 fps with 41 grains of H4350. It appears my issue was the powder and seating depth. Of just the seating depth or just the powder or both. Either way I am in business. My FPS variation is 8fps. Interestingly the 41.5 grain loads had a 70 fps variation and the 42.5 grain load at 2850fps had a 20fps variation. The 42.4 had the same group size as the 41 grain. The 41.5 grain was the worst group at 1.5 moa. 

Thanks for the tips everyone. Still curious on why the hate for ABLR bullets. They have killed a deer at 150yrds, hogs at 30 yrds, and antelope at 350yrds. Interested in feedback.

[dyhardhuntr]

Some good info on here. Like some have posted it’s hard to diagnose over the internet. Another thing to remember is that the loads they put in the book are “suggestions”. They also have a gun that those loads shoot good out of. It does not guarantee it will shoot out of your gun. I always start 5% below minimum and work up. It pays to be particular with reloading. It’s crazy what changing powders will do for your accuracy. My coworker is a bench rest shooter that has been reloading for over 40 years. He shoots with a guy that will load his powder to a certain weight and then cut his grains to trickle in the exact amount. Reloading is fun but can be aggravating. Glad you found your issue!