Hornady ELD Bullets For Reloading

KRC said:

E.Shell

In the few months I have been on this site I have thoroughly enjoyed your posts. They have demonstrated clear logical thinking (common sense), depth of knowledge, and are very well written. (Expressing oneself in the English language is a disappearing skill – but don’t get me started on that . . .) You have obviously taken significant amounts of your time to share your knowledge and to educate others. Thank you for your efforts.

With this in mind I was stunned to read your post #33 in this thread. On the main point you make in this post, I will have to not only disagree, but state that this statement is simply incorrect. (Unless I have misinterpreted this statement.)

“A properly assembled rifle using decent components is insensitive to load changes.”

If by “insensitive to load changes” you mean precision will not be affected, and that the precision of a “properly assembled rifle” cannot be attenuated with load development, quite simply thousands of shooters over decades of precision shooting have found otherwise. I will go further and state that the better a rifle has been assembled (components and construction), the better it will show precision attenuation with even minor load changes.

The guys that live and breathe the ultimate in rifle precision, the competitive benchrest crowd, would almost certainly vehemently disagree with your statement. These guys spend inordinate amounts of time determining the loads that provide the best precision in their VERY well assembled rifles. Many of the top shooters will even adjust their loads during a match to respond to changing temperature and humidity conditions.

Powder type and charge, primer type, case type, neck tension, seating depth, bullet brand and type, case prep etc. are all endlessly tested not just to achieve consistency from round to round, but to maximize precision for a particular rifle. If you show up at a serious benchrest precision match with a “good enough” load, a load that has not been meticulously optimized to that rifle, be prepared to look WAY down the scoring sheet for your name.

Note that these shooters are not good-ole boys shooting minute of deer at 100 yards. Precision in the benchrest world is largely measured by the average size of an aggregate of five 5-shot groups at a given distance. While score shooting directly measures accuracy rather than precision, as everyone knows, precision is required for consistent accuracy. The difference between a ½ MOA rifle and a ¼ MOA rifle is quite significant. The difference between a 1/4MOA and a 1/8MOA rifle is likely even more significant. Achieving this kind of precision is simply not done without loads that are “tuned” to the rifle system.

I do agree that if one has a rifle that has some limitation in barrel quality, chambering, action quality, bedding, assembly, crowning etc. (“dozen considerations”), load tuning will not be able to improve precision past the limitation. But precision improvement and achievement of the maximum inherent precision from even a less-that-ideally built rifle (most rifles) will usually be attained only with careful load development.

So, I will respectfully disagree with the statement

“A properly assembled rifle using decent components is insensitive to load changes.”

And instead present

“The basic principle of matching load to rifle system to improve precision applies to almost any well-assembled rifle”.

I realize that this post will not change your thinking on this matter, and I respect your right to your view, based on your extensive experience. I do not wish to debate the issue (don’t have the time or energy), however, my experience has demonstrated a very different conclusion on this matter, and I do want this forum to be aware that a differing view exists, and is almost universally shared among the community of shooters that participate in the quest for precision.

P.S.
A couple of other tangentially related comments . . . Many shooters that I see have the precision performance of their rifles severely limited by two factors. The first is shooting technique and all that entails, and the second is attention to the WIND. In a less-than optimally assembled rifle, there is likely more precision improvement to be gain by working on these two factors that there is by fine tuning a load.

With no disrespect intended, last week I observed a young man (everyone is a young man now) shoot his very nice new 6.5 Grendel AR-15 at 600 yards. He was shooting handloaded ammo and could not see where his shots were going (no hits on a 2-foot diameter steel plate). Once we got him “on paper” it was evident that he was shooting ~ 2-foot groups. Up down and sideways. I am quite sure this shooter and rifle are capable of MUCH better precision at 600 yards, but load tuning is not what will be needed until shooting technique issues have been addressed.

With respect to the wind, many (most?) shooters simply do not appreciate the effect of the wind on precision. Youtube is full of guys posting videos of their groups, ostensibly demonstrating their precision prowess, while the soundtracks are full of the sound of the howling wind. If you are attempting to maximize precision, or are doing load testing towards that goal, and are NOT taking into consideration the effect of the wind, you are wasting your time. Again, not so much if you are shooting 2MOA at 100 yards, but if you are in the 1/2 MOA or better range, wind, even a light wind, will be a significant factor.

KRC

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