Hello fellow handloaders. I listened/watched a couple of recent podcasts from the folks at Hornady and they got me thinking. I thought I’d share them here and see if they generated some thoughtful and enlightening discussion.
Here is part one:
And here is part two:
Fair warning: these are long podcasts, and the talking heads gore a few “sacred cows” of traditional load development. I’m going to oversimplify a bit and strip all the nuance out, but they claim in short that: (1) velocity nodes don’t exist, (2) seating depth doesn’t really matter, and (3) that you need to shoot a minimum of 20 shots at the same point of aim before you can make decent predictions about how a particular load will perform in the future. Interesting stuff. Supposedly based on a bunch of real world data, but I don’t think they’ve published or shared any data.
I’m interested in the reactions of the experienced handloaders here to Hornady’s “findings.” Are they just trying to sell bullets, or are the also onto something? I will say for my part that I’ve mostly given up trying to chase minor perceived differences in three-shot and five-shot groups because they don’t seem to be repeatable for me over time. But I don’t reload for serious matches and don’t have top shelf rifles or reloading equipment, so I’m curious to hear from the people who do. Can you prove, for example, that a seating depth change of less than .010” or a 0.5 grain powder charge change results in statistically better groups?
Please discuss and enlighten us. Thanks in advance!
Here is part one:
And here is part two:
Fair warning: these are long podcasts, and the talking heads gore a few “sacred cows” of traditional load development. I’m going to oversimplify a bit and strip all the nuance out, but they claim in short that: (1) velocity nodes don’t exist, (2) seating depth doesn’t really matter, and (3) that you need to shoot a minimum of 20 shots at the same point of aim before you can make decent predictions about how a particular load will perform in the future. Interesting stuff. Supposedly based on a bunch of real world data, but I don’t think they’ve published or shared any data.
I’m interested in the reactions of the experienced handloaders here to Hornady’s “findings.” Are they just trying to sell bullets, or are the also onto something? I will say for my part that I’ve mostly given up trying to chase minor perceived differences in three-shot and five-shot groups because they don’t seem to be repeatable for me over time. But I don’t reload for serious matches and don’t have top shelf rifles or reloading equipment, so I’m curious to hear from the people who do. Can you prove, for example, that a seating depth change of less than .010” or a 0.5 grain powder charge change results in statistically better groups?
Please discuss and enlighten us. Thanks in advance!