Developing Loads Without a Chronograph

I build most of my rifles myself--and spend a lot of money for barrels. After a while I finally got over the "just how fast can I push it" (aka bigger is better syndrome) and got to "just how well can it do what I might use it for." That's why I use a chrono--and other software and hardware devices.
 
Im sure its already been said, but dont exceed the maximum listed in your manual.
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Sound advice, safe advice.

Just remember that the manuals are guidelines, and YOUR gun(s) are not the test guns they used.
 
44 AMP said:
Sound advice, safe advice.

Just remember that the manuals are guidelines, and YOUR gun(s) are not the test guns they used.
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Very true. I was simply trying to clarify, the OP started he was working up loads until the "feel" like factory loads, which is fairly vague and has the potential to put the OP over max.
 
working up loads until the(y) "feel" like factory loads
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Please know I'm not piling on our OP.

But I do want to stress that recoil ("feel") and pressure are two different things. Particularly with fast burning propellants. They can be loaded to gun dismantling pressures before they feel anything like factory ammo.
 
They can be loaded to gun dismantling pressures before they feel anything like factory ammo.
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I have to object to this, in part, anyway,...exceed industry standard working pressure, sure, but one doesn't reach "gun dismantling pressures" until you're PAST proof level loads, which are well beyond factory ammo.

And if you do get there, it is not going to feel like factory ammo, because it isn't.
 
The chances of the book load you use equaling the published velocity of that load is slim, as others have noted.
Lots of good advice being passed out here.... don't exceed maximum published loads is pretty sound advice.
I've been hand loading for 32 years. For load development, I start at the bottom of the list and "ladder-load" rounds up in 2 or 3 or .2 or .5 grain increments until I get my best groups or start showing high pressure signs, like cratered primers and sticky bolts.
I have discovered, most often, my greatest accuracy is found in handloads that are not at maximum published velocities.
I use basic algebra to calculate the velocity of the load and hope to assume it is about as accurate a figure as a chrono reading (with all its variables).
My handloading has never been an exact science, but I still have all my fingers after three decades of doing it. :eek:
 
I prefer one but if you are shooting mild or mid-level loads, I think you'll be safe not using one. If you're going to be loading near book max, I think they are advisable.

Most of my experience is with rifles but the same principles apply. For one thing traditional pressure signs like flat primers and sticky extraction only happen when you are WAY overloaded. Loads that are slightly over pressure will look and shoot just fine.

I was working on a load for a 300 WSM and 180 gr bullets a few years ago. Using a max load of H4350 I was getting 2950 fps, which was exactly what the load manuals showed for that load. All was good and accuracy was good.

But I'd read that RE17 would give me another 100 fps so I decided to try it. I loaded up some loads several gr below max and 3 loads each in .5 gr increments up to book max.

At the range, using my chronograph, I was still about 1.5 gr below book max, but my velocity was exceeding what I should have been getting with another 1.5 gr of powder, and accuracy wasn't what I'd hoped for. I stopped at that point and never fired the other loads.

To get the accuracy I wanted I wasn't getting any more speed than using H4350. Which is the powder I stayed with.

All barrels are different. RE17 didn't work with my rifle but lots of others have used it with good results. That is the ONLY time I've had that happen to me. Every other cartridge and powder combo I've used gave me predictable velocities. I would have been fine not using a chronograph for all other situations. But that one time it paid off.
 
Before I had a chronograph, I loaded as follows:
Revolver, book loads as "factory equivalent".
Autopistol, whatever would give full function usually well under book maximum.
Rifle, the middle load in the Speer book, usually about 95% of maximum.
 
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