Primers

[Don McDowell]

I start my load testing at 600. Sometimes a load that looks good at 6 will be just ok at 8 and 9 becomes dismal and 1000 is just an excerize in emptying cases. I try to do initial tests in relative calm conditions and then when I find something that looks to hold up all the way to 1000, go back and test at 800 and 1000 in less than ideal conditions. What I look for in the less than ideal conditions is the amount of vertical dispertion. Horizontal can be affected by all manner of conditions, but vertical tells the story. I look for something close to 3 moa vertical at 1000. I also look at bullet impact on target, is the bullet leaving a nice point first round mark, or do we get oblong or sometimes even full profile side views.