Bench Technique - Cartridge Handling

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  • Last Post 29 April 2025
Wm Cook posted this 29 April 2025

I was just curious if there’s a rhyme or reason as to how you manage your cartridges when shooting groups for accuracy from the bench. Do you pluck them out of a loading block or from a flip top cartridge box? Do you do anything to compensate for powder swishing inside a half filled case like rolling them? Do you handle each cartridge gently or just rough and tumble, slam them in the chamber and let her rip? Thanks in advance. Bill Cook.

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Boschloper posted this 29 April 2025

I have proven to myself that the powder needs to be back next to the primer. Sometimes I use a filler.  Sometimes I tap the base of the cartridge lightly on the bench 6 or 7 times and then chamber it very carefully.  I have tried lifting the muzzle but I don’t think it is a good idea because you lose the intimate contact with the front bag.

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linoww posted this 29 April 2025

Run over a chronograph to check uniformity to see what works,then confirm on the target.Some powders don't seem to care much on position as others.Some loads aren't uniform velocitie wise but shoot fine.Whatever your system do it the same every time.

 

I'm not a fan of fillers or over powder wads but it's a personal thing and some swear by them.

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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trapdoor4570 posted this 29 April 2025

 

I will either lay the cartridges on the bench in a row or pull them out of the flip top box with a mental note of 5, 10 or 15.  Sometimes this procedure is the easiest to mess up.  If I have an empty box I may transfer the string to the empty.

Powder handling, don’t bother I use a wad.  If the wad is weak enough to fail it was abandoned years ago.  I either us open cell foam or Dacron batting with a 5/8” wad punch.  Sometimes I will use a dipper made from a .32ACP to put 3F black in place of a wad.  I find they all work about the same.

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Wm Cook posted this 29 April 2025

And then there’s how much care you take to chamber the round on a bolt gun with a long bore rider sticking out of the case. George do you pick the round from a cartridge box, a loading tray, or what.

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OU812 posted this 29 April 2025

Powders that are position sensitive (2400) are a pain to shoot accurately. I would lift rifle and tilt barrel up, chamer cartridge, then gently position rifle before firing. Vertical stringing resulted caused by wide velocity spread. Quicker powders such as Titegroup were not NEARLY as fussy and much easier to shoot. Reloader 7, Old IMR 4198 seemed less position sensitive also.

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M1fuzz posted this 29 April 2025

Cartridges nose down in flip top cartridge carrying box w/ handle. Pull cartridge out tap base on concrete bench top 2-3 times. Insert cartridge into chamber w/ the rear of the cartridge even w/ the front edge opening of the breach. Nicely not softly or slamming it home close the bolt. Fire said cartridge. Seems to work consistently w/ IMR4227 and VV N110.

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Wm Cook posted this 29 April 2025

For what it’s worth, I lay 5 (or 10) on the mat that’s cut to fit my front and rear rest. I keep 5 or so sighters above that. I roll all back and forth one or so times then, with care, place the level cartridge in the chamber and close the bolt. That’s overkill but I’m taking baby steps right now.

With the right powder I have more concern about rough handling affecting the exposed bullet during chambering than the powder. Again, with the right powder.

I had a stretch two years ago where over the course of a dozen range trips I agg’d under an inch with about 20 groups shot. I then mounted a loading block up by the port of my action and tried to run groups instead of picking. Everything went to hell in a hand basket the day I switched to running groups. It seems that my slam bang rapid chambering was detrimental to accuracy.

I have a lot of work to do verifying powder sensitivity with the powder tipped toward the nose verses toward the primer. So far the only powders I’ve tested are 5744 & N110 and for me both were insensitive to powder position. I’ll try to post what I have in the morning.

But I’ve done a ton of work with SR vs LR. Enough work that I can say that 2400, N110 and 5744 burn consistently (SD) and efficiently (Vel). That’s consistent and efficient based on the way I described my loading process above.

In general it seems most are making an effort to keep the powder towards the primer and the cartridge as level as loading allows. Bill Cook

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RicinYakima posted this 29 April 2025

I shot 1903 Springfields for over 20 years with H or A 2400. It was never position sensitive for me, but I don't shoot over a chrony but only at the target. 100 round flip top box sorted into 60 target rounds (per yardage) 5 back up and the rest of the same lot of cases were foulers/ sighters. 

Pulled the correct cartridge out of the box, it had been nose down, and tap base three times on right receiver rail. Lay it on the magazine follower and with my left hand, curl under the action and push the cartridge down with finger tips until the bolt missed the follower and smoothly had the bolt pick up the cartridge. 

Using that technique I won the Scoped class in 2007, Issue in 2015 and Modified Iron in 2016. It always worked well for me. I live in Washington, and the ammo rode in the 5th wheel to Iowa or South Dakoda for the matches. 

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fa38 posted this 29 April 2025

When I was shooting the K31 I would throw the cartridge into the action and then slam the bolt forward.

If I gently closed the action the bolt would not fully close and the action would close the rest of the way when I pulled the trigger. The first time this happened I opened the action and the bullet stayed in the rifling and powder everywhere.  I had to remove the bolt and get the toothbrush out.  It was a mess.

The cure for a misfire was to pull the ring to cock the action and fire the cartridge into the berm because the bullet was not going to go into the group.

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Wm Cook posted this 29 April 2025

Making exceptions for the unique loading required for the K31 most tend to tap the powder toward the primer and to use some TLC when chambering like Ric said (echo'd by Boshloper and M1Fuzz).

...tap base.....Lay it on the magazine follower ................... and smoothly had the bolt pick up the cartridge.

The data I had on powder tipped toward the nose vs the primer was even sketcher than I had remembered.  No real surprise on that memory lapse.  The only thing of value was the work I had done with 5744.  On my "to do" list is to measure velocity, standard deviation and accuracy as independent variables and powder to nose, powder to primer comparison as dependent variables with additional dependent variables being a subset of the following powders; Unique, 2400, 5744, N110, I4227, Rel 7, 4198, Rel 10 and 4895.  That pretty much covers the range of powders I play with with the 308 win and 200 - 220 grain bullets. 

Here's what I have on the 5744.  The N110 were only two shots each and they were probably left over reloads that sampled for Vel, ES just for the heck of it.

I believe powder sensitivity and how much emphasis is placed on how cartridges are handled from bench to chamber are related.  I did a trial, and to paraphrase the process, I challenged the efficiency and consistency of powders by doing things like small primer vs large primer and small flashhole versus large flashhole.  By the results you could see that some powders are affected more by change than others.  Looking at 2400 and 4995 posted below you can see what I mean.  Getting a half case of powder to burn evenly can be tricky regardless of their advertised burn rate.  A powders grain size, its physical shape and properties makes a burn chart look kind of deceitful when it comes to half filled cases shooting cast bullets.  Oh, and by the way throw in bullet weight, bullet design, bullet to bore fit and bullet to barrel fit with boreriders. 

Using the greatest amount of caution I would think that positioning the powder towards the primer and not man handling the cartridge into a bolt gun may be the prudent way to go. My theory is that if results can be inconsistent and inefficient with manipulating things like primers and flash holes, the powder performance will be be affected by its position within the case.

 

On my growing "to do" list is to shoot some 10 shot groups with each to see if the disruption seen with the manipulation of the primer and FL translates to what happens on paper. 

Here's a quasi sample of what I hope to get out of by trying various powders.  Sadly this is simply a N110 vs N110 but a head to head comparison of extreme powders (extreme granular size, shape, properties) like the 2400 and the 4895 shown above will tell me more about combustion and burn rate inside a half filled case.  Again, just a theory, the more sensitive the powder is to ignition, the more sensitive it is to burn consistently and efficiently which can be mitigated by careful handling of the cartridge (tapping, careful chambering).  If the flash hole diameter can effect how the powder ignites/burns (consistent/efficient) the hypothesis is that with some powders, the distribution within the case will effect accuracy.  Thanks, sorry to drone on like that.  Bill Cook

 

 

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