tight groups
 

I did some shooting today and found a load that shot pretty good but my shots would go like two within a 1/2 inch in the bull then the third 1 1/2 to the left. Three3 shot groups did the same thing, pretty much had 2 ragged holes unfortunately 1 1/2 inches apart. I also shot the same load with rem primmersand those groups seemedmuch more consistant around the bull. Any thoughts?

RE: tight groups
 

Yep. Many loads will perform quite well with one brand of primers, and not so well with some other brand. Looks like maybe your load likes Remington primers. You might try that same load with a brand other than the two you've used so far. Who knows what the results might be??

RE: tight groups
 

Eldeguello is quite correct with what he said. There are many, many variables in reloading and tweaking loads to get that just right group. Primers are on. Powder charge weights ate another, type of powder, bullet, and seating depth are some others. Without knowing what you are shooting, and where you are in the load development, it's hard to say for sure what the problem is. I have had the exact same situation as you describe happen. Sometimes it corrected itself with usually an increase in charge weight. If you are, however, at or near max charge now for your bullet/powder combo, you will need to approach this very cautiously. Oftentimes a switch in powder or bullet weight or type will help a lot.
It's usually a bit of a challenge at times to find that "magic" combination your gun likes, but then again, that's what it's all about......

RE: tight groups
 

ditto to what these guys had to say. My 700 taught me the hard way that there are many vairables to getting the right load. A couple of things to keep in mind though.
Some barrels are neat freaks, so keep the barrel clean and see if it likes it clean or lightly it fouled. (Mine likes it sqeaky clean with no fouling shot)
Most hunting barrels are sensitive to heat so give it some time to cool between shots.
In my experience nothing affects the loads point of impact(and accuracy) more that bullet seating, so find a oal that it likes and fine tune from there.
If you have a problem rifle(flyers), which it appears that you do not, don be afraid to try a sims doughnut. It worked for me.

RE: tight groups
 

Had the exact thing happen to me. I took my 7mm mag from 1.50" groups down to .80-.90" just from switching from Win primers to Fed primers. When I got into reloading, I bought 6-7 packs of primers and used them for everything. Then Bigcountry gave me the wisdom that once I get a rifle "close" I should tweek it with variables. Primers being one of easiest. Dadgum bigcountry he always has to be tweeking something. :D

RE: tight groups
 

Primers can have an effect. . .but what is the effect?I would guess that the primers in an of themselves(brand, shape, color, etc.) had less impact than I'll bet they increased pressures slightly causing theround to perform better. This affect could have been hitting a pressure sweet spot for the gun,seating the lugs better, causing the case to expand more uniformly in the chamber, who knows. Allwe know is it worked and that is good!

I buy my primers by the 1000 and yes, I'm usually guessing, but I've always had good accuracy. Now I'm shooting Federal GMM in my 300 WSM.

RE: tight groups
 

If you are getting 2 distinct groups,it'll most likely be 1 of 2 things-either your barrel is "walking" due to temperature changes stemming from not waiting long enough between shots,or triple check bedding,action screws,scope base screws,or rings to see if something is shifting. IF I'm understanding this correctly you're getting a tight cluster in 1 place,then shifting for the rest always horizonally. Is that correct?