New to centerfire reloading. I have just about everything I need for several different calibers, rifle and pistol. By the weekend I will be ready to go.

How many rounds do you load for deer rifle ammo as test rounds? Do you load an initial round just ensure it’s good in the rifle or, do you load enough to get a good pattern and roll with it?

I’m looking to load rounds that result in a good BC.

3 to 5 to ensure accuracy. Up to 8-9 for extra. Then I'll try a secondary load "just in case".

Thank you

When I'm working up loads I load 3 rounds with x amount of powder step it up half a grain load 3 more and start at the minimum and work up toward the max load listed in the book I usually get what I want before I get there you will find a sweet spot and watch the groups get smaller if your going in the right direction unless you got a finicky gun that don't like the powder or primer combination. This can also be observed by using a chronograph and watching the standard deviation as it shrinks your going in the right direction.
As for a test round if you do what you need to prepping brass and setting up your dies correctly you should have no worries about fitting in the gun unless you have a really tight chamber.
I'm assuming when you mention bc your talking about ballistic coefficient which comes from bullet design and not the load itself and is related to the sectional density of the bullet.

Understand on the case prep and chronograph/standard deviation. Yes understand the Ballistic Coefficient is related to the bullet. To reach it, you have to load it correctly with combo x, y etc. I was just looking to see what others do wrt initial rounds.

Thank you

I start at the starting load and load a couple at each 1/2 grain intervals and put them in a ziploc bag and label them. Then shoot in same order, inspecting each case as I go until I’m sure there are no problems at the maximum charge I want to shoot. Then I let er rip. Working on a 165 Gamechanger load for my 30-06 now.

I have good luck with H4895 with that bullet in 06. Cant recall the amount of powder but it was NOT max. I want to say 46gr, but I would have to look to be certain. Good luck, that bullet seems to work very well for a couple friends as well as myself at that speed.

Jason

Faster burning powder I may go up .3 gr/load vs. .5 gr/load for slower burning powders. Typically load 5 rounds/ea for group. Once I find a load that shoots well, may tinker with bullet depth at that powder charge to fine tune. Some rifles are just finicky, others more tolerant.

What the man said - 46g of 4895 165g bullet, 44g for .308. Best accuracy I've had is with 168g Match/Game King bullets. And to answer the OP, no more than 5 rounds.

I’m using IMR4350 and RL-19 cause that’s what I have. If you could still just run down and buy what you want I’d try some 4895 and 4064.

Normal load development for me I like to load at least 7 that way if I pull a couple shots and a extra 7th round as a fouling shot.
That's for say a new rifle doing load development/barrel break in and I'm normally trying 2-3 bullets with various powders just to see what's gonna do well.
Then I'll settle on something and do ladder testing with the best bullet and powder combo

I normally start with the bullet I want then determine which powder based on research. load 3 each in either .5 gr or 1 gr increments normally starting at the middle of the book range to a tad over. Those 3 shot groups that show promise, I'll load 5 each to confirm. From there, I take the best 5 shot groups and tinker with those including +- .2-.3 grs and seating depth. If my initial 3 shot groups don't show me something worthwhile, I'll change powders before further testing.

This is basically the same as my load work up except I usually load 4 rounds of each load for initial testing.

Like most others I usually go in 0.5 gr increments but load 9 rounds at each step. That's for a hunting rifle where I shoot three 3-shot groups, letting the barrel cool between groups. For an AR, I use 5-round groups.

This is EXACTLY how I do it, too

Me too. I've only had 1 rifle that I couldn't find something that shot really well doing this