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#71 – Handloading

#71 – Handloading

01:02:20 | Having loaded hundreds of thousands of rounds in their careers, Bryan and Mitch share their thoughts and approaches to handloading.  Not everyone reloads for the same reasons, and not everyone has the same approach.  Tune in to learn more about what they have learned over the years.

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11 Comments

  • Jay VanLeeuwen says:

    I’ll be honest and say that the first time I listened to this it half way pissed me off for the first half of the podcast. I guess that I was expecting a much more structured discussion similar to your book discussions. I got over it and listened to it a couple more times to get everything out of it. I’m a fairly new shooter, so even though some of this may be boring or unnecessary for you, it’s gold for me. Sorry for the rant. I love what you guys are doing and will keep supporting you any chance that I can, I just want you to remember what is like to be a newbie. One last thing, I can not get the podcast player to start playing if I move the play position. I have to start from the beginning and play it all the way through. I can reverse, but can’t go forward. The podcast just locks up and ends up timing out. Thanks guys! Keep proving all of these guys wrong.

    • Oscar Garcia says:

      I’ll second that on not getting the podcast player to start where I want it from my phone, I thought it was just me.
      I like to rewind alot, or pause and think about the discussion. Something neat is if your on Android you can lock your phone screen and put your phone in your pocket 🙂

    • Mitchell Fitzpatrick says:

      Jay, you bring up valid points of concern and that is something we have talked about here many times. Our goal is not to disparage anyone, however we also need to be honest about what we have found to make a difference and also what doesn’t have a meaningful impact. I think one of the most valuable things I could have been told starting out was to stick with the few things that had a significant impact and not get tied up in the rest of it. I would have had more time and money spent on the range where you get better much faster than at the loading bench. With all of that said, we will certainly do some more structured content on Handloading going forward, but its complicated and will take many podcasts. You can’t cover all of the nuances of handloading in a single podcast. As for this podcast, we wanted to give some insight into our approach and perspective on handloading based on what we’ve learned over the years. We greatly appreciate the feedback and hope you continue to find value in the information we put out here on the Academy.

  • Oscar Garcia says:

    I really liked this hand loading topic, because there’s so much information out there that it’s tough to see what’s good and what isn’t.
    In particular nodes is blowing up on YouTube, and I’ve seen several. It didn’t make sence that the velocity would stop at a node even with more gun powder… Very happy this was touched on.

  • Michael Byrum says:

    Hello,
    Regarding barrel harmonics, it seems like I’ve seen a video where a barrel did “whip”.
    What’s your thoughts on that and discounting harmonics?
    Thanks.
    Michael

    • Mitchell Fitzpatrick says:

      Michael we have done a lot of high speed video work with various types of long range rifles and we have yet to see a barrel whip or deviate much at all from its axis before the bullet exits. The vast majority of what little movement there is occurs straight back. After the bullet leaves, lots of different movements can occur, but not while the bullet is still being influenced. All of that said, its something that we are going to continue to look at and study!

  • Roger Brown says:

    You guys are doing a great job.! Thank you. You are trying to teach people to fish and not give them a fish. The information or concepts you go over are based on your quantitative experience. The concept of variables and diminishing returns is complex. We live a quantum universe but our perceptions and brain function are for the most part binary. This mismatch creates a thick fog of confusion, disappointment and shame (LOL).

    You are on the right path keep doing what you’re doing.

    I enjoy listening and learning. Thank You.

    • Francis Colon says:

      Thank you Roger! It can be very hard for people (including ourselves) to avoid chasing our tails while trying to find the capabilities of our rifle systems. The temptation to tinker continuously can be very gratifying but also leads to the potential for misinterpreting cause/effect or trying to see a pattern where none exist.

      The more value we place on consistency and accept that a rifle has a certain amount of dispersion, the easier it becomes to find a go/no go reference for your load, your rifle or your technique. Thank you for subscribing and happy shooting!

      Francis

  • JP says:

    Though I enjoy these discussions immensely, I too find myself somewhat frustrated with Bryan. I have watched countless hours of interviews with him and he always seems to avoid direct answers on ANY question posed to him. Occasionally he will drop a nugget of information such as in this case harmonics, but he never just tells us what HE does🤷🏾‍♂️I have great respect for the gentleman and his entourage of professionals and appreciate what they share with us, just wish he would be a little more forthcoming. I apologize for the rant, much regards.

  • Joe Wagner says:

    On seating depth it seems to me that it possible that seating depth has a correlation to fill rate in the cartridge and how much the primer is able to push the bullet by itself initially. Meaning if there is more dead space above the powder then the primer has a better chance of moving the bullet before the powder ignites. It may be a case of we’re focused on tuning an aspect that is part of the cure but not the actual cure.

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