Well the wind finally layed down enough that I could shoot my first batch of reloaded brass. Hate to sound simple, but it was kind of exciting. I'm using H50BMG powder and the published numbers that I found were 114gr. to 120gr. so I loaded 5 shells of each. I started with the lighter loads and was pretty happy with the group at .730 at 100 yards. Next were the 115's and the pattern grew a little to a full inch and raised about one inch. When I shot the 116's they went kind of wild to 2.400 and raised another inch. I thought this to be kind of a drastic jump for only a one grain change. The 117 and 118 were slightly tighter at around 1.800 and still slightly higher but only by .300.
The question : I see a pattern of increasing size as the powder load increases. Would it be wise to lower the charge by one or two grain to see if the get any tighter, or should I change powders and start all over? If I do lighten this load, will it probably continue to drop in elevation? The reason I shoot this gun is for it's long range ability. Thanks Larry