Need your input.

I bought my first reloading press and am gearing up to reload my first set of bullet for my rifle. I've been looking online at the various offering for the caliber I plan to reload and note that there are a gazillion different shapes, sizes, weights, etc, for the same caliber. I'm looking for cheap, accurate bullets for target shooting only and have no idea what to buy. Is there some accurate, single source of information you turn to to determine what bullet to buy for your type of shooting or do you ask as many people as possible, scour the internet for bits and pieces of information and recommendations and then close your eyes and pick one of the several hundreds being offered?

What ranges are you going to shoot, what are your intended targets, and what are your accuracy goals?

This is a tough question to answer. What I did was research on forum sites regarding the gun I own. You have to take into consideration barrel length, twist, and the BS you'll find on the net and from fellow shooters. I don't think anyone here would purposely BS anyone. But after talking to numerous reloaders I have found a good number of them don't know what thy are talking about. Or don't care. For instance one guy was telling me how accurate this particular bullet was in his gun. After prodding him for awhile I found out he never actually put them on target by bench resting. All of his stats about groups were by the seat of his pants. So with that said I took the info I got from the net and my digging and found what the bullet weights were that my gun is supposed to like the best and I started buying all different types and weights in the proper range. What I found for the most part is that some info on the net is pretty accurate so I learned what the best sources are. And I worked up my own loads based on bullet weights and powder most everyone was using. I found that no matter what try other bullets not mentioned. Because I found some great shooting bullets at decent prices. For instance my barrel and twist prefers 60 to 70 grain bullets. So I tried as many match bullets from 60 to 77 that I could get. I found that generally speaking my rifle likes Nosler partitions but likes Sierra bullets the most for general practice. But I found my rifle loves Berger Bullets the most. So for general practice I use the 63 and 65 grain Sierras and for competition I'll use the Bergers. The 63 grain sierras are $15/100 and Bergers are $28/100. I have tried the numerous bulk packs of 1k 55gr bullets and if all I am trying to do is hit an 8" gong they are fine. Otherwise the accuracy is not good enough for my taste.

There is a mail order company that sells 6 or 10'ets at a time for you to try so you don't have to buy 100 at a time. So listen to everyone and qualify them and their practices and take everything with a grain of salt. Then verify their claims yourself before you dive in and make bulk buys.

What caliber and rifle/barrel are you reloading for?

What ranges are you going to shoot, what are your intended targets, and what are your accuracy goals?

Hmm... you're forcing me to actually give this some thought. 

Fat chance of me hunting. The only hunting i'll be doing is the one in my dreams so its gotta be the targets out at the DHSC. I'd like to be able to put my mark on the smallest of the steel targets at each distance but that's asking for a lot given the size of those targets. So we're talking 240, 320 and 440 yard distances.

What caliber and rifle/barrel are you reloading for?

Sounds like there is a lot of researching and a great degree of experimentation and guess work to get it right. Also, sounds like one could possibly shoot out his barrel before finding out what's best.  I never really thought of looking at the rifle as a starting point as opposed to the bullet so that's something I need to do. I plan on doing some reloading for my Tikka T3 SS chambered in .270 Win and some .223/5.56 for my AR but accuracy for the latter is not that great of a concern for me as my bolt gun...at least for now since I don't do any competitive shooting with my AR15.

Hmm... you're forcing me to actually give this some thought. 

Fat chance of me hunting. The only hunting i'll be doing is the one in my dreams so its gotta be the targets out at the DHSC. I'd like to be able to put my mark on the smallest of the steel targets at each distance but that's asking for a lot given the size of those targets. So we're talking 240, 320 and 440 yard distances.

Sounds like there is a lot of researching and a great degree of experimentation and guess work to get it right. Also, sounds like one could possibly shoot out his barrel before finding out what's best.  I never really thought of looking at the rifle as a starting point as opposed to the bullet so that's something I need to do. I plan on doing some reloading for my Tikka T3 SS chambered in .270 Win and some .223/5.56 for my AR but accuracy for the latter is not that great of a concern for me as my bolt gun...at least for now since I don't do any competitive shooting with my AR15.

For the .270...  I am not really familiar with this caliber.  It is widely use for hunting applications, I mostly punch holes in paper, so not sure of what type of bullets it will work well with.  I am sure that the Sierra Match King will be a good quality bullet to try.  However, the twist rate of your barrel will dictate the heaviest (longest) bullet you will be able to use.  The longer/heavier bullets will require a faster twist to stabilize the projectile.   For longer range and least wind drift the heavier bullets are advantageous.  However, the targets at KHSC?(DHSC) distances most any bullet weight suitable for your rifles twist rate will do. Sierra Match Kings are not suitable for hunting, as they will not expand, so if you ever think that you will do any hunting, you would need to work up a new load with the desired bullet suitable for hunting.

For .223/5.56 target applications you can't go wrong with a Match king or you could try the Nosler Custom Competition bullets, again in a weight that is suitable for your barrel twist rate.  An easy load might come with the 69 grain pushed with some h335 at a modest velocity.  Be sure to seat primers BELOW FLUSH for any rifle with a floating firing pin to minimize the chance of slam firing.   For KHSC the short distances involved there is no real need for blistering speed.  You will just be wasting powder and unnecessary wear on your gear.

Do lots of research on the correct powder and primers to use,  confirm and reconfirm load data from reputable sources,  weigh your charges on a GOOD SCALE, and work up loads to best accuracy and don't look for the speed as the major concern.  Check your cases frequently for case wear and failure signs.  BE SAFE! 

Working up a load doesn't need to take up a lot of components.  try reading up on... http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/

Much Info here on ultra accurate reloading theories...  www.accurateshooter.com

some other discussions...  http://2ahawaii.com/index.php?topic=3712.0

For the .270...  the twist rate of your barrel will dictate the heaviest (longest) bullet you will be able to use. 

Thanks for spending the time to do the write-up. I'll follow your recommendations. BTW, I'm reloading for my Tikka T3 Lite SS in .270. It has a barrel length of 22-7/16" and twist rate of 10" or 1:10". The rifle weighs less than 6.25" lbs (w/o scope) so the felt recoil is quite pronounced. I eliminated the need to see my chiropractor after buying the rifle.

Last year, I brought back a Sears JC Higgins Model 50 .270 that Dad hunted with when I was a kid. I also brought back some reloads that he had made in the past few years using H4831 powder. I was a little disappointed with the accuracy, three inches or so. Then, I tried a minimum load of 51.0 grains of Hodgon Hybrid 100V powder and 130 grain Hormady SST bullets and got great results, better than the H4831.
Check Hodgdon's site for load data for the .270.

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

Hmm... you're forcing me to actually give this some thought. 

Fat chance of me hunting. The only hunting i'll be doing is the one in my dreams so its gotta be the targets out at the DHSC. I'd like to be able to put my mark on the smallest of the steel targets at each distance but that's asking for a lot given the size of those targets. So we're talking 240, 320 and 440 yard distances.

OK, so there's a company out there (GZ forgets which one of the top of GZ's head right now) that breaks bullets into 5 bullet sets.  5 bullets of differing types so that you can load them to test out.

In general you should start with bullet weights that are optimal to your barrel length/twist rate............that's easy enough to get off the net.  What will be tough is settling on the the powder to use and how much of it.  Add to this the fact that (especially SS barrels) you can see a break in.  GZ didn't believe in this, but buying a 1:7 barrel for use with 70+gr bullets (for .223 Rem) and seeing 55+ 62 gr outperform that weight in the beginning was very interesting.  Seeing it start to go away quite quickly from the 55 to the heavier weights also made GZ sad...........GZ hasn't had the patience to work up data since then.

Anywhooo...............I GZ's humble opinion Mr. Fartknocker should look for that company and primarily focus on using consistent loads at first possibly with a chronograph to make sure the variances in impact aren't due to velocity spikes before Mr. Fartknocker starts to eliminate loads.  Bad thing is Mr. Fartknocker will probably buy a crap load of powder that Mr. Fartknocker might not want to use more of in the future..........

OK, so there's a company out there (GZ forgets which one of the top of GZ's head right now) that breaks bullets into 5 bullet sets.  5 bullets of differing types so that you can load them to test out.

In general you should start with bullet weights that are optimal to your barrel length/twist rate............that's easy enough to get off the net.  What will be tough is settling on the the powder to use and how much of it.  Add to this the fact that (especially SS barrels) you can see a break in.  GZ didn't believe in this, but buying a 1:7 barrel for use with 70+gr bullets (for .223 Rem) and seeing 55+ 62 gr outperform that weight in the beginning was very interesting.  Seeing it start to go away quite quickly from the 55 to the heavier weights also made GZ sad...........GZ hasn't had the patience to work up data since then.

Anywhooo...............I GZ's humble opinion Mr. Fartknocker should look for that company and primarily focus on using consistent loads at first possibly with a chronograph to make sure the variances in impact aren't due to velocity spikes before Mr. Fartknocker starts to eliminate loads.  Bad thing is Mr. Fartknocker will probably buy a crap load of powder that Mr. Fartknocker might not want to use more of in the future..........

this it?

http://www.bulletproofsamples.com/

^^^Yup