Ladder Test

[possum1]

Can someone give me some feedback on this ladder test, it would be appreciated. I loaded 10 rounds with .1 increment's of Varget starting with 26.2 through 27.1, the reason I chose these weight's I done an earlier test using 25.5 through 27.5c and the closet grouping was with the aforementioned load's.The test was done at 100yd. Because of snow I can't get to a 200yd range. Thank's Dale http://i1019.photobucket.com/albums/af311/possum6/223100ydladdertestVarget.jpg

[tiny68]

Focus in by just looking at the vertical displacement. 5-7 only have about 3 bullets height. I would go back and shoot a group of 3 for #5, #6, and #7. When start playing with seating depth. I have never ran the latter on this small of a case capacity, but I would think 0.2 gr increments would let you look at a wider window. Do you have a chronograph available? 200 is better than 100 yds. 300 yds is even better. I would be very interested to see you repeat this exact latter and see if you got similar results. I would bet not. 100 yds is pretty difficult to see the barrel harmonics come into play. Luck, Tim

[possum1]

Thank's Tim. No chrony. The reason for the small increments I read somewhere on the small cartridge use small increments. When the snow melt's some I'll try longer yardage

[steveinwv]

What size bullets? I am having trouble seeing the numbers on my screen. Can you make them larger?

[possum1]

223 55gr Can't you change your zoom level?

[Bad Water Bill]

Go to your print then go landscape and enlarge to 165. Worked for me. Oh yes print it. Much easier to read :)

[steveinwv]

OK, I got it. I'm not being a dick here, but that thing is just all over the place, up, down, up, down....... and I'd say 200 or 300yds would just make it worse. Time to start somewhere else................bullet, powder, OAL......................just somewhere else.

[possum1]

OK, I got it. I'm not being a dick here, but that thing is just all over the place, up, down, up, down....... and I'd say 200 or 300yds would just make it worse.
Isn't a ladder test supposed to be that way ?? The way to find "the" powdar charge ???

[steveinwv]

OK, I got it. I'm not being a dick here, but that thing is just all over the place, up, down, up, down....... and I'd say 200 or 300yds would just make it worse.
Isn't a ladder test supposed to be that way ?? The way to find "the" powdar charge ???


The higher the powder charge the farther "up the ladder" the bullets tend to move. If this happens, look for consecutive loads that move minimally up with respect to eachother. Left to right is insignificant here, although 2" left to right at 100 yards is a bunch. It's hard to find vertical groupings at 100yds, usually, that's why you do it a 200 or 300, if you can. The truth is, a ladder test is tough at 100yds. I still think you need to try something else. Just my opinion, though.

[jo191145]

Actually I'll agree with you Steve.
A 100yd Audette in .1gn increments that looks like that. Your gun is very unhappy.
If it were 200yds with .1gn increments and looked like that I would'nt bother trying groups.
200 and .3gn increments I'd try 6 and 7 in groups.

For shooting Audettes at 100yds I'd suggest targets with multiple (20 or so) dots on them.
Use a seperate dot for each shot then read it like a book. 200 yds is always preferred Though
Using just one sighting dot eventually you'll shoot a 100yd Audette that just makes a big hole.
That'll make you happy but you'll have no discernable data from it.

[jpdown]

I've always had better results finding a load at 100 yards with the Optimum Charge Weight (OWC) approach. Make 3 loads at each powder increment. I use .3 to .5 grain increments starting low and working up to 1 load increment above max. Carefully shoot a round robin using a different target for each load increment. Allow the barrel to cool between rounds. You will almost always end up with 2 to 3 targets where the POI for the group is nearly identical. Pick the middle load and fine tune around that node.