Scott Satterlee 10 round load development

[ngoforth]

I was wondering if anyone has tried Scott Satterlee's 10 round load development? I saw a video with him on 6.5 guys and thought it was a good idea. His load work up is to shoot 10 rounds increasing each round by .2 grains and shooting over a chronograph and see what loads have about the same velocities and go back and load in the middle of those loads and that should be a node for very low sd's and es.

[LoneWolf]

Low SD & ES are a small part of the puzzle. I prefer the OCW test over anything else because it shows you a better node based on group size consistency. Normally you'll find a charge in the middle that groups great in between 2 groups .2 or .3 grs above and below that group pretty dang well. Most of the time when I fine the solid group I also find a good node. I also recently experienced something new to me in reloading with the Nosler 140 RDF in my new 6.5x47. My chrono numbers over 5 shots gave me an SD of 1 and ES of 3, but the load would not group better than .6-.75" at 100yards. I did the same test with the same charge weight with the Berger 140 Hybrid and the Chrono numbers are as good, but groups are in the .2-.5. I believe shooting a few more rounds in an OCW will yield results much quicker than messing around reviewing the chrono. Small things like seating depth can tighten up both groups and chrono numbers. And as experienced recently some bullets won't shoot no matter how good the chrono numbers read.

Now I know and respect Scott Satterlee and believe this method does provide some information, but an OCW will tell you more about how your rifle and reloaded ammunition get along. Also I shoot 3 shot group vice 5 shot groups when doing load dev as that's all you really need to figure out if the load is good. After that it's all you and just creates more frustration than good.

[ngoforth]

Lonewolf that is a very good paragraph. I understood Satterlee's load development was not so concerned about that smallest group but the lowest sd and es so the load is more consistent at long range. 50 fps at 1000 yards can be around 2 feet. So it was working for the game he played. I don't know him but am positive he knows more than me and so do most people. I also thought that after he found his node that he further tuned it with seating depth. So in reality is is more than 10 round load development but was a way to get in the ball park. I also think he was trying to make up for some error in using a progressive press to account for powder charge variances.

[LoneWolf]

With my 6 Creed I did a similar test not to try to find the node, but to find the charge range that got me into the velocity range I wanted to be in. Also quickly dissolved where pressure signs would start to occur and helps to pick the charge range to test in my OCW. Other things to consider is that barrels will speed up a few times between 50-250rds. Some speed up 1 time and others speed up a few time in smaller increments. Then you go through the process of tuning your once fired brass load because it will be slightly different than your new brass load. May need to bump the charge up or down etc. usually around 300rds or so the barrel really settles into it's own and you don't have to mess with it much.

[Zero333]

Maybe shooting a Audette Ladder at 300 to 400 yards over a chrono and paying attention to Satterlee's method might find a node with the least amount of shots.

But, I like shooting multiple ladders to correlate and verify the consistency of the loads.

If you only have a 100 yard range, then the OCW method over a chrono is the best.

[LoneWolf]

I leave the chrono out of the equation till I find the Group nodes. Otherwise I start think about that extra velocity.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170630/8bb28c421785f5d2917653f892d13e4f.jpg

Odds are when the barrel shoots like this the best group also has the best node anyways.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ngoforth]

Those are some good looking groups. I guess the point is do groups like that hold up as the range increases if they do not have low sd and es's? I guess what i am trying to figure out do good groups usually mean good chrono numbers or can one or the other "lie" about how tuned a load is?

[LoneWolf]

Unless shooting extremely small targets at distance a single digit SD with ES in the teens is plenty. Some cartridges have better characteristics than others to obtain the extremely low numbers. I never saw lower than 8 SD and 16 ES in my 6 Creed, but it definitely got the job done. With much less effort I'm seeing SD's of 1-3 end ES's of 3-6 in my 6.5x47.

That being said I was very successful shooting long range matches long before I started tracking those numbers.

[ngoforth]

I think it may be a trap to try and interpret too much data instead of just going out and shoot and not worry so much about everything else.

[LoneWolf]

I think it may be a trap to try and interpret too much data instead of just going out and shoot and not worry so much about everything else.

That's a large part of it. When I started out the first thing I did was always use quality proven components for my reloads. I'd work to develop a load that shot at least 1/2MOA, get a velocity, and shoot it.