Finished my ladder test, now what?

[FW Conch]

It's because 100 or 200yds is not enough distance to open up the groups enough to see a definite difference in the nodes. 300yds will work for a ladder test, but like the guys that can shoot 500yds are telling you, it's a lot easier to see the differences at that distance.

[tufrthnails]

Okay I am tracking I was thinking there was something at 500 yards that rounds would do differently then at 100/200. Basically it is just easier to see the difference in .5 MOA and 1 MOA at 500 yards then it is at 100 yards. My new way of doing my ladders now is to load my steps and head down to the 100 yard indoor range I found 45 min away from the house shoot them there and get new nodes for several weapons then head to a range that is an hour and half away after a few trips shooting ladders at the indoor and shoot them at 200 yards although I am looking forward to working that out farther.

[olddav]

Just to add to the decussion, the nodes I found at 200 were pronounced, perhaps it was a fluke. Admitted I am shooting a hunting rifle with a thin barrel and I was only able to achive a sub MOA group at 200 yards with two trips to the range, good enough for hunting. If I was shooting a target rifle (capable of one ragged hole) I would suspect that at 200 yards I would experience a whiteout if you will, (too many holes in too small an area) and would need 500 yards to separate the shots.

[JTCrl]

When I shoot a ladder I load a series of 12 loads, 2 rounds of each load. For a 223 loads are generally in .2gn increments. You can use whatever number of loads, group sizes, and increments fit your purpose.

The 12 2-shot groups are each fired at an individual target. A group of six targets fits on one 8.5x11" sheet of cardstock.



Measure the distance from the bottom of the target to each hole, plot them on a graph, your nodes will appear.

Edit: Apparently I need to figure out how to insert a picture!

[limige]

You cant do seating first I've tried.

The seating depth will vary with load.

For instance my creedmoor would shoot hole for hole but with extreme fliers kissing the lands at 43.5 gr.
Backed off to 42 and .01 off shot best.

Back down to 41.2 and it was like .03

The lighter the load the more of a running start it needed to engage the rifling and stabilize.

But granted they are all in the same ballpark but still affects short range grouping

[TC260]

You cant do seating first I've tried.

The seating depth will vary with load

In general I haven't had much success starting with seating depth first either with the exception of some Berger 115's in a 25-06. Two ladder tests and an OCW test with this known accurate rifle were disastrous. Called Berger and they clued me in to their 0.040" seating depth test to establish the proper range. At 0.080 off the lands the rifle was back to it's old tack driving self again. From there I did the ladder and then fine tuned depth afterwards like normal so it wasn't completely a matter finding the depth first but getting in the right ballpark before starting on charge was crucial to getting that bullet to work.

[limige]

Good to know! Still trying to perfect a process