Finally ran a ladder test today

[mugsie]

Well I finally got to a 300 yd range that I'm a member of and shot a ladder test with my .308. It's a Shilen barrel built on a Savage short action, mounted on a Manners stock. I was shooting 168g SMK's, Lapua brass (fired many times before and annealed by me), and Varget powder with CCI primers. I started at 42g and worked up in .5g increments to 46g of powder.

Quite frankly I was surprised at the results (I'll post a pic later when I take one and figure out how to do it). I thought I was seeing a node between 44 and 44.5 as they were only about 3/4 of an inch in vertical dispersion, but when I shot the remaining rounds, 45.5 and 46g's, although windage they were about 2" away from each other, they were on the same elevation almost excatly (I hope I'm making myself clear here - it's tough without a picture). They were seperated, vertically, only about 1/4 inch! I'm thinking this is my node for this rifle using the above combination.

I had previously been shooting the same combination except I was using IMR4064 powder, 42g's. It's an extremly accurate load for me, but I couldn't find any locally, so I went to Varget. It's certainly clocking a lot faster as could be seen by the rise in strike point on the target (I'll chrony them later). I now have a few pounds of Varget with which to load up and shoot - that should hold me for a little while.

Since I have a mix of brass, from R&P, to PPU, to Winchester to various range pick ups, I'm thinking they'll all like somewhere around the 45.5g or so. I know the brass is thicker / thinner and I'll need to work up the load, but if I clock the Lapua combination, then strive to reach the same velocity using the other brass, my thinking is the node should remain the same. Am I flawed in this reasoning?

I can tell you it was chilly this morning - 30 degrees, but more than that it was windy as hell! I tried to shoot during a lull, but wasn't always successful.

So - 1) is my reasoning right concerning other cases and 2) what are some of you seeing as far as amount of Varget to be used with the 168 SMKs?

Thanks all - and remember to continue writing to your congressman in support of no new laws. The opposition will not stop and neither can we. I learned while I was in the service that when we're sleeping our enemy is training. Wake up people - get and stay actively engaged.

Here's the picture http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/...psd2633fd9.jpg