Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Another ladder test

The info is on the target. I switched from frustration. I opened a new pound of IMR7828 after having developed a load with the ABLR 129. The group opened up a lot and lost 100 feet per second! I think the Barnes might be better for elk anyway.

Where you able to spot hits at 300yds and record them, or had to stop after each shot and mark them?

It appears that the ladder is for RL25, you then shot another one with 7828? What other bullets were you using...

I may not have seen the other test, but the info on the target doesn't correlate with the post

68-70gr is for sure the node. I'd retest in .5gr increments.

Your 70gr speed seems like either a misread of chrony or a mistake in powder or something.

Have you tried RL33 or H1000?

Sponxx,

I switched to the RL25 and Barnes for this 300 yard test.

805,

Thanks for the advise. I like your suggestion of .5 increments.

You are correct about "a mistake in powder". I just checked the scale. When I moved it from 69.0 to 70.0 I moved it from 69.0 (65.0 plus 4) to 75.0 instead of 70.0. No wonder the velocity jumped so much between 69.0 and 70.0 and the bolt was difficult to open. I guess tomorrow I will load the right amount and go up from 68.0, by .5 grain increments, until I don't like something.

There is a 270fps jump between 69 and 70 grains. Either your chrono is lying or you were running 70k+ PSI. The hard bolt lift indicates excessive pressure and I would stay a couple grains lower.

Edit...you replied before I finished. 75gr would explain it

Sponxx,

I forgot to answer your question about seeing the hits. I have a Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50 on the rifle. I could see the bullet holes from the bench. Since you brought up the question. The next time I go to the range I will see how low I can I turn down the magnification ring and still see the holes.

Thanks,
I have been thinking about a ladder test, but can be sure to see the bullet holes (got a spotter now) or that a single impact per charge would be representative of a group for that particular load.

The 69-70 jump makes sense about the powder load too.
I have caught a mistake in powder setting before, luckily before seating the bullets.

Use the Shoot n'C targets or make your own. There are several u-tube how to's.
I buy the Midway version of those targets and stack a couple together to catch the whole string. Makes it very easy to see the hits and then I chart them on paper as I go.

I color my bullets with 4 different color sharpies and note it on my load data. Also note where it hits. Shoot white paper and you can see the colors easily on the bullet holes.

^^^ this works very well.

That's a neat piece of info. Will have to try it.

Even with good glass, if one has a really tight shooting gun, sometimes a 4 wheeler trip (or several) to the target becomes necessary to property label each hit.

The hits I can ID, I typically label on a tablet at the bench, drawn to duplicate the target.

DF

I wasn't smart enough to use different colors, for years I've added a mark on the case with a plain ole marks a lot indicating powder increases! The more marks the higher the dose. memtb