Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 350 yard ladder.

I fired this ladder earlier today with 250gr Scenars from a 338 Win Mag. How common is it to get so little vertical spread? I guess I could have extended the distance, but in the past I got pretty 'clear' results at 350 (other rifles). Shot No.1 was from a clean barrel. I used .5gr increments.

Which loads would you guys pick?



Thanks

Pieter

I'd investigate 11 or 12 and fine tune seating depth.

John

If it's a hunting rifle, I would go with #11 and do the same thing with overall length. From what I've learned here I would start .010" from the rifling and use about .025" increments moving away from the rifling. If it's a target rifle I would start .020" jammed and go back from there.

I found my load at .180". That is not .018". That is almost 3/16" from the rifling.

I would too. It looks like there is a node around 5-6 and another 11-12.

If one is looking for a lower velocity node, I see 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 as one. The vertical spread is minimal. Same thing for the higher velocity node 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

No wonder it takes you a hundred rounds and you still haven't found a decent node...

I don't see anything real conclusive. I think I'd pick 11 or 12, play with OAL, then I'd probably redo 10-15 at the new length with closer increments.

Second thought .. how big is the overall group? How far apart are 11 and 12?

Tom

I think I'd try another with 4,5,6 or 10,11,12... As long as pressure wasn't a problem I'd probably go with 10,11 or 12 as mentioned above.

10 11 and 12 look about as horizontal as it gets.

repeat to verify, then tweaking seating depth might not be a waste of time.

Total vertical spread is 3.74"

11 and 12 is 1.48" center to center.

10,11,12,13,14,15 formed a 2.8" group, which is not bad at 350 yards with different powder charges.

Pieter

2.8" at 350 yards is not a bad group period assuming you're shooting a factory rifle using hunting optics.

Tom

4-7 is where I'd start, depending on if velocity was acceptable. If not, I'd start looking around #11.

4~7 has too much vertical for me. I'd look at 11 considering it's a magnum cartridge.

Yep, it's 11.
This target confirms why I use OCW rather than ladder testing.

Yeah, he's precisely why "asking the internet" is often useless.

4-9 is money. Find a good spot in the middle of that and rock on.

...no schit, looks like most of my results also.
the theory of the ladder makes sense, but my results rarely do.

Since I started using OCW my results have been pretty obvious.

What range to you guys use?

Ringman,
Sorry I didn't check back sooner. I usually start at 100 yards and then confirm at longer range.
Here is a good link with detail on OCW vs. Ladder.

Practical Rifle

First of all, you have a good rifle

To really see where the node is, you need to shoot the test ideally at a little longer range. Not that you can't find a great load from a ladder shot at 300, it's just sometimes harder to analyze.

This one is not

I agree that loads #10-15 are in a high velocity node. I'd try something in the middle first, then others to see which shoots best.

Did you ever hit pressure with the top end loads?