Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Checking load accuracy - what yardage?

I am pretty new to reloading and have been doing some research on determining the most accurate loads. I have read about OCW test method and Ladder test method. With OCW method I understand that you shoot the different grain increments at multiple points of aim, looking for a charge range that has the best grouping and point of impacts, then dial in from there. Most of the tests I watched were done at 100yds. With the ladder test method, it is recommended to shoot at least 200yds to get see where the groupings start. I can understand the philosophy that it could hit point of aim at 100yd but still be 3-5" off at longer stances. I have always shot my guns in at 100yds and that has been that and whatever shot the best groups was what I would use. I use my guns for deer hunting primarily and longest shot may be 300yds but most commonly 100yds or less.

Which of these methods do you find the best to use or do you go with the load data that shots the best groups at 100yds.
Is shooting in at 100yds fine or should I be going out to 200yds.

Once you decide on the load you SEE where it hits at longer distances. Not much on book values, myself.

For the ladder method, the minimum distance IMHO should be 300 yards.

I think you may be over thinking it for 300 yard shots.

What cartridge are you shooting? Bullet? Speed? Try playing with a ballistic calculator to give you an idea of whats going on.

If its a reasonably flat shooting cartridge: Zero at 200, figure out your drop from 200 to 300 and go hunting.

Shooting a 260 remington and 7mm-08.
I think you are right about overthinking it. I will get dialed in with a load at 100yds and then stretch it out to 200-300 to see what it does. No sense putting the cart before the horse.

You've got a couple good cartridges there.

Yes, you will have plenty of opportunity to pick things apart as your reloading experience and effective range increases--if that is what you are after.

If 300 yards is your limit, do as you've been doing. Dial in the load, zero at your preferred distance, and get after it. Good luck!

This might oughta get real good.................maybe besides just the range, we could talk about how many shots in a group define "accuracy".........is it one, is it 3, is it 5, or for really serious discussions, is it 10?

I have not used the ladder method. Here is how I search for an accurate load: For a medium-size case like yours, make your loads at increments of 0.5 grains. Make 3 loads at each grain. Make 5 or 6 sets loads (15 to 18 cartridges in total) with the last set at or near max. Start shooting them at 100 yards over a good solid rest with soft top. Find which set or sets give you best group. Next time you go to the range, make 10 to 12 rounds of the optimal load. Fire 5 of them at 100 yards to confirm group size. Fire the rest at 200 and 300 yard targets to learn/confirm trajectory.

My groups are three shots. But multiple groups for confirmation. If my rifle will consistently over several occasions shoot good three shot groups to the same POA, I'm good! I've read all the reasons for five shot groups, but the above is how I do it.....

I saw a posting on another site where this kid had fired one round for each .2 grain increment and marked them on the target. There were bullet holes all over the place. Never understood how that could be any kind of test, except for testing ones spotting scope...

Would it not take several 5 round groups without moving the scope around (sorry, knob twirlers) of each powder charge/ component swap to even begin to make a real determination?

I do as Omid does except I load 4 rounds of each powder weight. I claim the 4th round is in case I pull a shot but The real reason I picked 4 rounds as a full 20 round MTM case looks better than one with a space every other row.:)

I run a strip of masking tape along the one side and place a mark after every 4th round. I mark the spaces in between with the powder charge. Which ever weight gives me the best grouping gets a full box full as well as half a box each of the next 2 charges heavier if not maxed out or velocity is above expectations.

I start at 100 yards for groups and then move to 200 for final sighting. I rarely get shots over 100 yards but sighting in at 200 allows easy learning trajectory to 300 or so. This is for most of my cartridges going ~2500 fps or more. Slower rounds get sighted in someplace between 100 and 150 yards depending on cartridge and sights.

It's not the best nor least cumbersome method but it gets me out of the house and away from the honey do list.

For a ladder test I like to do it as far as I can stretch out which is about 400 yds on my range on the pipeline behind my house. You're looking for vertical dispersion on a ladder test so you need the distance for it to show up.

When fine tuning my hunting loads I usually do that at 250 yds for a couple of reasons. One is that a load that groups well at 100 yds sometimes falls apart at longer ranges but a load that is grouping at 250 isn't going to shoot poorly at 100. Another reason I pick 250 is that it's far enough to see if a load is stable but close enough that the wind on a normal day isn't going to play havoc with your group. A bit of wind at 400 will open groups up and you don't really know if it's your load or the wind causing it, at 250 it isn't that much of a factor unless the wind's really blowing. A third reason I pick 250 is that's where I zero my hunting rifles, it gives me a 300 yd point blank range so I know that over 300 yds I need to dial or hold over.

I don't like the method of shooting at 100 yds then looking at a ballistics calculator and setting 2" high or whatever number it comes up with in order to try and arrive at a zero at a farther distance. The problem with that method is any error is magnified at longer distance and what you think is 2" high at 100 might not really be. I know this is the internet where everybody is shooting 1/4 MOA factory rifles but in real life most rifles don't group tight enough that the center of a 3 or 5 shot group is repeatable enough to set a zero at 100 and have it work out perfectly at some longer distance. There are also little errors with ballistics calculators that sometimes mean your drops are off, you might have the velocity off a bit or you might not be getting the same BC out of your rifle as the published. Shoot at the distance you want it zeroed then work in from there. If your rifle is on at 200 (or 250 or 300) then it won't matter if it's hitting 1.5" or 2" high at 100, anything inside your zero distance is meat in the pot.

I only shoot at 100 yds to get on paper, I move out after I've got the scope on paper.

100 range yards is where I use the chronograph to see if the load is in the speed I want and to check if it will group. Most powder charges are 1gr changes unless it is a small rifle case (223) then 1/2gr. Next step is 200-250 or 300 yards. This is all that I think is required for hunting loads. Targets and long range is different. You have to go to the next level.

If you're just checking the accuracy of a specific load, and not developing a load, then I'd shoot for groups at whatever yardage the scopes parallax is set at(unless of course your scope is adjustable). May as well cut out as many variables as possible.

Jeff

I have done a ladder test successfully as short as 200 yards, but I do not think going any shorter would be useful.

I load develop at 100. I can then sight in at 200 and dope the rest from there. I use 100 because of the MOA factor of 1.047" at 100 yards (a little over an inch at 100). All things being equal (note they never are), accuracy at 100 will translate into accuracy at 200, 300, and so forth. I.E. your groups are expected to open up the farther you go out. Environmental's will have more of an impact the father you shoot. I get a half MOA at 100 which translates to .5". Then I expect a half MOA at 200 or roughly 1". At 1000 yards or 10 inches, I like to be able to cover my group with my hand. Remember I said like as in my goal :-)

Anyway that's just my way of loading and performance measurement.

Have a great day!!!

HaYen

I kinda go about it different..
On everything i reload for i will do a couple extra rounds at the lower end to get on paper at 25 yards if its a new setup.
Once i get that done i go straight to 300 yards with a couple more sighters to get it closer. Once that is done i start all my load workup at 300 yards.
Every little thing shows up at distance. If it shoots good at 300 yards i know it will be plenty good at 100 yards.

I often do some preliminary load development at 100, but that isn't usually a whole lot more than finding maximum and eliminating the true garbage loads. For a long range rifle I will then tend to go straight to 500. with the two hottest loads. Some hunting rifles will get the next stop at 300 if they are going to be zeroed there anyway. It's my own range and with any wind with a north flavor I can drive them alongside the treeline for nearly windless conditions.

I've got a big steel target at 500, and it would be hard to miss with even a bad guess at velocity. Depending on the rifle I could already be done; for instance if I was after a general purpose rifle for out to 500 or so and already had one I'm done and even know a working velocity from the corrected come-ups. If its all over the place there probably isn't much use tweaking it. If the use, load and rig indicate going farther that's not hard, using the back-calculated velocity from five. Its a good day when I get a new rifle out to 800 on the first day, partly because I usually run out of test ammo before that the first time around and partly because I don't shoot reticle scopes that far.

I've found that shooting at 100 and guessing or assuming that it will be mean anything at the desired distance is just frustrating. On the other hand the good enough for 5-6-7-800 yard loads are always good enough at close range.

I do all my sighting-in and load development at 100 yds. since that is the range nearly all my shooting opportunities will be at when hunting. If hunting when longer shots could be possible I sight in at 100 and adjust my scope so that POI is 1.5-2" above POA.