Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Ladder test, How, why?

I'm guessin' he kisses the lands, finds pressure, and rocks on.

But that's just me.

I have never shot a ladder and I do not kiss the lands

At the risk of ruining all of Boxers fun, as he does have a fair bit line out, and rods are more than bent, I think everyone needs to realise that there is more than one way to accomplish the same thing. And, as difficult as it is for most to admit, some ways are actually better than others.
I know how I do my load development, and it works for me, and no, it sure as hell does not involve a ladder. I find it amazing that most actually think that they can shoot well enough, consistently enough, to tell the difference at 1 or 200 yards, between a load that has a SD of 15, from one that has a SD of 8...
Some big hints dropped as to how Boxer does his load development, but reels were smoking and line was being taken out so fast, most must have missed it. He shoots a lot of rifles, and has his favorite cases. These cases, in similar rifles, are not going to be difficult to find loads for, and again, no ladders required. He very much does just kiss, find pressure, and rock on, as that is what his experience tells him to do.
Here is some more info..."nodes" are predictable, for the most part...and a fella can build accurate ammo without using a target. Someone said that, pretty much, ladders were the bomb, and chrony's were useless...I would like to see one guy that can shoot well enough to tell single digit SD by group size, day in and day out, without a chronograph. That would be some Swagger S&*t right there...

Anyway...carry on.

R.

Rman,

My new technique involves reading the side of a can of Hodgon powder and loading them bitches up.

Works great!



Travis

That's bullcrap...you just look at the pictures...

R.

Still haven't found a home for my Kool-Aid sticker. But it's gonna happen.



Travis

OH YEAH!

It could become mini-flave's calling card...

Being a newb 'round here, I'm guessing there will be a "GFY" response in due course?

Laughed.

That sticker strikes fear into hearts of most men, except BGG, but he may not be human.
A Kool-Aid man, on fire, stepping on a wiener dog and knocking over a goldfish, is not be screwed with...

R.

After you shoot long enough and use a [bleep]-ton of components, you'll discover that powder burn rates for the same powder vary lot to lot.

If you think you can load match ammo by taking a charge weight you or others have used with success, drop it in a case, stuff a bullet on top and have it shine, you definitely haven't seen it all.

Single digit SD's aren't as important as you think either. As has been mentioned before, tight long range groups trump that. The only thing a chrono is good for is giving you a starting velocity number to enter in your Ballistic program to nail down some drops. Most times that number has to be altered to make the actual drops match the output. Otherwise chrono's are a waste of time to set up for me unless I'm working with a new powder and I want to have some idea of the velocity it produces.

RC...I didn't say anything regarding powder burn rates from lot to lot...that is just common sense.
What I said was, when a fella, as mentioned, has 13 or so rifles in the same chambering, all with similar barrel lengths, it isn't going to take him a whole lot of time or effort to figure out what works...
Single digit SD's are as important as I think, because most times, that is exactly what delivers the tight long range groups.
Based on what you have to say about chronographs, I gather you don't know really what they are for, or know how to use one, and what information it can tell you???
Again, always more than one way to do things, but if you think most accomplished shooters are not looking at SD, you would be wrong.

R.

Gotcha.

Yep, there's more roads leading to the destination than one. I just like to take the most direct route.

As for chronos, I used them a lot as a rookie, but have used them less and less as I go forward.

I could be wrong too.

Your direct route, could be considered to be quite scenic by others. And trying another route can sometimes prove to be an eye opener.

R.

I've tried them all.

What do you do for development?

As some knowledgeable folks have already pointed out here, I've noticed those who talk [bleep] about the Audette method offer no reasons they think it sucks or alternatives for developing quality long range loads.

I thought that was the purpose of a discussion

I could be wrong again

I do subscribe to the kiss, pressure, rock, theory, but I have a pre-demined velocity in mind, and rely heavily on my chronograph.
When the SD settles down to single digits, I'm done.

R.

Which chrono are you using, and how many shots are in a string for the SD calculation?

I use a Magnetospeed, and will run a 10 shot string for a hunting rifle, and a 20 shot string for a target rifle, on a final load.

R.

What is the sensor spacing on that unit?

The deck on the unit is about a foot long, but I think you knew that already...

R.