20 shot load test

[Conrad]

Except that he goes on to say test conventionally shooting groups after finding the powder that is easiest to work with via the ladder test. That's not really going to save any rounds. I think with all the data available these days it's pretty easy to start with a powder that you know is going to work well for a given cartridge.

I do think finding velocity nodes has merit and can quicken the process.


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[Bubb]

Conrad your spot on! First you need to look at the numbers
Before you load anything. I look at burn rates and case fill%.
I like a powder that's going to put me in a velocity range I want
And be at least. 95% case fill, or better. When I test the 7 mag
All powders are 95 case fill or better. (I) start there the look for node
Speed pick the faster ones then do my seating ladders to look for
Accuracy... Yea just picking a powder for no reason doesn't really
Put you ahead?? But you could get lucky??

 

[rw496]

Bubb:
What do you think on these velocities? The impacts didn't help because I was only at 275 yds. and they were tight. I went up in .4 grains with 2 shots. I thought maybe using 76.5, and maybe another around 75.3-ish? Not sure why the first shot at 76.1 was so fast, but it threw off the average.

 

[morganlamprecht]

me and a buddy tried this out on our rifles last weekend, mine is a new custom (260 rem) so i was looking for a load, his is an older custom (308 win) and he wanted to see if his tried and true load corresponded to what this test would find. We both were hoping this test would show something because it seems fast and simple. i put up 9, 3/4" dots at 100yds and shot each charge at a different dot, 2 rounds of this...first from lowest to highest charge, then the 2nd run i went highest to lowest. On every dot my impact was right at 12 o clock or within .1mil...after the 2 rounds of 9 single shots most dots had both impacts on the dot in the same ragged hole or very close to touching...really impressed with the gun but at every charge weight the velocity increased fairly consistently and no 2 charges were close in velocity like OP's. If i were to stack all the dots on top of each other the impacts would have been inside 1" easily, prolly closer to 3/4". Since my buddy already knew how his rifle would shoot, he shot all of his charges at the same POA and ended up with a ragged hole just under 1" but his velocities showed the same as mine, consistently increased. We stacked 2 different chronos and shot a few loads in other guns that were verified out to 1000 yds just to check for chrono error and it seemed the chrono we used was giving accurate readings based on real life dope.

Maybe this will work for others, and its worth a try since it doesnt take long...was really hoping it would work for us but we werent that lucky i guess lol

 

[dcnyli]

Loading and shooting a group yet wouldn't give you the full picture. You know your in the node, loading a seating ladder now will give you your best seating death in that node... Then after you find your best seating depth play around with a small say .2 ladder for .6 tenth just to see if it tightens up more. Cause the seating depth changes pessure and velocity, so that last little latter could really get the sweet spot of OAL and velocity... Don't do more than you need cause this is a stream line for one powder combo. It's like trying to polish a turd by shooting a lot more bullets?!? This method is a quick look at what's there... When you do the OAL ladder it's then you'll see if you got something to play with... If not next powder.

just loaded up 5 sets of different OAL's as per the Berger Guidelines for VLD jumps…. http://www.bergerbullets.com/getting-the-best-precision-and-accuracy-from-vld-bullets-in-your-rifle/
more testing this weekend with the 42.5g Varget/1X Fired Fed brass/Win LR primer loads… Will report back

 

[dcnyli]

interesting weather to test in at the range today, gusting 15-20mph wind. The range is a giant sand pit, so you can imagine what that does and the sand is whipping all over the place. None the less I loaded up 5 groups of different seating depths as per the Berger guide for VLD's (.01into lands, then off .04/.08/.12/and i added .15 as an extra group)

I pulled the one shot, but this is a group of four, the rifle likes jamming. It was quite a bit better then all the other groups. I think I've found something pretty dang good.

.2945MOA @ 100yds 42.5g Varget, Win LR primers, 1X Fired Fed Brass

**the reddish tone to the group on one shot is from a pulled VLD, used many pulls in this testing and they worked pretty well**

 

[clrems77]

Clrems if you shot one round each and found that node! Perfect that's what I'm talking about. Just split that node and go right to OAL test. Awesome work, and keeping it simple.

Results from OAL testing:



On my second group (2.187), my second two shot were accidentally deflected ever so slightly from my chronograph sunshield post. I reshot the group on another sheet which was decent but nothing compared to the last seating (2.207).

I also conducted a separate OCW test which gave me a few different nodes with a little better velocity. 45.1 and 45.7 grains worked just as good, but were faster. Looking at the results of both test, I would say either would work! Being that im shooting out to 900 yards, the faster round was a better selection for me.

Thanks for the fun experiment Bubb, it actually worked pretty well!

CJ

 

[Conrad]

I think the next thing you should do is load up a bunch at your selected load and report back on ES/SD for 10 to 20 shots.


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[clrems77]

Good idea! I'll get that done and report my findings.

 

[Bubb]

Results from OAL testing:

View attachment 36105

On my second group (2.187), my second two shot were accidentally deflected ever so slightly from my chronograph sunshield post. I reshot the group on another sheet which was decent but nothing compared to the last seating (2.207).

I also conducted a separate OCW test which gave me a few different nodes with a little better velocity. 45.1 and 45.7 grains worked just as good, but were faster. Looking at the results of both test, I would say either would work! Being that im shooting out to 900 yards, the faster round was a better selection for me.

Thanks for the fun experiment Bubb, it actually worked pretty well!

CJ

Hey that's what we are all after! Shooting like that and very little load work! Congratulations on that!

 

[Benchguy57]

Okay I'm in need of some help.
I really like the idea of shooting less bullets and saving time and money.
I'm shooting a stock Remington 700 bdl 7mm rem mag.
I have been shooting 64 grains of h4831 with 140 grain nosler accubonds velocity is right at 2700 fps and 1/2 " at a 100 yards. I'm happy with this load and I found it using the traditional ocw test.
I was able to snatch up a few pounds of reloader 22 and a couple hundred 160 nosler accubonds and figured I'd like to try this 20 +\- round method out.
Since I enjoy shooting at targets I figured I would shoot at a 1" circle at 75 yards.
The load started at 59.0 grains up to 66.0 grain of re-22 seated at whatever nosler's manual recommended, 3.300" or close to it. I increased the charge weight my .5 grains with each round until I was over .5 published max, which still shows no signs of high pressure btw.
To my surprise all 15 rounds shot inside that circle!!!!
The velocities increased from 2650 upto 2955
But all the bullets are hitting the same place or within an inch.
I've never tried this method before and am wanting to get some advice to see if this is normal???
The gun shoots the 140 grain and 160 grain accubonds using diffrent powders and charge weights at almost the same poi.
I'm super excited hoping that I may have stumbled upon a resilient load.
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
Regards.
George.

I'm doing this on my phone so any typos I apologize



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[dauntedfuture]

Remember that you need to test accuracy and chronograph results. On many a given load you will have 25-50 FPS ES over a 10 shot string and still have single digit SD. One shot at each powder charge provides some indication but there is too much ES/ SD to use velocity as the only standard. You should see a correlation between velocity and nodes as a great deal of a node has to do with harmonics which are directly related to time in barrel which is controlled by velocity. Reference not spending lots of time and money attempting to develop a load; there is more information out there on reloading .308 then almost any other ctg out there. Chances are you can shoot one of sierras proven accuracy loads and it will shoot well. if you have a factory rifle you are unlikely to find a consistent .25 MOA load no matter what you do. Be happy with .5 to 1 MOA and call it good.