first time doing ladders, advice

[Break Bad]

Got my brass prep'd and primed, going to start loading for 300y ladders when I get home in a couple hours. I'm going to be doing ladders for 155 amax and 175smks, varget. Rem700 5R 20"

Using the hornday oal gauge I measured my lands at about 2.97. Reading all the stickies in this forum I understand that I should start .01 on the lands. However my fired brass is 2" and I noticed that I'd have to seat my bullet all the way out, at least with the 175's, not even sure the 155's can touch(they get delivered tonight). Is this normal? It would seem that only 1mm of neck holding onto the bullet would not be very stable. I do have some new lapua brass coming in, but don't have a FL die, just RCBS comp neck.

Secondly I'm unsure where to start my ladders, I read 43.5 is common for the 175, so I'll go from 40.5 to 43.5 in .5 increments. What about 155's amax?

Thanks for any input.

 

[SIG700]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

Maximum 43.5g Varget for 175smk seems a little low. My sweet spot is 44.7g (45g is Hodgdon's listed maximum). Also, half grain increments seem a little large for me. I'd go with .3 increments at first, than do a second run with even finer increments once you've narrowed down on a smaller range.

 

[azimutha]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

With a factory Rem throat, it's generally just not going to work well to try to seat close to the lands. You can get good results with varying the powder charge only and choosing bullets that will shoot well seated to mag length. 175 SMKs work well, Berger 175 OTM hybrids even better out of a 5R that I had.

 

[Break Bad]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

Much thanks, I'll just use the OAL's listed in the manual (2.8'ish), and ladder in .3 increments up to 45. Will post results sometime this week.

 

[bowslngr]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

At 300 yards there is a good chance you will come up with results that are very difficult to interpret -- unless you are a VERY good shooter with absolutely repeatable form.

 

[Break Bad]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bowslngr</div><div class="ubbcode-body">At 300 yards there is a good chance you will come up with results that are very difficult to interpret -- unless you are a VERY good shooter with absolutely repeatable form.</div></div>

Good point, i can open it up to 950. What would be ideal? 500?

 

[MALLARD]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: geek</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bowslngr</div><div class="ubbcode-body">At 300 yards there is a good chance you will come up with results that are very difficult to interpret -- unless you are a VERY good shooter with absolutely repeatable form.</div></div>

Good point, i can open it up to 950. What would be ideal? 500? </div></div>

OCW type testing is what's ideal. I dont reccomend ladders

 

[steve123]

Re: first time doing ladders, advice

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: geek</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bowslngr</div><div class="ubbcode-body">At 300 yards there is a good chance you will come up with results that are very difficult to interpret -- unless you are a VERY good shooter with absolutely repeatable form.</div></div>

Good point, i can open it up to 950. What would be ideal? 500? </div></div>

300Y is fine for a stock rifle. I do a double ladder in .3 grain increments on medium sized cartridges and then reconfirm in .1 grain up and down until I'm satisfied I've found the most accurate velocity of the higher node. More often than not the higher node gives less SD. Make sure you let the barrel cool between shots and you pick a calm-ish day. A calm day helps with identifying because when in the node the shots will hit closer together vs spreading when out of the node.