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ladder test question

lostriverproductions

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 4, 2009
89
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43
Three Rivers MI
I'm planing on loading up some 69 grain matchkinds for my .223 savage modle 10. I have never done any load testing besides just diffrent powders. Should I clean the barrel after each test before I go up to the next 1/2 grain charge?
 
Re: ladder test question

What I did when I did my last ladder test (mind you .308 but same concept) was to load five rounds at 42.0 grains of varget with a 175 SMK then five rounds at 42.3 and so on and so forth till I got to the max listed powder charge for that given round. I made sure to seat all the bullets to the same depth to ensure that the only variant, besides myself, was the powder charge. Then I went to the range and proceeded to shoot all the rounds, five shot groups, one for each group of rounds, all at different aiming points, then I picked the one with the smallest group. That one happened to be 42.6 grains. I also shot a group with BH 175s to get a comparision group, my 42.6 actually did a few hundreds of an inch better than the factory ammo.

Once I can get back to a range I plan on further developing the load by shooting 5 round groups with powder charges ranging from 42.4 to 42.8, to see if my initial group was just off of the sweet spot. Then I'll start playing with seating depth.

Keep in mind I haven't cleaned the rifle since before the testing began, including going to a F-Class match and shooting 60 some odd rounds. All I do is occasionally wipe down the bolt and the chamber.