Quick & dirty way to confirm how bullet shoots?

[Break Bad]

Last week I found a node shooting about .35 for my 139 scenars at 42.5gr. Going to do another test at .2gr increments around that node to see if I can fine tune it. I also shot some 140 amax's, but all at 42gr, and they shot poorly. Probably a bad node, and maybe I should have tried more than one charge? Now I acquired a box of 123 scenars and another of 140 vld hybrids in trade and want to see how they shoot.

My 139's are loaded to 2.259 to ogive, almost kissing the lands at 2.26. Quickly using my oal gauge, the 123's and hybrids look to have have about a .04-.05 jump before I seat them out a bit if necessary.

My question is basically how would you recommend I proceed without putting a zillion rounds down barrel. Is there a quick and dirty to take a peak at how a bullet might perform? Have you ever loaded like 3 to chrono and maybe a handful more at a couple different charges to see what they do and call it quits?

 

[B3dlam]

Re: Quick & dirty way to confirm how bullet shoots?

Your best bet is a ladder test read this post here:
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1713419#Post1713419

Its the most effective method using the least number of rounds (I think its 13 for 6.5 creedmoor in the 140 gr bullet class)

 

[clmayfield]

Re: Quick & dirty way to confirm how bullet shoots?

What I am learning is that a bullet shoots or it doesn't I will see it during load development. When a bullet just won't do it for me, it simply won't shoot under half MOA when testing at multiple charge weights. I might have one weight that gets to .65 MOA. At that point, I have found, it is best to just stop. In theory, I should take that best group and try to mess around with seating depth, but in my experience, if I can't get a bullet to shoot with a multitude of charge weights, messing with seating depth just won't help.

When I find a bullet that will shoot, most charge weights work and a few don't.

A quick and dirty check would be to find a chamber, bullet, and powder that someone else is using and load a few up in that configuration, and then go a few tenths up and a few tenths down. If that doesn't shoot, you might save yourself some load development and move on.

I spent a long time trying to get 155 Scenars to work in my rifle. They just wouldn't work. I tried 8280, I tried 4895, finally I tried Varget. I tried different seating depths and different charge weights. The best I could get was half MOA now and again.

I thought maybe 155's wouldn't work in my gun. I bought some Berger 155 Hybrids because the 185 Hybrids worked so well. I jumped them about a mile to get them to mag length, and I had several groups in the 3's during load testing.

Most of accuracy is going to be the bullet and some bullets just don't work with some barrels.

BTW... my very best 308 load until recently was a load I stole off of 6mmbr.com. It was 175gr SMK over 43.0 gr Varget. I have done lots of load development and have never been able to top that. Ironically, it was the very first load I tried with my gun.

Now, I can get 185 Berger Hybrids to shoot as well at close range and much better at distance, but it has taken a long time to find another bullet that works with my barrel.

If you run a very moderate load, you can just see if it works without having to go through the hassle of load development, just to see if it works. If it doesn't work at short range, it is not going to get any better at long range. The reverse isn't necessarily true, which is why you will need to do more advanced load development once you figure out a bullet will work for you.