Ladder test for initial load development

L

londonhunter

Guest
I read recently an article doing ladder testing

Whereby the shooter loads small increment of charge keeping all other parameters the same looking for vertical drops

However I try do the same but even at 100 yards I am getting left to right drift of shots and not in a vertical string

Is there something i am not doing correctly ?

Please advise ...
 
What I feel you're discovering is that there isn't really much vertical dispersion at 100 which is why ladder tests are more of a long range thing.

Were you shooting over flags? If not then that is probably where your horizontal came from.

I use ladder tests at 500m or 600m for F-Class load development and have found it very effective for that but almost useless at shorter ranges because the vertical cannot be easily distinguished from group size.
 
I use ladder testing at 300 meters and 400 meters. You won't really be able to see anything this method offers at 100 yds.
 
Ignore the horizontal dispersion and graph the vertical changes. Depending on your cartridge, you should get around 0.2" vertical change per grain of powder at 100 yards. This isn't very large, so you will likely need to shoot groups at each powder charge and average them to see this difference. Also, you need to do the test in consistent no-to-light wind conditions, otherwise the elevation change due to wind will as large as the difference you are trying to measure, which could invalidate your results.

Hope this helps,
Keith
 
small is not very descriptive... what cartridge and and what bullet ?? what powder...."small" should equal about 1/100 of case capacity when loading close to case capacity...90 thru 103% or so...so on a 6ppc....3/10th steps....but on a 300 win mag more like .5 to .7 steps...

mike in co
 
thanks I will go back to the range and report back

Again thanks for taking time to go through such a basic step
 
LondonHunter,

I've had decent luck doing a load ladder (.1 increments) at 200. I use windflags and try to get close, but not the exact condition each time. Meaning if the main condition is a 1:30 wind then I'll try and shoot anytime between 12:30ish and 2:30ish. As I'm shooting, I have an identical target sitting at the bench where I record the shots by number. This target allows me to, more easily, figure out which shot is which on the real target.

After I shoot all the shots, there is usually 1 or maybe 2 places where 3-4 shots all went "close" to each other. I then average the powder in that range and start shooting groups by varying the seating depth to find my load. I think the load ladder done this way gives me the most forgiving load. Obviously, all final loads are backed up by shooting multiple groups.

If you do it another way and it works for you, please let us (me) know.

Stanley
 
Hi guys

I have been doing load development the dum way

look up the internet and find loads from all sources
Once I have something from different sites which are remotely similar
then I will load lowest according to reloading mauals and shoot 03 of each load usually 0.5 grain increment until bolt is difficult to lift or crater primers

I only came across ladder test by chance
I really want to try this as soon as possible
I live in central london and eventhough I shoot at Bisley england
I have easy access to 200 yards

I will now try ladder test with 02 new rifles in the coming weeks

0.3 increments at 200 under as near wind condition as possible
once I have a cluster I will come load around that node with variable seating depth

Thanks a million guys
 
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