Ladder Tests

[C.Smith]

Is 20 rounds too many rounds in a ladder test?

Corey

 

[mjcmichigan]

The size of the steps matter more than the number of steps. With 29 steps at 0.2-0.3gn/ step, you can cover a huge range.
If you are going 0.1, you could cover 2 grains.

Amount of powder matters too.

A cartridge that has a case capacity of 40 grains needs smaller steps than a case with 80 grains of capacity.

Please provide more info on the planned ladder test.


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[mjcmichigan]

Sorry about the 29 vs 20.


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[C.Smith]

My ladder test is for my 6.5 Creedmoor using RL 26, as well as my daughter's 7-08 using Varget I believe is what I"m using, 139 grain bullet.


Corey

 

[mjcmichigan]

20 can be reasonable. I don’t have either of those cartridges, but have loaded 308 and 243 and have used varget and Rl26.

Rounding... your talking 40 is grains of powder. If you started at 90%, and work up, you’d start at 36 grains. If you took steps of 0.1 gn,?it would take 40 steps to reach max. If you took bigger steps 0.2gns, you’d need 20 steps. Likewise at 0.3gns you’d need 13 steps.
(Hint when it doesn’t divide perfect, figure out your loads starting with the end, ie 40gn, then 39.7 ... 36.1gn for your first step.

ALWAYS start low and work up, but when planning, start with the end in mind doing the math.

Big nodes should be an indication of a stable velocity. Set up in the middle.

If you are testing for a node in the 90-100% of max, 13-20 steps makes great sense to me.

If you are ladder testing the range 95%-100% of max, the 7-10 steps.
(Depends in terminal performance needs, of doing long range hunting, you might need the extra velocity to have enough energy to open properly at a given yardage.

I hope that helped.

You have two great cartridges and two excellent powders picked out.

You could repeat the laddertest with primers to see if the nodes change.

You could do a seating depth ladder on your best node to get your tightest group.

Reloading is therapy for OCD people!

Have fun!


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[mjcmichigan]

20 can be reasonable. I don’t have either of those cartridges, but have loaded 308 and 243 and have used varget and Rl26.

Rounding... your talking 40 is grains of powder. If you started at 90%, and work up, you’d start at 36 grains. If you took steps of 0.1 gn,?it would take 40 steps to reach max. If you took bigger steps 0.2gns, you’d need 20 steps. Likewise at 0.3gns you’d need 13 steps.
(Hint when it doesn’t divide perfect, figure out your loads starting with the end, ie 40gn, then 39.7 ... 36.1gn for your first step.

ALWAYS start low and work up, but when planning, start with the end in mind doing the math.

Big nodes should be an indication of a stable velocity. Set up in the middle.

If you are testing for a node in the 90-100% of max, 13-20 steps makes great sense to me.

If you are ladder testing the range 95%-100% of max, the 7-10 steps.
(Depends in terminal performance needs, of doing long range hunting, you might need the extra velocity to have enough energy to open properly at a given yardage.

I hope that helped.

You have two great cartridges and two excellent powders picked out.

You could repeat the laddertest with primers to see if the nodes change.

You could do a seating depth ladder on your best node to get your tightest group.

Reloading is therapy for OCD people!

Have fun!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[C.Smith]

20 can be reasonable. I don’t have either of those cartridges, but have loaded 308 and 243 and have used varget and Rl26.

Rounding... your talking 40 is grains of powder. If you started at 90%, and work up, you’d start at 36 grains. If you took steps of 0.1 gn,?it would take 40 steps to reach max. If you took bigger steps 0.2gns, you’d need 20 steps. Likewise at 0.3gns you’d need 13 steps.
(Hint when it doesn’t divide perfect, figure out your loads starting with the end, ie 40gn, then 39.7 ... 36.1gn for your first step.

ALWAYS start low and work up, but when planning, start with the end in mind doing the math.

Big nodes should be an indication of a stable velocity. Set up in the middle.

If you are testing for a node in the 90-100% of max, 13-20 steps makes great sense to me.

If you are ladder testing the range 95%-100% of max, the 7-10 steps.
(Depends in terminal performance needs, of doing long range hunting, you might need the extra velocity to have enough energy to open properly at a given yardage.

I hope that helped.

You have two great cartridges and two excellent powders picked out.

You could repeat the laddertest with primers to see if the nodes change.

You could do a seating depth ladder on your best node to get your tightest group.

Reloading is therapy for OCD people!

I agree it’s therapy And yes your post has helped me Thank you

Corey

Have fun!


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[mjcmichigan]

Please post your ladder test results!

I
Have shot whole tests at the same target. It gives you a maximal group that you should beat with a single good node.


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[C.Smith]

Will do, planning on running it this Friday. Two ladder tests.

Corey

 

[lhsako]

I can never get over how helpful the guys are on here ! kudos to all.

 

[C.Smith]

That’s why I love this place

Corey