Steps to get QL dialed in ?'s

boatbum101 · Feb 24, 2018

1) Shoot at least 10 rounds of each load ( from published load data ) over your chrono .
2) Determine fired case capacity
3) Measure bullets , oal & enter
4) Change BA to match chrono data
After that I'm not sure what comes next ? Let me give you a scenerio & you can school me .
6.5X55 , 120 NBT , OAL 3.106 ( determined by measuring to the lands which is 3.138 ) case length is 2.161 , bullet length is 1.210 , keeping .264 shank in the neck gives me a max practical oal with this bullet of 3.106 which will be .032 off lands . Primer will be Rem 9 1/2 with 45.5 W760 .
Same combo only with 46.5 of Norma URP with a WLRM primer . Since my OAL is longer than that of the published data would it be safe to assume that pressure will be lower & that velocity will also be lower ? The W 760 load is from Nosler data & URP load from Norma . Nosler OAL is 3.025 @ 2881fps , Norma is 3.031 @ 2943fps . Figured I'd start with the BT as they usually shoot really well .

TackDriver284 · Feb 24, 2018

You may have left out temperature before adjusting Ba. Sometimes for magnum cartridges, you may have to adjust weighing factor, but mostly for standard cartridges, I leave it as is. That is all I can think of.

Side note: You can check for nodes using the OBT chart.

boatbum101 · Feb 24, 2018

OK good point keep track of temp when testing & log it . Can someone elaborate on " nodes " using OBT chart ?

TackDriver284 · Feb 24, 2018

boatbum101":30vytr2l said:
OK good point keep track of temp when testing & log it . Can someone elaborate on " nodes " using OBT chart ?

OBT chart shows barrel length and OBT numbers which indicates nodes, mostly you will see a low and a high node. Sometimes there are spots between nodes which will shoot very well, you just never know. Most of my nodes are almost spot on, it could be a little less or more. After adjusting Ba to match velocity, check OBT on QL and compare to the OBT chart, then adjust powder charge on QL to match the node, then try that charge weight area. Quickload is not a Bible, its just a guide to help you get what you are looking for a bit quicker without second guessing. It took me some time to figure it out, just need to play with it. I do not always rely on QL to find nodes, I do it on paper with three shot groups at 200 yards and check POI between 2 or 3 charges which lines up evenly and pick the middle charge of those POI's. I like to play with QL for fun and log in data and compare to results on the range and go from there.
http://www.the-long-family.com/OBT%20Table.pdf

FOTIS · Feb 24, 2018

Interesting

truck driver · Feb 24, 2018

Does that chart work only for the 6mm Dasher or all cartridges?

TackDriver284 · Feb 24, 2018

truck driver":2zf69b3l said:
Does that chart work only for the 6mm Dasher or all cartridges?

All cartridges.

TackDriver284 · Feb 24, 2018

As an example, I added two images of my QL data for the 300 Win Mag and .308 after adjusting. Both are 26 inch barrels.
See the OBT chart for a 26 inch barrel is 1.1905 and look at the OBT on my QL data for both calibers, its almost spot on. FPS is only off by about 8 to 10 fps to match OBT node of 1.1905 Both of those calibers shoot half inch to three quarter inch 3 shot groups at 300 yards, which is outstanding. The 10 fps off variance could be temp, burn rate, etc.

For my 7 Mag with 26 inch barrel, I could not reach the optimal barrel time of 1.1905
( 3,224 fps )because I am using the heavy bullet, so speed is a bit lower, so I am not using the lower node of 1.3295 ( 3,020 fps ) because its pretty slow than what i like, but like I mentioned earlier, sometimes you find a sweet spot between those nodes which I did find which was at 3,130 fps and OBT for that speed is OBT of 1.252 , which does not match the high and low node. Pretty sure it will shoot nice at the slower node of 1.3295, but I liked the speed of 3,130 and it shot .2 MOA at 100 yards, so I am happy with that.
If I used the 140 to 150 grain bullet, I will be using OBT of 1.1905 because speed is faster. Example, if Fotis used his 7 Bee or Scotty used his 7 Mashburn, they could use the faster node which is OBT of 1.1057 with the 120 grain bullet. Hope I clarified it a little better. Quickload is a bit hard to understand, but once you start playing with it and read more about it, you will get the concept easier.

I am sure there are others on this site that has experience with Quickload. I just started learning QL since this past summer.

http://www.the-long-family.com/OBT%20Table.pdf