Reloading - Ladder Test

[ducks-and-bucks]

Heres an example of a simple ladder test at 300 yards... usually the further, the easier to see the nodes...

I know my berger 52 grain bullets shoot well out of this 556 AR for a factory rifle.. accurate 2230 worked well for me but ive been wanting to see what BL-C (2) will give me results wise...

This is how I do it****

Ladder testing works as follows:

I load two rounds of each in this case .2 gr incriments... 25.6, 25.8, 26, 26.2, 26.4, 26.6, 26.8

From my experience... IMO, just me....*** I know that the most precise/accurate rounds that I have developed have ended up with the case around about full of powder up to where the shoulder starts on the cartridge.... with this said I started off filling a 556 round full of powder, then dumping it out little by little until I saw the powder was about even or a tad less than even with the start of the shoulder... I then dumped all the powder out onto my scale and weighed it... it came out to 27.5ish grs of powder...

I then refered to my loading books to see what the max powder charge is for this powder and bullet combo and I found hodgdon says 27.5 is max for this combo... ok, so safety first we back off that number to start out... thats how I picked the range of powder charges that I did...

For the ladder test I simply shoot two rounds of the same powder incriment round at my target and let them fall on the paper where they may. Then I go mark each bullet hole. Then I come back and shoot the next two incriments then go mark them on the target.. etc etc all the way through all of my rounds I have to test...

Of course wind pushes the bullets horizontal but thats ok... all we are looking for here is the vertical displacment of the rounds....

Still with me?... good.

Now you may be wondering why I load two rounds in each incriment... when I shoot the two rounds of each incriment this gives me two test at one time.... that way I can see the nodes even better!

[ducks-and-bucks]

Heres results from the test

[ducks-and-bucks]

Pics are posting sideways so bare with me********

[ducks-and-bucks]

Now like I said we are not worried about the horizontal displacment... only the vertical displacment... I draw lines through the center of each bullet hole to move my results graph to the right side... this is the info I need....

[ducks-and-bucks]

After I plot this separately... I see that I have a node twice with 26, 26.4, 26.6

Hint*** your nodes are where bullets of different incriments grouped together...

[yanta61]

How consistant were your shots? The reason i asked is that you have some lower charges shooting higher and some higher charges shooting lower.....

[ducks-and-bucks]

So with these results I see by looking at my graphs that a good node to trybto work up loads with can be between 26 grains and 26.6 grains of powder...


Node highlighted with silver sharpie.... se how I have a lot of lines there in that area??...


Bingo! Now I reload using this powder range and load enough for 5 shot groups of each to test out.

[ducks-and-bucks]

To answer your question look at the 3rd image... that is plotted out separate results. Remember its two test in one...

[hellbndr23]

You completely lost me. The only one that doubled up in the silver was 26.4. The 2 rounds of 26.8 were closer together than the 26.4s. Are u not looking for consistency of load? You say 2 tests at once, but if u merge results its 1 test. Half of the shots in your silver box could be from 1st shots and half could be from 2nd shots. Those two test run on different papers could show very different results.

I do not reload and I am unfamiliar with this test. This is just my engineer brain try to grasp what's going on.

[yanta61]

I'll go back an re-read what your trying to do. I guess I dont see the reason for doing 2 test at once instead of 2 seprate test.

[yanta61]

You completely lost me. The only one that doubled up in the silver was 26.4. The 2 rounds of 26.8 were closer together than the 26.4s. Are u not looking for consistency of load? You say 2 tests at once, but if u merge results its 1 test. Half of the shots in your silver box could be from 1st shots and half could be from 2nd shots. Those two test run on different papers could show very different results.

I do not reload and I am unfamiliar with this test. This is just my engineer brain try to grasp what's going on.

This is basically what I'm thinking also. 2 separate test would give more accurate data.

[ducks-and-bucks]

I'm not looking for one specific load... I'm simply narrowing down the range of powder charges to try out... This isnt by any means a final test. There is no test that will give you a perfect answer... just ways to narrow down a ball park area to try out

[hellbndr23]

So hypothetical, say the 25.8 at the very bottom remained in place, and the other wound up in the middle of your silver set. Would 25.8 still be in the running even though the two shots are a mile apart?

[ducks-and-bucks]

No. that would be an obvious "ain't right" moment.

This chart tells me everything I need to know to help develop a load... But I'm guessing I should have done a 500 yard ladder test to make it easier to see..

[yanta61]

So hypothetical, say the 25.8 at the very bottom remained in place, and the other wound up in the middle of your silver set. Would 25.8 still be in the running even though the two shots are a mile apart?

No. that would be an obvious "ain't right" moment.

not sure if your following what hellbndr23 is asking.... because that would eliminate your 26.2. because one of the shots is at the bottom and the other falls into your siver set.