Was hoping to get some thoughts on these 2 ladder tests I did today. Rifle is a 6.5x47l 26 inch barrel, 12 power scope atlas bi pod and rear squeeze bag at 350m. Powder was reloder 16, 2 bullets tested were 139 scenars and 130 berger vld. Wind was from 3:30-4:00 average 5mph gusting to 10mph. The vertical for both groups was 3.5inches. The scenars were seated 10 thou off and the Bergers were seated long and I let the bolt and lands seat them. The scenars shot 3 and 4 (39.1, 39.4g) had quarter inch vertical and shots 6,7 (40, 40.3g) had no vertical should I shoot another ladder in between these charge weights do you think Maybe 5 shots each? My usual load for 139 scenars is 40g of ar 2209 which averages 2726 looks like reloder 16 adds around 75fps for equivalent charge weight. The Berger vld is a bit more confusing to me I shoot with the magneto on all the time it doesn't change my groups just point of impact it hasn't let me down yet however as you can see shot 1 with the vld at 38.5g showed 2821fps the 38.8 went back to 2722fps so not sure if that was a misread or what but the target showed it as close to shot 2?? Anway shots 1,2,3 (38.5, 38.8, 39.1g) went into 1/2inch vertical. And shots 5,6,7 (39.7,40,40.3) went into 3/4inch vertical. Maybe load in between these and try a 5 shot each ladder?? I plan on doing the Berger seating depth test with these as the velocities seem a bit all over the place compared to the scenars As a side note I don't know if many on here have seen the 10 shot saterlee load development basically you shoot a ladder without a target just looking for flat spots in the velocity between charge weight. Had I done that without a target the velocity flat spots in my data ARE NOT showing with small vertical it's actually the larger velocity difference in charges that is showing least vertical. My gut tells me to believe the target. Anyway would love to hear some thoughts from you guys.
What temp where these fired at? Its cold here so in my opinion I would take that into consideration for what load. If its very cold I would stay on the lower side of the node. When shooting in hot summer months the velocities will rise in theory. RL16 is pretty stable so it might not change a thing. Just a thought. What distance was you shooting these at?
Thanks for the feedback I believe you are somewhat of the ladder test guru?? I'm sure it was your post from a few years back all about ladders. I remember though your velocity nodes matched up with what you saw on target (ie small vertical) love to know what your thoughts are on my results showing the opposite (ie the smallest vertical on mine are with large velocity jumps) my flat spot for velocities corresponds with higher vertical. I might shoot another at 600m. Like you say though I'm more inclined to believe the target then what the chrono is saying. I'm in Australia temperature was 30C (maybe around 86f) distance was 350m. Ive loaded a bunch of 130 VLD with 40g of reloder 16 to do the berger seating depth test. I'm thinking these should be done at 100m? I have access to 100-600m though so what would be the better distance to do that test at do yall think?
Trust what dMoran said. Velocity node theory may sound logical, but, assuming your shooting form is good, your target shows you what IS happening rather than what you may expect to happen.
