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chasing the node

Finally got to shoot at the range today after being swamped with work for a month. Took the Creedmoor 6.5, and some H4350 loads of 130 VLD's. Made 3 rounds of each charge from 38.3 to 40.3 grains in .2 increments. I still have the 30 inch barrel, the velocity is a good 2875 to 2900 fps with mild charges. Looks like the accuracy node is between 39.6 and 40 grains of H4350. There are several clusters of .2 to .3 MOA except the wild flyer in the 2nd group. The tightest group measured .125 MOA but I am running out of VLD's but still have an unopened bulk of 500 bullets in 130 Hybrids. I may have to start a new test, I hate doing that when I just made some nice loads but run out of bullets and then I have to buy a new box with a different lot and that might change everything again anyway.



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I've been down your road before and feel your pain. BUT what choices do you have? Either way, once you change ANY component part of load testing, the entire process starts anew. And what REALLY gets irritating, is when an incomplete test shows potentially the best promise of all the testing you've done. And then comes the infamous, "now what" or how can I best re-establish that "sweet load?" After getting burned a couple of times with that unfortunate sequence of events, I came to the point of making sure I have "plenty" of same lot components when testing, much as I had to do with Rimfire ammunition when I was still competing. Guess it's just part of this (sometimes expensive) sport we love to partake of. Good luck and hope it all works out for you.

Alex
 
Homerange hit it revisit the 39.7 grain load. Remember " seating depth is the coarse adjustment". Working the load up to find your highest velocity accuracy node is the "fine" adjustment. Load testing can be tedious but pays big dividends and we all have to do it so you are not alone.
 
I've been down your road before and feel your pain. BUT what choices do you have? Either way, once you change ANY component part of load testing, the entire process starts anew. And what REALLY gets irritating, is when an incomplete test shows potentially the best promise of all the testing you've done. And then comes the infamous, "now what" or how can I best re-establish that "sweet load?" After getting burned a couple of times with that unfortunate sequence of events, I came to the point of making sure I have "plenty" of same lot components when testing, much as I had to do with Rimfire ammunition when I was still competing. Guess it's just part of this (sometimes expensive) sport we love to partake of. Good luck and hope it all works out for you.

Alex
I agree with this post 110%.
That said, if a node is that narrow, maybe a wider, more forgiving node would be better??
 
Starting load development with a small number of bullets is generally an exercise in futility. If you're striving for the kind of precision your accuracy window shows your setup is perfectly capable of, why even start load development if you won't have enough bullets left over after identifying an optimized load to do anything meaningful? IMO, your best bet is to invest in more of the 130 VLDs. With any luck at all, lot to lot variation between the new bullets and those tested above won't be great enough to completely throw you out of the window. That way, you can carry out a more restricted and focused set of tests based on what you already learned from the above testing, while at the same time re-optimizing the load for the new lot of bullets. Therefore, your testing with the old lot of bullets will still provide useful and meaningful information. If you switch to the 130 Hybrids, you may be starting completely from scratch if their requirements are significantly different from the 130 VLDs, which they may well be.
 
Starting load development with a small number of bullets is generally an exercise in futility. If you're striving for the kind of precision your accuracy window shows your setup is perfectly capable of, why even start load development if you won't have enough bullets left over after identifying an optimized load to do anything meaningful? IMO, your best bet is to invest in more of the 130 VLDs. With any luck at all, lot to lot variation between the new bullets and those tested above won't be great enough to completely throw you out of the window. That way, you can carry out a more restricted and focused set of tests based on what you already learned from the above testing, while at the same time re-optimizing the load for the new lot of bullets. Therefore, your testing with the old lot of bullets will still provide useful and meaningful information. If you switch to the 130 Hybrids, you may be starting completely from scratch if their requirements are significantly different from the 130 VLDs, which they may well be.
You are correct on investing in more bullets, I just could not find the bulk of 130 VLD's, but I have the Hybrids in bulk on hand and I regret doing the change and re developing the load again.
 
You are correct on investing in more bullets, I just could not find the bulk of 130 VLD's, but I have the Hybrids in bulk on hand and I regret doing the change and re developing the load again.
With the HYBRID bullets general rule of thumb is start at .015 off the lands and work back into the cartridge case in .005 increments. They're a lot more jump tolerant than the VLD bullets and easier to tune for in my opinion. As far as changing lots. Set the new lot bullet seating depth to what your seating depth accuracy node (CBTO) was for the previous lot. Back the load off a grain or two and work back up accuracy node as you were before. You may have to tweak the seating a small bit but test it this way first to see if you have to.
CBTO = cartridge base to ogive.
 
With the HYBRID bullets general rule of thumb is start at .015 off the lands and work back into the cartridge case in .005 increments. They're a lot more jump tolerant than the VLD bullets and easier to tune for in my opinion. As far as changing lots. Set the new lot bullet seating depth to what your seating depth accuracy node (CBTO) was for the previous lot. Back the load off a grain or two and work back up accuracy node as you were before. You may have to tweak the seating a small bit but test it this way first to see if you have to.
CBTO = cartridge base to ogive.
Thanks Barefoot, I'll try that and see how the results are.
 

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