6 Dasher Ladder Test @ 600

[_Raining]

Components:
Powder: Varget
Brass: Alpha 6 Dasher
Primer: Federal Gold Medal (Small)
Bullet: Berger 105's

Brass Prep:
Dip necks in Imperial dry neck lube.
Dillon 650 to prime and run through 21st century expanding mandrel.
Deburr/Chamfer.
FX 120i with v3 auto trickler.
Forster Ultra Micrometer Seating Die in Forster CO-AX press.

Brass Measurements:
Unloaded neck diameter after mandrel: .268"
Loaded neck diameter: .269"
Reamer is a .272" neck
Alex Wheeler method to get touch, Hornady 3-24 bullet comp insert: 1.795"
Loaded to 20 thou jump: 1.775"

Charge Weights Loaded:
1 = 31.6
2 = 31.8
3 = 32
4 = 32.2
5 = 32.4
6 = 32.6 (Heavy bolt lift, not crazy pound it open with a mallet but it was definitely noticeable on most of the rounds at this charge weight)
7 = 32.8 (Not fired)
8 = 33 (Not fired)
9 = 33.2 (Not fired)

10 rounds of 32.5 were loaded up for zeroing at 100 and getting close to center at 600.

I can not read the (wind/lighting etc) well and I am not a great shot so I ran the test 5 times.
Ladder test @ 600 yards:


Seems like 3,4,5 group together, maybe 1 and 2 ish, and 6 is off on its own. Anyone disagree?

It was 65 degrees in GA so I figure I should load towards the bottom of the node to allow me to use it in higher temps. I was thinking 32.1 or maybe 32.2

I have 200 more pieces of virgin brass to go through and would like to use that to spend some time learning to read the wind better, then I can re-evaluate with once fired brass.

I have wrist issues so I need to do as little work as possible on brass prep so I am just going for PRS level accuracy/SD's and not so much F Class or BR.

Avg Velocity, SD and 100 yard groups:
At 100 yards I ran 5 shots over the magneeto and got some groups, again I am not a good shot and IDK how much the magneeto effects this (it was not attached for the 600 yard ladder):
31.6, SD 6.1 (deleted first round which was 40 fps low), Avg 2880, .613 MOA group.
31.8, SD 2.6, Avg 2886, .525 MOA group.
32, SD 4.6, Avg 2900, .31 MOA group.
32.2, SD 2.2, Avg 2914, .5 MOA group.
32.4, SD 2.8, Avg 2926, .323 MOA group.
32.6, SD 2.8, Avg 2938, .331 MOA group.

Anything single digit is good enough for PRS so I don't think I will have a problem with SD's and all the group sizes are good enough for PRS and I am not consistent enough to use a sample size of 1 five shot group as a determining factor.

 

[rsmithsr50]

WHY WOULD you load over the top of your ladder for zero ?
middle of the ladder for zero, and based on maxing out at shot 6 you need to rethink how you pick ladder starting/ending points.

 

[_Raining]

WHY WOULD you load over the top of your ladder for zero ?
middle of the ladder for zero, and based on maxing out at shot 6 you need to rethink how you pick ladder starting/ending points.

My mistake, that should be 32.5 not 33.5, I have edited it to show correctly. I forgot to check to see what peoples experience was with Alpha and that was the load range I used for Lapua brass and 32.5 was in the middle of my charge range for Lapua (I never hit pressure in Lapua brass).

 

[lawman29]

Think of testing as practice. Do another one using 31.9, 32.0, 32.1, 32.2 & 32.3. Then pick one to play with seating depth. Then take that one and play with neck tension. While you're doing this you're practicing. Once get the brass all fired once. You should now be tuned up and finish test on once fired brass. It is important not to hit new brass hard.

 

[Jet]

32.2 and do a seating depth test. Once that is found, shoot 32.04, 32.08, 32.12, 32.22, 32.26, 32.3, 32.34 and 32.38 and see which one groups the best

 

[Zero333]

32.2 and test seating depth.

done.

 

[shoot4fun]

^^^^
what @Zero333 says.
That puts you in the middle of the node and, at least to me, I think your 100 yard test shows you are pretty well in the sweet spot on seating depth as well.
I have 200 pieces of the Alpha 6 Dasher brass myself and have yet to get around to doing any testing. With the thousands of Dasher rounds I've already fired in Lapua brass I had decided to myself that the thicker Alpha with a larger flash hole would likely be shooting well at around 32.2 (about .5 grain lower than my normal load). Of course my barrel is not your barrel and I may need a slight adjustment to compensate for my 7 twist and for the fact that I turned about .0005 off the neck thickness.

 

[_Raining]

Of course my barrel is not your barrel and I may need a slight adjustment to compensate for my 7 twist and for the fact that I turned about .0005 off the neck thickness.

My barrel is also a 1:7 (Rock Creek 26").

 

[savageshooter86]

3-5seem to repeat. Do seating test at #4. Then shoot groups at +/- 0.02 at that charge to verify