My definition of a "node" is a range of velocity in which the bullet maintains tight grouping. I'd venture to say this is universally accepted by more than a few shooters. That is not to say that a very minor tweaking of powder may be necessary to keep one in fine tune, but some loads are much harder to keep in tune at all as the good-grouping velocity range may have been very narrow to start with, if non-existent. I'm sure there are folks out there that have tried a handful of powders in their rig and never could find a solid, wide velocity range where their rifle shot fantastic. Sometimes, one gets lucky on the first powder. I have a .243 that found the standout powder after 12 powder changes - which is the most I ever had to try. It is now one of my most accurate rifles and accuracy wavers little during external ballistic changes. Had I settled on using all the published "accuracy loads" and most recommended powders for that caliber, I'd probably have cut up the rifle with my Sawzall.If that is what you are finding, then you have the wrong powder or other issues going on. When you are using the optimum powder for your case/bullet combination, and at a reasonably close seating depth, you should find a very repeatable load that shows up like a stable consistent girlfriend. When the combination is wrong...it will be like dating a girl with multiple personality disorder; you won't know who will show up at the door on any given date night. I've got the T shirt.
I recently tried a ladder with IMR 4064 in my 6 BRA, it just seemed odd that the charges went straight up to the top and pressured at just over 3000 fps. It didn’t seem to pause at 3 % increments at all. Have you seen that before ?
Many times
Since you shot this at 500yds it appears that this rifle is very stable and is not exhibiting a specific node. If shot at 100yds I would expect all other the POI's would be the same or very close to the same. This is what Litz has eluded to in his PRS rifle.
This looks great. It's going to shoot awesome.
if this were shot at 100 yards it would probably be just one big hole using this format.
Can you answer me this? I already have my 243AI load and sighted in for this winter's coyote season. Since sighting in I have been out to the range 3 times to verify and my groups never change. My rifle is very happy at .500 at 100 yards and it doesn't change regardless of which day of the week I go out.
Possibly, but I think low node is not represented here below 30.8. I’ll get a chance to take another look in a straight six 6 br later this winter.
First, I would never look at a single shot ladder like that and make any decisions. Single shot ladders like that will fool you often. Sometimes what looks like a node is actually vertical, you just caught the right shots to many it look like a spot. If you were to go back and shoot groups, you would find the other node, it might not be a good node but it will be there. Also ladders that never stop climbing are usually a sign to switch powders or keep going up. Low pressure can look that way too. About all I use a true single shot ladder for is to find pressure and see if the powder is even worth trying to tune. We want narrow, climb, stop, climb, stop. Wide, round, no stop, and going down are all less than ideal in my opinion.
Good input, I wouldn’t make any final decisions on single shots but I’m certainly guilty of finding pressure and locating areas to explore, if I tinker with this powder again I will use more shots.
