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nooch2222

Ladder Test Load development HELP!!

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You certainly can stop @ 40.5 and play with OAL and call it good. Or you can you can go the other route and then work on OAL. Personally I have always determined OAL first then worked up to max loads. When groups became inconsistent I would try different seating depths.

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Totally depends on your end goal.  If you want low recoil, stay where you are.  If you want to max out your load and gain performance and speed, keep going.  Really, 100fps is only going to add about 100 yards of carrying a certain amount of downrange performance.  Maybe going from 600 to 700 yards.

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If you go more you can at lease see how much you can go up until pressure 

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21 hours ago, nooch2222 said:

I'm getting a COAL of 2.770   Now since im not getting any pressure signs should i load up 10 more rounds starting at 40.7 gr and go up from there? or could I just fine tune the 40.5 grain charge with seating depth? 

seating depth has less to do with accuracy than the powder charge.   Get an good group with a powder charge and then mess with seating depth.   If you are only going to shoot 400 yards.........Just put some powder in the cartridge and make it go BANG!!!!!!!   

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54 minutes ago, recurveman said:

seating depth has less to do with accuracy than the powder charge.   Get an good group with a powder charge and then mess with seating depth.   If you are only going to shoot 400 yards.........Just put some powder in the cartridge and make it go BANG!!!!!!!   

I strongly disagree.  Seating depth, especially with certain bullets designs, makes a HUGE difference in accuracy. Especially with the OP's choice of bullets.  Can also effect ES/SD, pressure, and average velocity.  Meaning more consistent downrange accuracy and less dispersement.  Seating depth can make 1" groups turn into 1/4" groups.  

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5 hours ago, Zeke-BE said:

If you go more you can at lease see how much you can go up until pressure 

Just loaded 8 more increasing the charge. Ill give it a try next week

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Every Creedmoor I have ever loaded for has had a node right around the 41.5-42.0gr mark with the 140s and H4350. I generally seat bullets. .025" off the lands and find very good accuracy with very low SDs. Velocities range from 2750-2800+ depending on barrel length and components used. 

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On 8/24/2018 at 11:42 AM, lancetkenyon said:

I strongly disagree.  Seating depth, especially with certain bullets designs, makes a HUGE difference in accuracy. Especially with the OP's choice of bullets.  Can also effect ES/SD, pressure, and average velocity.  Meaning more consistent downrange accuracy and less dispersement.  Seating depth can make 1" groups turn into 1/4" groups.  

Let't keep in mind that he is looking to shoot max of 400 yards with this gun.   Personally I would go buy factory ammo and see if it shoots 1.5 MOA or less and be done with it.   If he can hit within 3" of where he is aiming at 400 yards that would kill any animal he is going to hunt.     

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18 hours ago, recurveman said:

Let't keep in mind that he is looking to shoot max of 400 yards with this gun.   Personally I would go buy factory ammo and see if it shoots 1.5 MOA or less and be done with it.   If he can hit within 3" of where he is aiming at 400 yards that would kill any animal he is going to hunt.     

Again, I disagree.  We, as hunters, owe it to the animal to place the bullet where it needs to go.  Not just "close". A 1.5MOA rifle at 100 from a bench and steady rest, at 400 yards, turns into a 6" group minimum.  Add many other factors which decrease accuracy (wind variations, high SD, mirage, position of game, imperfect shooting position or rest, adrenaline,  no time for proper shot set up, anatomy differences, point of aim, laying on a cactus for 30 minutes waiting for a game animal to get up out of his bed hidden in deep grass after almost being bitten by a rattlesnake and having a big black Angus bull staring you down from 50 yards after belly crawling the last 100 yards of a 1300 yard stalk which is your second stalk of the day on the same buck after being blown out of a precious 1.5 mile stalk earlier in the day on the same buck......etc.), that is a recipe for disaster. For an elk, maybe still be OK, but with a 6.5CM, you better be really accurate at 400 yards.  For a Coues, a 6+" group could be a miss or gut shot animal after adding in other factors.  For a coyote, could be a miss.  And NO ONE wants to miss a coyote, ever!  

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I 100% agree with Lance!  All shooters should do their best to get the best accuracy out of their weapon of choice.  Once the accuracy has been determined the max effective range must be determined.  Without superb accuracy long shots should NOT be taken.  400 yards may no longer be considered long, but I assure you a lot can go wrong at 400 yards.

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4 hours ago, Big Browns said:

I 100% agree with Lance!  All shooters should do their best to get the best accuracy out of their weapon of choice.  Once the accuracy has been determined the max effective range must be determined.  Without superb accuracy long shots should NOT be taken.  400 yards may no longer be considered long, but I assure you a lot can go wrong at 400 yards.

Accuracy and long range shots are two very different topics.    Variables other than accuracy will account for a greater change of impact then the accuracy of the gun.   Problem is frequently hunters thing that they have a 1/2 MOA gun and that means they will shoot 1/2 MOA at 800 yards and can just change the top turret on their scope and whack critters at any given distance.  Not going to happen.    

Honestly I think the OP could shoot factory ammo and have an MOA gun.   An MOA gun is plenty good enough for 99% of the shots in the field.   

1.5MOA isn't the end of the world.   If they were to shoot 400 yards then the bullet would hit within 3" of where they are aiming.   That will kill a WT deer in AZ everytime.   Now the other factors might change the point of impact by more than 3" but that isn't the guns fault.   That is the shooters fault.    They would miss by that much regardless if they have a custom 1/2 MOA gun or a 1.5MOA gun.   That is my point.  Having a super tight shooting gun doesn't account for most of the misses in the field.  

Had a buddy just get back from an NV antelope hunt.    There was a hunter with them that shot 22 rounds out of a gun and finally killed a buck.   22 rounds out of a sub MOA gun and was missing the goats by FEET not inches.    An accurate gun is the easy part of the equation.   Understanding how to use the gun and taking the time to learn the gun is the important part.   

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To quote a long gone gun writer There is a lot of 400 yard rifles sitting in the racks of 100 yard riflemen. Got to agree with a little bit of what recurveman stated, but 3 inches isn't 1.5 moa at 400 yards, if my math is correct its closer to six inches, add a little wind with that and who knows where and if it would hit a deer.

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22 minutes ago, 10Turkeys said:

To quote a long gone gun writer There is a lot of 400 yard rifles sitting in the racks of 100 yard riflemen. Got to agree with a little bit of what recurveman stated, but 3 inches isn't 1.5 moa at 400 yards, if my math is correct its closer to six inches, add a little wind with that and who knows where and if it would hit a deer.

Dropping wisdom in many thread, I like it. 

 

I decided to reload to make that difference at 400-500 yards, it sure wasn't to save any money. 

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23 minutes ago, 10Turkeys said:

To quote a long gone gun writer There is a lot of 400 yard rifles sitting in the racks of 100 yard riflemen. Got to agree with a little bit of what recurveman stated, but 3 inches isn't 1.5 moa at 400 yards, if my math is correct its closer to six inches, add a little wind with that and who knows where and if it would hit a deer.

Well if you have a 6" group and aim in the middle of the group.....The distance from the center of the group and the outer edge of the group is 3".   Your bullet will be within 3" of where the crosshairs are placed and the shooter does his part.   

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