Actually I'm starting to get interested in long range shooting (not hunting) and even in my older years I am finding out a lot of new things about load development from these younger shooters. Ladder testing is one of them. So is Optimal Charge Weight (OCW). I used to do the same as a lot of you do. Load up different charges, go to the range and shoot 5 shot groups at 100 yards, pick out the best group and start loading it. That's the way I've done it for years. Well friends I'm here to tell you that ain't the best way to do it. Yes you may get lucky once in a while but that load may work great up to 100, even 200 yards which is good enough for 99.9% of the shooters out there. But it isn't always the most consistent load once you get out to about 300 yards and beyond. I'm no expert on this long range stuff but I'm learning more and more every day. Here's an example of what I am talking about. Below is a target I shot last week at 100 yards out of my new rifle. Now this group consists of 9 shots with charges from 40.0 gr to 42.6 gr in increasing increments. This group could likely have even been better had I been concentrating on the little diamond in the center. But this target dot was simply an aiming point to get velocities while shooting through my chronograph for load development. That is a 1.5" target dot. So far I have this rifle shooting 0.5 MOA but hoping to get it even better. The average shooter would be tickled pink shooting a group like this. And this was with a charge difference of over 2.5 grs. Within this range however, based on velocities obtained, I was able to find an area between the rounds of different charge weights where my load will be the most stable.
So you see gentlemen - Old dogs can learn new tricks!
Last edited by bronko22000; 10-15-2019 at 10:32 AM.