Testing which powder your rifle likes?
 

Is there a recommended test (like the ladder) to determine which powder my rifle likes?
I thought I would pick 3 powders, load 3-5 rounds each and try and maintain the same MV by calculating load data. Using the same bullet and O.A.L.
That way, my rounds would be close to the same velocity and I can see which powder groups the best.
Make sense?

a bullet your rifle likes is the main thing to accuracy, the little things like seating depth, neck tension and the like will improve them. also the bullet exiting the muzzle at a consistant velocity helps also, how do you do this, use a slower for capacity burn rate (not the slowest your velocity will be down) powder that peaks in pressure in your chamber after the bullet enguages the rifleing, this keeps the velocity even and a smooth buildup to peak pressure which will cause the bullet to exit the barrel at the same place in the harmonic travel of the barrel every shot. find this sweet spot and it will be as good as your rifle is capable of.
RR

All good advice but I'll add a few things to it.

When you get new brass, spend a few minutes making it uniform. Often the brass will not be square across the mouth and the walls of the mouth may not be uniform all the way around. When I get new brass I lube it and run it through a full length sizing die and then I trim it 1/1000th less than the max recommended brass length. That gives me some leeway as the brass will stretch as it is shot and resized. I also turn the mouth so the walls are uniform. That way as the bullet is released from the brass the tension is the same all the way around. There are several brands that make sizing and turning eqpt. I happen to like Foster.

After I have the brass prepped I load a minimum load with cheap bulk bullets and fireform the cases to my chamber. From then on, all I do is neck size the brass and trim it as it stretches. Brass last a lot longer if you limit the amount of time you full length size it.

Also, often a max powder load isn't the most accurate load. The whole point of reloading for me is accuracy so I usually don't max it out. One thing that can make a big difference is primers. In my 7mm Mag it is Federal Mag Rifle primers. CCI, Rem and Win don't produce the same accuracy as the Federals do. I believe it has to do with Federal being a "hotter" primer and giving more even burning to the powder. Another thing that can make a big difference is seating the bullet to the right depth. On the above 7mm if the bullet is just barely touching the rifling, it is spooky accurate. Seat the bullet a little deeper and the group opens up. This is because the bullet has to "jump" forward before it engages the rifling. The further the distance the more likely the bullet will not be perfectly centered in the bore.

Sometimes the little things can make a big difference.

tHANKS GUYS. i'VE DONE SEVERAL LADDER TESTS WITH A VARIETY OF bullet/powder/jump variables with very good results. I have loads that I like and the gun likes. I have already taken elk, deer and antelope with my reloads with excellent results.
I was just wondering if there was some kind of "ladder" test for powders. I lean towards the philosophy that "the heavier the bullet, the slower the powder".
I recently loaded three different powders for my 25-06 using the same bullet, jump, brass, primer, etc. And I got surprising results. I also tried to calculate the M.V. to be the same for all three loads. So I had different powder weights in each. 100 yards, one powder produced a noticeably better group than the other two. So that's what I used to load a ladder test. But have always wondered if there was an established sure-fire way of knowing what powder your gun, bullet, brass, jump, etc liked.
A buddy at work says I'm "over thinking it!" I just might agree with him. (Longtime re-loader, award winning shooter and gunsmith)

dig, you cannot calculate MV, without a chrony you have no idea what your load is doing. every chamber is different in every barrel so to have an idea you must shoot through a chrony, spend 100 bucks for 1, you will no doubt be surprised and a bit disappointed.
RR

I could not agree more with this statement.

Some of the loading manuals (Barnes, etc.) give such optimistic velocities that you might think something is wrong with your chronograph, but the chronograph tells the real story.

Borrow one or shoot with someone that has one if you don't want to buy your own.

didnt read it in the thread but here I will add

you test your powders, 3-5 rnds, powder #1 min reccomend charge, work up charge .5gr increments to max. 3-5 rnds each charge change. Repeat for every powder. You should have say 15-20 rnds per powder blend. I then take the powder and charge's that grouped the best and work from there with tweaking if needed.