Help reading this ladder

[Gord0]

Edit: Sorry, the picture loaded rotated 90° counterclockwise.

Bone stock Savage 110 in .300win mag, wood stock, 24" barrel, no brake, 3x9 Burris. Shooting off bipod and bag.
After shooting 168gr Barnes for years I read Broz's 215 Berger thread a while ago and decided to give them a shot.
Range: 100m
Win brass once fired, annealed, trimmed, primer pockets uniformed, neck sized.
CCI 250
H1000
COL 3.68" .01" off the lands. Thanks Savage for a pretty nice length throat.
Pretty sure I'm looking at a decent node in the 75-76.5gr range, but I've never done a ladder before. Just a whole lotta guessing back in my early days when I stumbled onto a good load with the Barnes. So what say the experts?

 

[Trnelson]

Take a look at the sticky thread on the suggested methodology for loading Berger bullets. It's at the top of the list on this forum page. Follow that advice and the proper seating depth, ( in your rifle ), will show itself readily. There isn't much productive data to glean on your target, outside of that 0.01" off the rifling is not what you are looking for.
I have seen several 300 win rifles that shoot this bullet .3 MOA or better and there are reliably sourced photos on this site and several others that verify that potential. Expect your 24" rifle to be able to safely reach ~2,850fps, maybe a bit more.
I look forward to seeing your results! IMO you'll not look back once you get that 215 dialed in, they are simply a train wreck on the critters as well.

 

[Gord0]

I already ran the seating depth test. Best group was at .01" off the lands. This was a ladder starting at 73.5-79gr single shot of each. Just looking for a node to start fine tuning the charge weight.

 

[Danny1788]

I would need to see your velocity's but I would load 4 shot groups from 77-78GR and shoot those at 300 yards all at different targets on the same level plan. Then pick from that. 100 is not going to tell you a whole lot.

 

[FURMAN]

I personally think shooting a ladder at 100 yds is a waste of time and money. The point of a real ladder is to find a node in which powder changes do not cause large velocity swings. You can not see that at 100 yds. If it were me I would start over at at least 400 preferably 600 or longer. If you absolutely made me put money on one of those with the picture only it would be 75 grains.

 

[Doghunter23]

GordO
was this ladder actually shot at a distance of 100M ?

 

[Rich Coyle]

tag

 

[Gord0]

GordO
was this ladder actually shot at a distance of 100M ?

Yeah, my local range is 100m.

 

[rcoody]

I already ran the seating depth test. Best group was at .01" off the lands. This was a ladder starting at 73.5-79gr single shot of each. Just looking for a node to start fine tuning the charge weight.

You did the berger seating depth test?

You need a longer range for and OCW test. Load 3 of each charge weight and shoot round robin. Lots of conflicting data on your ladder. Did you let the rifle cool between shots?

Looks like 76 grs. of h1000 is very popular with the 215 berger hybrid in the 300 WM

 

[Gord0]

You did the berger seating depth test?

You need a longer range for and OCW test. Load 3 of each charge weight and shoot round robin. Lots of conflicting data on your ladder. Did you let the rifle cool between shots?

Looks like 76 grs. of h1000 is very popular with the 215 berger hybrid in the 300 WM

I did do the Berger seating depth test. Started at .01 off and that was the best group of the 4 with .218 vertical and 1.2 horizontal on a day with some gusty winds at my 8:00 and some swirling.
The day I shot the ladder was essentially zero wind. The rifle cooled between each shot (didn't take long as it was 15° out)

 

[mikebob]

i have had to do some ladders at 200-300 because so much wind here in OK. looks like it likes 76 - 76.5. I just did this in my 300mag at 300 yards it liked .010 off and 76.5gr. yours had alot of verticle spread for 100m. mine shot all holes in 300yards within 2 inch group. i would load up some from 76-78 and try at 200. or load up some at 76-76.2-76.5-76.7 and try groups.

 

[FEENIX]

i have had to do some ladders at 200-300 because so much wind here in OK. looks like it likes 76 - 76.5. I just did this in my 300mag at 300 yards it liked .010 off and 76.5gr. yours had alot of verticle spread for 100m. mine shot all holes in 300yards within 2 inch group. i would load up some from 76-78 and try at 200. or load up some at 76-76.2-76.5-76.7 and try groups.

^^^ This! ^^^

 

[Gord0]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'm wondering if the larger amounts of vertical I'm seeing at a short range have something to do with the stock Savage barrel. It's awfully thin. And I've seen that on everything that I've tried through this rifle. Eventually this thing will get a better pipe on it.

 

[Mikecr]

The point of a real ladder is to find a node in which powder changes do not cause large velocity swings.

This is the purpose of OCW -not a ladder.
Ladders are for a different tune than OCW, and between the two, ladders lead to better precision.
However, ladders are typically shot further out than ~100yds, and with smaller powder increments. I also suggest full seating testing(like the others), and fully fire forming cases(while seating testing), prior to shooting ladders.