entoptics
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2018
- Messages
- 849
This is gonna be long, so be warned.
I recently posted an opinion on load development (because the OP asked for opinions), and got a pretty healthy dose of "that's simply not true" responses. The OP had a 300 WM, some 215 Bergers, and a custom rifle. He was getting 1.5 MOA groups. His posts indicated he was not a salty dog of reloading, though I could be wrong.
I suggested that if it's shooting 1.5 MOA from a custom gun, then it's likely an exercise in futility to chase 3/4 MOA, and his problem may have been bullet selection (and gently mentioned overall loading technique). I advised that he first "find something that works OK", before spending resources on forcing a square peg into a round hole.
The couple of posters who claimed I didn't know what I was talking about effectively stated that any powder/bullet combo could be made to shoot with proper tweaking of powder/OAL.
Anyway, I decided do a test today, to see if I was actually out of my mind, and my thousands of rounds downrange had lied to me.
This is a ladder test I did, to see if I could find a load to redeem a so far 3 MOA bullet (145 ELDX) in my Marlin X7 270 Win. Before you consider these results, it is important to note that only I spent a hundred rounds of load development on it when it was still my dad's. Almost immediately, after trying ~10 rounds of 5 different bullets, I found that it liked 140 NABs. Currently, with about 60 gr of H1000, at 200-300 yds this rifle will shoot about 1.25 MOA "all day", and has tossed ≤0.75 MOA groups on quite a few occasions. It's a bone stock $300 rifle, with some mid-range glass on top (4-16 Vortex HST), so I consider it a "decent shooter".
400 yds, H1000, 145 ELD-X, 59.7 - 61.5 gr in 0.2 gr increments. ~2930 fps to ~2990 fps.
As you can see, the ladder test finally illuminated what was wrong. It's clear, that with a load that settles in at the "node", it will shoot some real nice groups. Oh wait...Yeah, shot two is entirely off the target, and shot 8 and 8B (fired same load again, as LabRadar wasn't armed) are 8" apart...
Before you shout "Brass! Concentricity! OAL! Hold your mouth right!"...Runout <0.004, neck turned brass, weight sorted to ± 2 grains, trimmed to 2.530", and a previous OAL test showed no love, so I ran this ladder at 0.04 off the lands, cause I hadn't tried that one before.
In summary, I'm no Broz, and never claimed to be, but if I can't "find the node", then perhaps it's a bad idea to tell folks that are relatively new to the game about all this voodoo. If the rifle is shooting 1MOA with a load, then sure, it's time to look at the minutiae, but if your $2000 custom rig is printing 1.5 MOA, then it's probably not seating depth or powder charge that's your problem.
P.S. For giggles, my buddy also tried a ladder test today on his Savage LRH 300 WM, using 212 ELD-X and H1000, and actually did appear to find a "node". I can post pictures if anyone is interested, but he got 4 rounds into half MOA at 400 yds, with 0.8 gr charge weight spread. Thing is his rifle already was shooting the 212 ELDX into sub MOA reliably, with my reloads developed for my Shilen equipped Savage 300 LRH, so we figured "What the hell?", and are hoping to tune another 1/4 off for his gun.
Point is. Ladder/OCW/OAL/etc isn't stupid, but IMO, it's for advanced users who already have their rifle at "~MOA" levels. Suggesting otherwise is likely an expensive waist of time for the average shooter/reloader.
(Update: OP from other thread reported a half MOA group, after "all day" shooting a bunch of OAL/charge combos. Perhaps this refutes my post, or perhaps he learned his rifle, or it shoots better fouled, or luck, or ...). Just wanted to give full disclosure.
I recently posted an opinion on load development (because the OP asked for opinions), and got a pretty healthy dose of "that's simply not true" responses. The OP had a 300 WM, some 215 Bergers, and a custom rifle. He was getting 1.5 MOA groups. His posts indicated he was not a salty dog of reloading, though I could be wrong.
I suggested that if it's shooting 1.5 MOA from a custom gun, then it's likely an exercise in futility to chase 3/4 MOA, and his problem may have been bullet selection (and gently mentioned overall loading technique). I advised that he first "find something that works OK", before spending resources on forcing a square peg into a round hole.
The couple of posters who claimed I didn't know what I was talking about effectively stated that any powder/bullet combo could be made to shoot with proper tweaking of powder/OAL.
Anyway, I decided do a test today, to see if I was actually out of my mind, and my thousands of rounds downrange had lied to me.
This is a ladder test I did, to see if I could find a load to redeem a so far 3 MOA bullet (145 ELDX) in my Marlin X7 270 Win. Before you consider these results, it is important to note that only I spent a hundred rounds of load development on it when it was still my dad's. Almost immediately, after trying ~10 rounds of 5 different bullets, I found that it liked 140 NABs. Currently, with about 60 gr of H1000, at 200-300 yds this rifle will shoot about 1.25 MOA "all day", and has tossed ≤0.75 MOA groups on quite a few occasions. It's a bone stock $300 rifle, with some mid-range glass on top (4-16 Vortex HST), so I consider it a "decent shooter".
400 yds, H1000, 145 ELD-X, 59.7 - 61.5 gr in 0.2 gr increments. ~2930 fps to ~2990 fps.
As you can see, the ladder test finally illuminated what was wrong. It's clear, that with a load that settles in at the "node", it will shoot some real nice groups. Oh wait...Yeah, shot two is entirely off the target, and shot 8 and 8B (fired same load again, as LabRadar wasn't armed) are 8" apart...
Before you shout "Brass! Concentricity! OAL! Hold your mouth right!"...Runout <0.004, neck turned brass, weight sorted to ± 2 grains, trimmed to 2.530", and a previous OAL test showed no love, so I ran this ladder at 0.04 off the lands, cause I hadn't tried that one before.
In summary, I'm no Broz, and never claimed to be, but if I can't "find the node", then perhaps it's a bad idea to tell folks that are relatively new to the game about all this voodoo. If the rifle is shooting 1MOA with a load, then sure, it's time to look at the minutiae, but if your $2000 custom rig is printing 1.5 MOA, then it's probably not seating depth or powder charge that's your problem.
P.S. For giggles, my buddy also tried a ladder test today on his Savage LRH 300 WM, using 212 ELD-X and H1000, and actually did appear to find a "node". I can post pictures if anyone is interested, but he got 4 rounds into half MOA at 400 yds, with 0.8 gr charge weight spread. Thing is his rifle already was shooting the 212 ELDX into sub MOA reliably, with my reloads developed for my Shilen equipped Savage 300 LRH, so we figured "What the hell?", and are hoping to tune another 1/4 off for his gun.
Point is. Ladder/OCW/OAL/etc isn't stupid, but IMO, it's for advanced users who already have their rifle at "~MOA" levels. Suggesting otherwise is likely an expensive waist of time for the average shooter/reloader.
(Update: OP from other thread reported a half MOA group, after "all day" shooting a bunch of OAL/charge combos. Perhaps this refutes my post, or perhaps he learned his rifle, or it shoots better fouled, or luck, or ...). Just wanted to give full disclosure.