600 yard ladder or 100 yard groups?

CPC280 said:

I was under the assumption that a ladder test was more related to whether or not the scope was mounted exactly perpendicular to the bore axis and tracking properly through the vertical and relative to what is actually dialed in with your elevation turret. Check out Brian Litz's Youtube video on performing a proper ladder test. I would say shoot for proper bullet grouping and precision then do your ladder test. If your scope is not tracking perfectly through the vertical then your group is going to move.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Tall target test or box tests are for testing your equipment

I'm pretty new to the ladder method (shooting multiple charge weights at the same point of aim, and watching the impacts 'climb the ladder').

It sure economises finding sweet spots (or nodes), leaving more bullets and powder for fine tuning. I don't think I will ever go back to shooting groups to find nodes.

I've found pretty good success with ladder at 300 and then groups at 200. Seems to be a nice middle ground where I can see the effects better (than at 100), yet environmentals are still minimized.

There is a really good thread discussing subtleties of the art here;

https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/tuning-for-long-range.192998/

I do a load work up test at 100 yards with the same POA. I note a range of good groupings and then move out to 400 yards+ to finalize. Then back to 100 or 200 for seating depth tests if need be.