therifleman556
Well-Known Member
Can I ask what's meant by scatter node and how it's identified?
First ladder test
- Thread starter idcwby
- Start date
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The point of a ladder test is to use distance to show you vertical or lack there of on paper. 500 is as close as I would go. Too much noise when shooting closer. A scatter node is a powder charge which has a huge change in POI with the powder charge just above or below. Some rifles/loads will exhibit an accurate load that falls apart by slightly lowering or increasing the powder charge and this is not desirable in long range hunting. Too many people get hung up on accuracy and do not pay attention to the stability.
Made it out again today and here are the results. 544 yards. I am 0.005" off the lands.
1. 72.6 Error
2. 72.8 3377fps
3. 73 3408fps
4. 73.2 3438fps
1 was my spotter round.
3&4 had a hard bolt lift today.
Thanks
idcwby
1. 72.6 Error
2. 72.8 3377fps
3. 73 3408fps
4. 73.2 3438fps
1 was my spotter round.
3&4 had a hard bolt lift today.
Thanks
idcwby
Last edited:
Why are shots 3 and 4 so much faster than the shot 8 (73 gr.) from the previous session? Are you cleaning the barrel between sessions? Is it a factory barrel? Are you annealing the brass or maybe changed brass?
Didn't clean the barrel. Barrels a Pac-Nor 1-8" polygonal twist. Brass was full length resized and that is all, not the same brass I used the other day, but from the same lot, Nosler brass. Not annealing.
idcwby
Just that the difference in velocity between the 73 gr. loads from different days is 60 FPS. That's a lot.
I haven't used RL33 either. If the brass you used on todays test was new never fired brass and the brass used on the previous test was once fired or something The powder could have been a little more compacted and raise pressures some.
A primer change can cause speed increases. Especially going from a standard to a magnum primer.
i looked at a few other posts with RL33 and 140 gr. bullets. You load seems to be running faster than most. Here's an old quote:
How long is the barrel?
I would try a few rounds at about 72.5 Gr. and see how stable the speeds are and what the SD and ES numbers are.
A primer change can cause speed increases. Especially going from a standard to a magnum primer.
i looked at a few other posts with RL33 and 140 gr. bullets. You load seems to be running faster than most. Here's an old quote:
How long is the barrel?
I would try a few rounds at about 72.5 Gr. and see how stable the speeds are and what the SD and ES numbers are.
Is it possible the reason for the change in velocity is you may have been touching the lands? Not sure what your reloading practice is, but with a 0.005" jump maybe you were touching and got higher pressure/velocity. Maybe increase your jump, shoot them again to find the velocity of the node then fine tune with shooting groups at different seating depths.
Everything was used brass that was full length resized. Didn't change any components. Barrel length is 26".
I thought about dropping down to the 71-71.5 cause they were real close in velociy the first time
idcwby
That's not very promising. I'm liking it because I'm getting good velocity but if it isn't going to give me good ES I'll have to try something else.
idcwby
Just a thought, I had a .264 Win Mag that was amazingly accurate with 100 gr. heads. 140 gr. heads (factory) were all over the place. If 100 gr. heads are not too light for you it might be worth a try.
They will certainly be smoking fast.
Good luck.
They will certainly be smoking fast.
Good luck.
