Round Count to Start Load Development

Dont want to be a downer but if your willing, do your ladder test and then a month later repeat it and see if your results are the same…. I have never seen two ladder tests done with a decent amount of time between the two tests produce the same results….. i have challenged guys to prove to me their ladder test results were repeatable and over the past 20 years being a professional long range precision rifle manufacturer, no one has been able to prove this test procedure produces consistent and repeatable results….

A case of poor choice of words but I am not doing an actual ladder test. I load up 4 different charge weights to find the most accurate.
 
A case of poor choice of words but I am not doing an actual ladder test. I load up 4 different charge weights to find the most accurate.
Roger that. I have shared my load development process on here many times and often i get scorned a bit for its simplicity. However, it works. KISS theory works very well most of the time!!
 
Roger that. I have shared my load development process on here many times and often i get scorned a bit for its simplicity. However, it works. KISS theory works very well most of the time!!
I've found that good rifles shoot well in general, they're a lot more forgiving making a load...

You can get away with simple because there might be a little tiny bit of inherent precision benefit to the rifles you're shooting versus off-the-shelf stuff. You know, just a smidge of difference in quality in your rifles that make them a little better 🤣

Buying a 300 Raptor would be a lot easier than what I'm doing... you still making them?
 
I'm no expert, but I usually shoot between 20 to 40 moderate rounds and thoroughly clean the barrel. Then I am looking to find pressure. Once I find the first sign of pressure, I clean again and start focusing on finding nodes and developing optimum loads under the pressure point. The barrel should be fairly stable at this point.
 
I usually fireform 30 or so pieces of brass and find a load(1/2 moa) that will do for a while. After 150 rounds I'll go back and tweak the load.
 
Obviously, I am not sophisticated. I push a patch through a new barrel to make sure there are no little things that don't belong. Then I take it to the range and start by sighting it in with a medium load. Once that's accomplished I start working up to pressure while firing across a chronograph and looking for close grouping. If I hit pressure and there is no grouping I switch powders and do the same thing. Once I get a powder and weight that sort of groups I load up five with a few different primers.

I fire primer tests in a round robin fashion. For those who don't know, I start with the target on the left first. For the second shot on each target I start with the target on the right. For the third shot I start from the left again, etc, etc. If some primers show promise I load up five more and fire them in a day or two. By the way, if I two shots on a target too far apart I don't fire the other three.
 
We all like to work up our loads for our individual rifles and that is the way it should be IMO however I have had very good luck in most of the common calibers that are listed in the reloading manuals by following the recommended powder and/or accuracy load from the Nosler Reloading Manual. They always seem to match well with my rifles however this will not work for the wildcats and other rare calibers that are available. With the scarcity and price of components today I am always looking for a shortcut and this is a good place to start unless you already have a trusted and known pet load. Your mileage may vary of course ;).
 
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