ladder testing for working up loads

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  • Last Post 21 December 2017
fa38 posted this 21 December 2017

Does anyone know if ladder testing works with light loads and cast bullets at 100 yards. 

Trying to limit the number of rounds for any one powder to 10 different charge weights to 10 rounds instead of shooting 50 plus rounds for 10 different charge weights.  Its an effort to keep my fingers from freezing this winter.

My current load has enough accuracy (2 to 2.5 inches for 10 shots) but I don't like where I have to hold on the 100 yard small bore target.  Currently it is way below the black or somewhere in the middle of the black.  I would like to be able to hold that pointy little front sight at the bottom of the black. 

My 1909 Argentine does not have any fine adjustment for the issue sights and I am shooting the rifle in the issue class.

This is for offhand shooting.

 

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RicinYakima posted this 21 December 2017

When I was doing this, I lined the backer with butcher paper, 30 inches wide and 48 inches high. I put the small bore target at the top edge and started shooting. That worked for 30/06 at 1400 f/s, but don't know about the Argie. Ric. Ladder testing works well, but I also kept track of shots on graph paper at the bench.

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joeb33050 posted this 21 December 2017

I  did an extensive experiment on ladder testing, starting with Creighton Audette's original article, This with cast bullets at 100 yards. The experiment process and results were shown here, with pictures of the target. At the end, it just didn't work, there was no convincing  evidence that a "flat spot", with bullets loaded over a range of powder charges, shot to the same elevation.

An Argentine Mauser with original sights compounds the problem.

The A. Mauser with cast bullets was very popular here, US, for years, certainly there is a glotch of reloading info about. The rifles looked like new, we wondered if they had ever been issued. But then again, I paid $30 for mine-big bucks then.

joe b.

 P.S. 2"-2.5" for 10 shot groups at 100 yards with issue sights is GOOD shooting; particularly if you're over 40. If you're over 60, it's a miracle.

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fa38 posted this 21 December 2017

 At the end, it just didn't work, there was no convincing  evidence that a "flat spot", with bullets loaded over a range of powder charges, shot to the same elevation.


I have three different bullets and will try several different powders.  I don’t want it to shoot to the same elevation or impact on a target.  I want it to go either higher or lower than the point of impact of my current load.


I will work up a new load for accuracy and the get my current accuracy load to hit point of aim and then shoot the new load on the same target.  Hopefully it will impact either higher or lower.  If not then its try to find another load with a different combination until I get a different impact area from the original load.


I put a scope on the rifle with an S&K mount to make it easier for a load workup and shooting the ladder rounds.

The rifles looked like new, we wondered if they had ever been issued. But then again, I paid $30 for mine-big bucks then.

Paid a lot more than that for mine and it did look like new and I think was unfired when I got it as it is a 7x57 Mauser which they supposedly did not chamber.

The bolt was real sticky with the lugs going into the front receiver ring. I worked the bolt back and forth with a little clover on the lugs never rotating the bolt down and in a couple of minutes it operated smoothly.  Tried a 7.65x53 case and it would not chamber. I thought what the heck.  I then looked at the end of the barrel and tried to stick a .30 cal bullet into the bore.  Not even close to going into the bore.  My Chilian 1895 7mm was laying on the bench and comparing the ends of the barrels they looked close to the same.  Tried a 7 mm bullet in the end of the bore and if fit with a little engraving. Tried a fired 7x57 case and it would not chamber, then tried a new 7x57 Privi case and the bolt chambers it.

I think whoever owned the rifle before tried to chamber the correct cartridge and tried to force the cartridge into the chamber and when that didn’t work sold the rifle. I bought it from F. Zika about a year before he died and he said he had purchased it at a gun show probably 10 plus years ago and had never fired it.

joe b.

 

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