Ladder Test for finding powder charge

[mtmuley]

when my neighbors are out side I tell them. I’ve got excellent neighbors. My sons rifle has a brake so it’s like a nuclear explosion. I have a ring camera which catches some mid my stupid ideas/habits.

When I first moved into my house and 5 acres we had a ground squirrel (gopher) issue. I took care of them with a.22 LR. My neighbor was kinder. He tried the method of a rodent control outfit. Waste of money. I have a 6 foot French door in my daylight basement overlooking his property. Set up the bench, open the doors and my .222 Remington vaporized gophers out to about 300 yards. Problem solved. Interestingly he never said a word about the rugged out pests. All shots were safe before anyone asks. mtmuley

 

[Burn Pile]

I've been doing pressure ladders. Go up the ladder until you hit pressure sign or velocities you don't like. Shoot all the charge weights into a group and take notes for velocity and point of impact. IME if the barrel likes the combination of bullet, powder, and fps together the poi at 100yds will be decent and consistent until the top end charges. POI will start changing more as the peak chamber pressure increases. Then I'll pick the charge that went the fastest with no or minimal pressure sign and landed in the same area as the majority of the group. Then load up with that charge and shoot a group of 10-15 and see if it still goes well. If it does not start a new pressure ladder with a different powder. Or eventually different bullet.