Load development

[Tad Houston]

i remember reading in a shooting magazine sometime ago about a method of load development the saves time, powder and bullets and just wanted to know if anyone here uses it. Now lets see if i can explain it. You load a string of bullets from starting load up to max in .2 gr. increment charges and shoot the string in order at one target keeping track of where each hit is on the target. It should come out like somwhat of a vertical string. Then you look for areas in the string that the hits tend to "cluster". The charges in these clusters are the ones to look closer at. Make any sense? anybody heard of this method? I have never tried it myself, but think i will. Let me know if i am missing anything, or you know a link to explain it better.

Thanks, Tad

[beemanbeme]

That is called, among other things, the ladder method.  You do not have to start out with .2gr increases.  You would use that when you are really fine tuning the load.  Also, it works better if you are shooting at a distance farther than 100 yards.  ie, I have a 22-250 that you could shoot 10 rounds with a .2 difference in powder that would still give you a raggedy hole at 100 yards.  The greater distance makes it easier to plot the hits and clusters.  BTW, it works.   :grin: