This is a good article on load development. This stuff has totally changed my thinking.

www.outdoorlife.com/gu...fle-nodes/

Interesting article.

It explains why a commercial load like Federal Gold Medal Match can seem "great" in everything as consistency of the load itself is likely more important then matching the "node" of any one rifle.

An interesting article, albeit fairly confusing. I had difficulty working out his exact point of the article, and more importantly, his final procedures for finding “that” load, the one that will shoot best in your rifle.

I’m still not sure on his actual procedure though. He shot OCW Ladder tests for both velocity and group size, and also shot large groups. Both of these involved shooting small groups that allowed him to select a load…isn’t this what the OCW Ladder test is going to show us…the node, that point, where a load will be tighter than the rest. Either way, I believe, he shot far more rounds than was necessary to arrive at the most accurate load for his rifle/s.

One thing I do agree with though is his practise of loading rounds to the “published” AOL of a cartridge. Unless you are Benchrest shooting, there is no real need to chase the ideal (perfect) “jump” through the throat to the rifling. Let’s not forget that the kill zone on our chosen quarry is considerably larger than MOA or less. Which is why I chase Minute of Critter for my accuracy.

Vince, his point is that there is no "node" really. Multiple "nodes" appear because the sample size is too small. I've always thought that those folks firing one round at a particular charge weight are simply wasting time and components. You're not getting any useful information from that. Even 3 or 5 rounds aren't telling you much about the actual accuracy of the load, it's not statistically significant. When I was helping design machines we used to joke if it made one cycle, "That's one in a row, ship it!"

Here's a great explanation - www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwumAGRmz2I

I’ll have to watch that later, hopefully when I’m not worrying about my grandson and I’m able to take it all in properly.

Aaaahh I'll just stay with my own system. It works for me. All my rifles are antiques anyway. 1949 Mod 94 WCF .30-30, 1972 Browning BLR .308, 1992 Browning Hunter .30-06 and a much newer DPMS AR 10 .308.

Bushmaster wrote:

Aaaahh I'll just stay with my own system. It works for me. All my rifles are antiques anyway. 1949 Mod 94 WCF .30-30, 1972 Browning BLR .308, 1992 Browning Hunter .30-06 and a much newer DPMS AR 10 .308.

Yep…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Agree wholeheartedly mate..I’m doing the same.