Tag Archives: Ladder Test

Bryan Litz and the team from Applied Ballistics have released another book packed with their latest research projects and findings related to long-range shooting. This new book is the 3rd Volume in the series they call Modern Advancements in Long Range Shooting. It is not just a new edition of an old book. It contains 100% new content/research and stands on its own (i.e. you don’t have to read the other volumes to get value from this one). Bryan mailed me an early draft of the book several weeks ago, and I’ve read it cover-to-cover. It is equally as interesting ...

This landmark article shares new, primary research that Mark Gordon from Short Action Customs has compiled over the past 2 years. He tested a wide range of bullet jumps in several rifle/load configurations, and this post shares the analysis of that data. Mark used a similar approach to the Audette Ladder Test and OCW method, but the goal was to not find the most forgiving powder charge weight, but the most forgiving bullet jump. He wasn’t looking for the specific bullet jump that grouped the best, but the largest window of bullet jumps that provided a similar point of impact. That means the rifle would be more consistent from the start of the match to the end of it or could shoot a particular kind of match-grade factory ammo really well for a longer period of time. Mark’s findings may seem counter to conventional wisdom when it comes to bullet jump, but a few national-level precision rifle competitors also support the idea, which I highlight in this post as well.

The first step in load development for my new custom 7mm Rem Mag started with gathering the real-world velocities I could expect out of three quality long range bullets I was considering. I then used those velocities to compare the ballistic performance between those three bullets, as well felt recoil during the test rounds. I eventually decided to pursure further load development for Berger’s 168gr VLD bullet over Hodgdon Retumbo powder because it struck the right balance for me between the competing characteristics (recoil, barrel wear, flat trajectory, low wind drift, ideal energy for medium sized game, etc). For more ...

Creighton Audette came up with a method for developing precision rifle handloads that has been referred to by many names: Incremental Load Development Method (ILDM) The Ladder Test 20 Round String Method Unfortunately many of Audette’s original articles aren’t very accessible, so I wanted to provide a few resources that help flesh out the method to load development he proposed.  I recently tried it out, and although at first I admit I was a little skeptical … after seeing the real world results and some critical thinking about what we are really trying to uncover when doing load development, his ...