Testing accuracy loads at 50 yrs. vs 100 yds?

[Oily]

find your best 3 loads at 50 and work them until you find the "one" that stays consistent. Then go to the 100 yd and see what you and your rifle can do. And by the way have fun.

[Oily]

I know this thread is about distance to work up loads but it might be helpful .to know what boolit you are planning to shoot. My 91/30 slugs at .312 so I shoot .314 boolits in it. For deer you want as big as you can use meplate or flat nose as you can get.Let us know what you intend to shoot and we can give you better advice on what to try at 50. By the way the sights on MN are horrible unless you have " young " eyes. My Mosin likes heavy boolits at about 1300 fps to maybe 1500 fps . 180 to 220 gr all shoot acceptable. Unique and 5477 do well in mine. SR 4759 was the powder of choice in calibers of this size but is out of production. Reloader 7 is another choice. And don't forget Red Dot

[popper]

I do my alloy & general testing @ 50. First, I am less a factor at short range. 2nd, if hunting it will generally be 25-100 yds. I usually shoot a couple 'equivalent' jacketed to validate My shooting the same day/range/conditions. With out a range finder (doesn't do much good for moving pigs) I also carry a good jacketed load in the field (and practice) for the benefit of higher BC. My rifles (AR) have good cast loads for the distance but
jacketed compensate for error in range drop better than cast.

[robg]

Start at 25 then 50 then 100 to be sure .

[chboats]

I have a 458x2 on a Mauser action that will shoot almost anything into 1"groups at 50yds. Some will even shoot 10 rounds into a 5/8"hole at 50. When I move the target to 100yds it is hard to keep it inside 3". sometimes more. It is not stringing. The groups just get bigger. I have tried light loads and heavy and it's the same thing. Other rifles don't act that way. Who knows what the problem is?

That being said I would still keep shooting the 50yds when it is that close to home.

Carl

[RedDust]

As the others have said, shooting at 50 will help you weed out unacceptable loads (inaccurate or unacceptable velocities for your hunting) before you make your long drive to test at 100.

I have done a fair bit of cast-bullet testing in my 30-30 lever-gun for both target-competition and hunting loads.
As a general guideline I find that my final-check of short-listed acceptable loads at 50 is best done with 10 shot groups (as long as they're not leading). In my experience a 10 shot 50yd group needs to be less than 1.5inches, with at least 8 of the shots making a ragged hole of less than an inch, for it to be a good load at 100.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

As a very great generalisation, subject to exceptions, deficiencies in accuracy caused by the rifle make 50 yard groups half the size of 100 yard ones, a tenth the size of 500 yard ones, and so on. They often spread the group in a particular direction, or more so as the rifle heats up.

Deficiencies caused by the bullet may, if slight, be similarly straight-line, or may make the cone of fire trumpet-shaped (100 yard group more than double the 50 yard one). Once in a while a bullet wobble or corkscrew will settle down, and 500 yard be less than ten times 50 yard, although this is less likely to show up in 100.

Deficiencies caused by powder charge or inconsistency of ignition are the kind that really need long range to show them up.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

If you can hit a milk jug off hand at 100 yds. every time you are a good shot. If your rifle will hold an inch at 50 you will hit that 100 yd. milk jug every time if you do your part. It is satisfying to shoot little groups from the bench but that has little in common with the deer woods. Be realistic with your hunting accuracy goals.

[Hickory]

Rifles can sometimes be funny.
Not the kind of funny that makes you laugh, but the kind of funny that makes you wonder.

A guy I know bought a Remington 788 in 222 and Weaver scope and ask me to put it on and sight it in for him.

At 100 yards it was printing just over a half inch. This was real good, so, I decided to try it at 200 yards. To my surprise it was printing right at 1/2", just a wee bit smaller than at 100 yards.

He wasn't very happy that I shot up 2 boxes of his ammo, but, he got over it when he saw the targets.

[toallmy]

Just for your own knowledge after working out the load you should check your Boolit path at different ranges , on the money at a 100 could be over the back at 50 or at the ankles at 125 + out of a tree stand can change things . But testing is the fun part .