What did you do in the reloading room today?

[TheBelly]

I loaded up 50 more rounds of .260 Remington. Now that I've FINALLY found a load that the gun likes at 100, it's time to see what it'll do at 200-500. It's fun to make targets for that range. I've never shot at paper that far away, only at steel. It'll probably be a very fun-to-shoot-yet-frustrating-to-see event.

[Zombie Steve]

I loaded up 50 more rounds of .260 Remington. Now that I've FINALLY found a load that the gun likes at 100, it's time to see what it'll do at 200-500. It's fun to make targets for that range. I've never shot at paper that far away, only at steel. It'll probably be a very fun-to-shoot-yet-frustrating-to-see event.

Not to complicate things, but are you using a chrono? I've often found the load that gives you the best 100 and 200 yard groups doesn't necessarily have the best extreme spread or tightest standard deviation numbers. When that's the case, the pretty groups at 100 yards turn into a lot of vertical spread at longer distances. If the intent is a long range load, I'll take more consistent speeds every time.

Sorry if this is remedial, I don't know how much you've done this. Take good notes and go have a blast.

[TheBelly]

Not to complicate things, but are you using a chrono? I've often found the load that gives you the best 100 and 200 yard groups doesn't necessarily have the best extreme spread or tightest standard deviation numbers. When that's the case, the pretty groups at 100 yards turn into a lot of vertical spread at longer distances. If the intent is a long range load, I'll take more consistent speeds every time.

Sorry if this is remedial, I don't know how much you've done this. Take good notes and go have a blast.

I use a magnetospeed on the barrel and a Chrony at 10 yards. Then I write the data down for each and compare and contrast afterwards.
I'm completely tracking what you're saying about consistency with shot-to-shot velocity, especially as it applies to the far targets. I only PLAN on shooting this gun to 900-1000 or so, so every little bit helps. My biggest constraint is actually the OAL of the mag (It's an LMT MWS, so it takes PMAGs).