First shot at OCW test

Hello everyone, I haven't been on in a while but have been doing a lot of lurking here lately. I had back surgery 3 weeks ago and am bored out of my mind because I cannot get out of the house.

Anyway, since deer season is over now I decided to try to find an alternate bullet to shoot in my little rifle. I have been shooting 139 gr for deer which slams them but was looking for something a little lighter. I found some 120 gr spritzers to try and was going to load up some rounds to take to the range as soon as I heal up good enough to drive. I started looking around and saw several people mentioning Dan Newberry's "OCW" test and the ladder test so I did a little more research and decided on the "OCW" test since I am not interested in walking 500 yards at this point for the ladder test. Maybe after the back heals up.

Tonight I loaded up a bunch of rounds and am ready to hit the range as soon as possible. I am shooting the test with an Axis in 7mm08 which is currently in its Tupperware stock that I will soon switch to a Boyd's as soon as it arrives. Then I will hit the range to try to find the OCW and get her dialed in. I am anxious to see how it turns out. It shoots well now but just looking for the best recipe for this little rig. I guess it never ends does it....Will let y'all know how it goes.

the biggest thing is to make sure you understand and follow the instructions to the T...post up you results im interested to see/hear how it goes.

I followed the loading instructions to the T. Got my targets ready just waiting on my new stock to get here and a good weather day. Oh yea and one more week so that i can drive myself to the range.

Ok here we go; I shot the OCW test loads that I had loaded up. The results as I see it didn't tell me very much unless I used the wrong powder then I guess it told me that. maybe some of you can help interpret the results.

Here are the loads and the description of how they were down range.

Max charge weight on the Nosler website was 49.0 gr I backed away from it by 10% and loaded a round, added 2% to that charge and loaded a second, added 2% to that charge and loaded a third which were my sighter rounds.

At this point it said to add 2% to the last charge and load three rounds which I did. From this charge add additional 1% and load three more, and to this charge add 1% and load three more, etc until you pass the Max load by 1 increment. I ended up with 18 rounds counting the sighters.

The table I listed the loads in so that I could keep them arranged in my head (OCD) are listed below. The fact that I can't get the 2.83" in the right column lined up with the rest of the measurements is driving me nuts! LOL

From Nosler website most accurate powder tested
	Start		Max
IMR4350	45.0	47.0	49.0
Test Sighters	-10%	44.5
	2%	45.4
	2%	46.3
					Inches
Load 1	2%	47.3	3		3.50"
Load 2	1%	47.7	3		3.82"
Load 3	1%	48.2	3		4.00"
Load 4	1%	48.7	3		3.38"
Load 5	1%	49.2	3		2.83"

The column to the far right is the where the center of the group was located in relationship to the center of my POA. If I understand the directions correctly he stated not to worry about the group size only their relationship to the POA. As you can see from the column on the far right the POI were all high by a considerable amount from POA. The group sizes of each load was a little large ranging from .75" to 3.0" no having said that the 3" group and one that was similar were due to pulls on my part. There was a kid next to me at the rage popping off rounds out of a 40 cal S&W pistol like he was a movie star that made me about jump out of my skin while I was trying to squeeze off the shot. Anyway, what the targets show is there is no noticeable difference in the left or right of the groups only the spread of each group size and the elevation difference from POA to POI. If I could post a good enough pic for you guys to see I believe you would see the same as I. These groups are on a grid target with simulated cross hairs crossing the POA. All of the shots are perfectly centered up the vertical cross hair just high and like I sad some are larger than others.

The bullets I was shooting are 120gr Sierra Spitzers and were all seated .030" off the lands.

I will have to punch the primers out to see how much pressure the loads saw because I did see some flattening of the primers as I was nearing the max charge but I never did see any indentions on the back of the case. The bolt lift on that rifle is tight anyway and I could not notice any great difference in bolt lift so I would say I did not see an excessive pressures but a slight increase as I shot the max charge.

I hope this all makes sense to someone. Please feel free to comment I am open to any suggestions and criticism. I'm all about getting better at this and learning.

Thanks,
B

WOOH wait a minute, I got to punching out the primers in these spent rounds and see that every one of them once I passed the mid range in the powder charge were all too hot and the max charge I loaded and SHOT swelled the case. I used my neck sizing die to punch the primers out and when I ran the max charged case up in to the die it was like I was running through the full length sizing die!! I took the primers and looked at them through a loop and they all have a shoulder on them. The anvils even fell out of about half of them, which I suspect means they were too hot. They were not so hot that they swelled the primer pockets to the point they were loose but these loads are too hot. The info I got for picking this load came from the Nosler website. Guess I will not be picking any of their most accurate powder tested loads again.

I guess that's why I couldn't see any REAL difference in any of these loads like the directions on the OCW test state that I should have. That does nothing but make me seriously doubt the load data that is available to us and concerns me for my future loading. Although, I did learn a valuable lesson about over pressure signs.

from what you have posted id suggest shooting that test over as there were far to many distractions...the other thing id suggest is to get the info from a sierra book since those are the bullets your shooting or at least cross reference the sierra book....nosler loads are most times higher then other books.

if you shoot the test again without all the issues and have the same results id take it as the barrel dont like that combo and change powder or bullets.

I am planning to do it again but reducing the charge weights considerably. I will look for a Sierra book.

i have a sierra book at home ill post powder and min max when i get home if someone else dont.

10-4. Thanks!

note the max load of IMR4350....

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...1452216788.jpg

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/...1452216782.jpg

I'd say she was just a weeee bit toooo hot huh? Thank you for posting that. Three of the five groups that I shot were above max according to this book. Lucky I didn't damage or blow something up...

Sierra is famous for lighter loads than just about anyone else.

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Originally Posted by gunrack

I'd say she was just a weeee bit toooo hot huh? Thank you for posting that. Three of the five groups that I shot were above max according to this book. Lucky I didn't damage or blow something up...

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like FW Conch said...and i think the same...sierra is more conservative then most others...the other thing that i rarely see mentioned is case capacity...if you notice the brass they tested with is federal so if your using a different brand it may have more or less internal capacity...remington winchester and federal have the most internal capacity and lapua nosler and norma have the least as the brass is thicker.

id drop your max to 47.5g and shoot the test over and if your groups are still as big as the first test id try a different powder...assuming your not pulling shots.

Was solid except for when that kid was ripping off rounds like who knows what and that was only one shot and i know where it went. I am planning on dropping it back to about 46.0 max and start over.

Re-shot the test this morning with two powders. The IMR4350 and IMR4320. They both shot ok the 4320 loads showed the best POI to POA to be around 43.9 to 44.3 they were all around the bull but kind of a big group. As the charge increased in weight the groups tightened to 0.75 inch but they moved away from the POA by 1.5" from the way I understand how to interpret the results it's not to get hung up on a tight group but where you are in relation to the POI is to the POA.

The 4350 on the showed similar results. The groups were pretty scattered until I approached the charge weight of 44.8, 45.2, and 45.7. The groups were within an inch of POA and were all in the .75" size. The 4350 from what I saw in the test shot better than the 4320 but I think I found the best charge weight with both powders. Now I just need to play with the seating depth. These were all shot at .030" off the lands. Thought I would move them up to .020" and shoot the charge weights I found again. I am also going to shoot another test with Varget powder. I was looking for some Reloader 15 and 19 but everyone around here close is sold out and I have just been shooting what I have on hand.

if your getting .75 groups id suggest shooting .025 and .035 off the lands...a small seating change may dial them right in...to big of a change and you may miss a good depth.

I was at .030" and moved it .010" closer to the lands. Same powder and the charge weights that looked the best on targets from the OCW test, loaded 15 rounds in .2 gr increase in weight.

so how'd it go?

Haven't had the chance to shoot them yet. It's nice this morning so i am thinking i may give it a shot today once it warms up a little. Supposed to get cold for the next week so i need to get it done while weather is decent.

gotcha...let us know how it goes.

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Originally Posted by LongRange

so how'd it go?

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Ok, I went to the rage and shot the loads I had ready to go. Gonna try to post a pic of the target. It was not a good day at the range, I knocked my .243 off the bench and knocked my scope off while I was trying to shoot a test for that rig. I switched rifles and shot the 7_08 and then went to town and got tools to reposition the scope and returned to find out the scope on my .243 is pretty much ruined but it was not a high dollar rig. It was a Simmons 3x9x40 that was on the gun when I bought it but it ruined my day just the same because I skinned up my rifle.


http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psh9ew7hsu.jpg

The center group should have been a bug hole but I pulled that shot that is off to the left of the bull. I was still aggravated about knocking my other rifle off the dang bench. Anyway I think I have found a load for this one....

what about the 45.2g load?

Yea by far the best three shot group of the round. Sure made me feel a lot better when i walked down range.

I'm still sick over dinging up my .243.

Yeah that's a bummer..good thing is it wasn't an expensive scope.

Good excuse to buy one though. :-) any suggestions? More torn on what rings and bases to settle on than glass.

not sure what you do with the rifle? hunt or mostly target shooting? and whats your budget look like?

Mostly hunting but am gaining interest in shooting at longer distances.

Budget should be good as long as we don't go the Nightforce direction. LOL i don't believe i would pay their price unless my livelihood depended on it.

the SWFA scopes get great reviews as well as the primary arms scopes...seekins rings get great reviews and the EGW bases get great reviews and will not cause you to take a second mortgage out on your house....if money isnt a problem night force and the vertex gen 2 scopes...American rifle Co rings and murphy precision bases.

Swfa is the direction I have been looking on glass. Will check out the rings and bases mentioned. Thanks for your help.