Seating depth question

[ACLakey]

I worked up some OCW loads for my 223AI and 75gr Amax bullets. I found my charge weight at 26.2 of RL15 and my seating depth at 2.455 which is .005 off the lands gave me 3050fps(just where I wanted to be).





My problem is the mag box on this rifle is at 2.415 which is .045 from my optimal depth and I don't want to turn this into a single shot rifle. I have had two different gun smiths try to make a mag box for a 22-250 work with no luck. After eight months of tinkering and waiting for parts I installed a factory mag box and the rifle feeds great. What are the odds of me finding a seating depth around 2.400 that will produce similar results?

I should have had this rifle throated for the mag box, when I put a new tube on I will do that. I am going to do a OCW with RL15, Varget, H4895 and IMR8208 XBR just for kicks....hopefully I can find a good combo that will feed in this rifle. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[ACLakey]

Finally got my scope back and was able to get to the range. All loads were set to COL of 2.405 which was a 0.055 jump to the lands and 0.010 from the max mag length. The round feed well now!

I pulled quite a few shots today, too much coffee I guess but just about 1 out of every group did not feel great but I have good enough results to play with.

The RL15 loads did not shoot quite as well as they did seated out farther.



Varget shot well, the fliers were me today.



I am going to be sticking with Varget and fine tuning a few things. Interestingly enough I ran the OCW loads in the winter below zero temps and came up with the same result with Varget. That's over a 70F temp swing with the same result...impressive stuff!

Shot at -2F



I wish I would have had the chrono that day.

The RL15 loads showed pressure signs where I had good results in the cold.

[jrwoitalla]

What does OCW mean?

[ACLakey]

OPTIMAL CHARGE WEIGHT LOAD

http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/

It has reduced my load development time and produced very forgiving, consistent and repeatable results.