SmallCaliberCentral

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?

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.

What does OCW mean?

OPTIMAL CHARGE WEIGHT LOAD

http://optimalchargeweight.embarqspace.com/

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