Seeking opinions on my OCW...

[RickInFL]

Good afternoon ladies and gents, curious if y'all don't mind giving me your opinions regarding my OCW test that I shot this morning. I'm thinking now I probably should have went another grain or more above what I loaded as my max charge for this test, the Sierra manual shows a max charge of 43.4 while the Nosler shows a max charge of 44.5 and now I see the Hodgden manual shows a max charge of 45.9.


Ruger Precision Rifle .308
Nosler 168 Custom Competition
IMR 4064
2.80" COL
100 yards - 3 shot groups/round robin

Do you think I should load more above what I used as my max charge and see if there may be a node after my 44.3 charge or try some loads in the 43.6 - 44.3 range?




Thanks in advance.

 

[rcoody]

Good afternoon ladies and gents, curious if y'all don't mind giving me your opinions regarding my OCW test that I shot this morning. I'm thinking now I probably should have went another grain or more above what I loaded as my max charge for this test, the Sierra manual shows a max charge of 43.4 while the Nosler shows a max charge of 44.5 and now I see the Hodgden manual shows a max charge of 45.9.


Ruger Precision Rifle .308
Nosler 168 Custom Competition
IMR 4064
2.80" COL
100 yards - 3 shot groups/round robin

Do you think I should load more above what I used as my max charge and see if there may be a node after my 44.3 charge or try some loads in the 43.6 - 44.3 range?




Thanks in advance.

I think most shoot an OCW at 300yrs or more. 500 is more like it. that 44.3 load is a nice 100yrd 3 shot group.

What did your rifle and primers tell you about max charge. If you didn't have a sticky bolt or flattened primers I would be looking for the top of that 44.3 node.

did you chronograph the loads? what was the SD?

you really need to stretch it on out there if you are planning this for a long range load.

 

[RickInFL]

I think most shoot an OCW at 300yrs or more. 500 is more like it. that 44.3 load is a nice 100yrd 3 shot group.

What did your rifle and primers tell you about max charge. If you didn't have a sticky bolt or flattened primers I would be looking for the top of that 44.3 node.

did you chronograph the loads? what was the SD?

you really need to stretch it on out there if you are planning this for a long range load.

Rcoody it was my understanding that OCW was alright at the shorter ranges whereas ladder test are best done at the longer ranges, maybe I misunderstood? I do not have immediate access to a range longer than 200 right now but will have access to a 600 yard range in a couple of months.

No flattened primers and no pressure signs at all and I did not chronograph these loads because I was looking for ballpark loads that I'll be tweaking with COL at a later time and will then also put the chronograph to them. I'll edit and put the SD with the bullet information in my first post whenever I chronograph more loads I'll shoot later in the week.

 

[8andbait]

Yes OCW is best at 100 yards for the first go around.

It looks like 42.9-43.2 is a good "node" so add 3% to that for your next node

43x1.03=44.3 should be your next one, which it looks like it may be. Highest would be around 45.6 so you can try to get there also if you don't have any pressure signs.

Once you establish your best powder charge you can test seating depth if you haven't done that already.

Looks good so far

 

[RickInFL]

Yes OCW is best at 100 yards for the first go around.

It looks like 42.9-43.2 is a good "node" so add 3% to that for your next node

43x1.03=44.3 should be your next one, which it looks like it may be. Highest would be around 45.6 so you can try to get there also if you don't have any pressure signs.

Once you establish your best powder charge you can test seating depth if you haven't done that already.

Looks good so far

Thanks 8andbait, I'm just learning about this and your info is very helpful ... as I stated earlier, I'll load some more going up in powder until I start seeing pressure signs and will also chronograph the loads this time and post the results. Thanks again.

 

[flashhole]

Yep, what 8bait said.

 

[tbrice23]

I don't care much about nodes, however when I had my target .308 win rig imr4064 ruled.
44.5 gr was my load with 168 SMK.
I'm glad someone else appreciates it also.

 

[tbrice23]

I might add that 308 win will have a couple of good sweet spots (41.5gr, 44.5gr) .
I suggest shooting both loads at a farther distance ,maybe 5 or 600 yards for validation.