OCW test

[supercorndogs]

I just shot this OCW test this morning. It is for a 280 Remington, using Nosler brass, 4831sc, and 162 Blem, I assume Amax. I am pretty sure I shot the second shot of 51.8 at the wrong target. Then the third got away from me, while thinking about what happened on the second shot, and after checking that the rings and base had no wiggle.

You can see the POI start to move up from 51.3 to 52.3. Then it moves right and stays consistent from 52.8 to either 53.3 or 53.8, depending on what happened with the one shot on the 53.8 target that ended up off the edge.

The one I am not sure about on the 53.8 charge has muddied the water. What do you guys think? Is there a node from 52.8 to 54.3? Is there a node from 52.8 to 53.3 and a different one from 53.8 to 54.3, followed by a scatter node and obvious POI change at 54.8?

I would run seating depth test at 54g, based on looking at my brass, and seeing no pressure. Usually I would run seating depth tests with the rest of these fifty pieces of brass that are no loaded. I would then chronograph to get and average velocity and an idea of ES and SD. Where would some of you go from here?

 

[Steel head]

I’d like to see the speeds of 52.8 and 53.3.
That powder Should be awesome in that combination

 

[spife7980]

53 +/- .2 grains in .1 increments, I bet it shoots good. 52.8 and 53.3 both hit in the same spot.

53.8 starts to move back down its wave.

 

[supercorndogs]

I realized I had a little more info there on the target, that I didn't think of. The three in the middle were sighters at 53.5, the first I shot was at the beginning of the test at the center of the tape, adjusted up .1 and left .1, shot the test then last two at the first bullet hole at the end of the test. So POI on them is right in there with 53.8 and moving back down in POI.

Do you think 53.8 is actually the scatter node? I transposed those tow shots onto the 53.8 target. One lands right with the two in the center, and one goes in the lowest part of the right corner, not too far from ole, "what happened there?"

The book max was 53.8 @2700fps in 22" barrel remington case. Hodgdon data said 2664 with 54.5g 24" barrel remington case

58.5 of 7977 gave 2754 in 26" barrel. That lines up pretty well with hodgdon data. Which said 59.6 for 2761 out off a 24".

 

[supercorndogs]

@spife7980 Would you do that with 5 shots each over the chronograph?

 

[spife7980]

@spife7980 Would you do that with 5 shots each over the chronograph?

I would just because I have a labradar and I already record every shot I can.
But really in the last year and a half I have started putting my paper at 500 at least and letting that judge for me.

Ive had some great chrono numbers that actually shoot like shit. I trust the paper and look at the chrono numbers to back up my decision, not to base it on entirely.
I trust small samples on paper more than I do small samples in velocity.

How Much Does SD Matter?

As long-range shooters, we tend to obsess over every little detail. After all, we’re trying to hit r...

precisionrifleblog.com

So yeah, the difference looks huge when its just a number but the actual % isnt that big of a change.

 

[supercorndogs]

I usually go to 600y after seating depth testing at 100y, and chronograph to get a number to put in the calc, but even with pretty bad ES, it doesn't show up much at 600y.

I have a magneto speed.

This was a charge weight picked out of the air of 7977 below book max, to get the brass once fired. I started with this barrel when my chronograph was broken. I had 7 left when my new bayonet arrived. They showed some pretty disappointing numbers. It had passed my 600y test though, at 636y. Two shots on the big plate to get elevation needed then center and 4 on the 6"x12", one of the five I held wind the opposite direction . Granted it is a small sample, on both chronograph and the target. I never shot it any further. It tied nice little knots at 100y also.

 

[supercorndogs]

@spife7980 Do you check .1 instead of seating depth? Do you start with a seating depth test, like Berger I think it is suggests? I could see putting 5 of each over the chromo and choosing the best one, my first bunch after development is only going to be a 50rd investment. I usually shoot 20 out of that bunch over the chronograph. Just deciding what to do with this last 22 or so, and thinking about messing around with what others do.

A game warden informed me I can't target shoot in a wildlife area, so I lost the spot I have been using for 600y testing for the last 10 years. LOL. Now I have to drive an hour to test 600+. Use to be a nice twenty minute drive. I think I am going to try to get them to build a range there.

 

[spife7980]

I test both. I have no friends and plenty of time

And I want to know. The "knowing" is a larger driving force to me than the shooting is.
I test in .1 increments so I know whether a change in temp with lower velocities throws me off of that super great group to just a good group. In winter I load a tenth higher than in the summer, and I do a test before I load up each batch to verify. Despite what people say about their super forgiving nodes I find if you really get into it .1 absolutely makes the difference between a great group and a 1 hole group.
You just dont need that to be competitive if youre not shooting benchrest or just super picky.

 

[supercorndogs]

I like shooting. I hate reloading though. I can easily run length in next 50, its shooting well enough, I may not mess with it. I might just load the rest at 53 and chronograph them. Maybe 53.1, 53 seems too plain, like Ican't measure .1s or somthin.

 

[supercorndogs]

52.8 was 2690 over 3 shots in a 26" barrel. 2689, 2690, 2691. I don't think I want tot burn 53g of powder to get 7mm/08 velocities. I loaded up the rest of the 50 box at 52.8. After I shoot them I will probably Start @53.8 and work up to 56 or so.

Maybe this would be a good time to do one charge per weight over the chromo, and see what I get. I keep seeing that method land people in the same powder charge range as OCW.

 

[supercorndogs]

I had a new OCW loaded up, but when I was loading things up to go to the range I dropped the ammo box, broke it and mixed the rounds up. I had it loaded up to shoot out of a new 21" barrel that got here today. I went up to 55.4, I went ahead and shot it all over the chronograph and got a top velocity of 2742FPS. The barrel still had less than 50 rounds.

I think the guy who picked 52.8 off the target deserves some extra credit here too. Not only did that load shoot great out of my 26" heavy barrel, first 5 out of this barrel were less than .5 MOA. 10 with the magneto speed attached were less than 1 MOA had an ES 15 and an SD of 8.

2590 Avg though. WA WA Gonna have to juice that up a bit.

I found this nice little link and realized the 280 max for book data is low for old firearms. It can easily and safely be juiced up in a Remington 700 action.

Nosler Reloading Forum • View topic - QL 280 rem please