I'm new to reloading and want ot work up some loads. I found the rational for OCW compelling but I am having touble finding the "Where to start" info.

I guess I'm looking for starting loads to develope for two rifles. The info I'm getting from the manuals and web published recipes is inconsistant and confusing to say the least.

My rifles are a Rem. 700 in .243 win. and a Savage 12VBSS in .300 WSM.

I have CCI BR-2 and Fed. GM210M primers.

IMR 4350 & Reloader 19 powders.

Nosler 6mm 95 gr Balistic Tip Spitzer & Speer 6mm 100 gr Boat Tails for the .243.

Nosler Balistic Tip 165 gr spitzer and Nosler Partition 200 gr Spitzers for the .300 WSM.

If I need to explore other materials let me know. The powders were selected because they were bothe mentioned in load recipes for both cal. and bullet selections and I understand that there may be better options.

Thanks for helping the newbie.

Hey Swamp Fox, First off, Welcome Aboard! You can normally get a lot of responses to this type question, so I'm a bit surprised no one spoke up.



What you found as the OCW Method is basically - FULL OF BEANS!(That should get the discussion going.)



A beginning Reloader named Dan took the "never improved upon" Creighton Audette Method(aka Ladder Method) and "Rookie-ized" it. Some of the most important aspects of Mr. Audett's Method were changed by Dan which degrades a persons ability to end up with the Best Load.



Just scan down through the previous posts and you will find a Link to the Ladder Method.



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...I am having touble finding the "Where to start" info. ...The info I'm getting from the manuals and web published recipes is inconsistant and confusing to say the least. ...

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Yes, it can be confusing. Each Manual is slightly different due to the variation in components each of them is working with. That doesn't mean any of them are wrong, it is just what they saw when they did their Testing.



Realizing that, you should now conclude that what you find using your firearm and your cartridge components is probably going to be slightly different than what they saw.



But, to get you "started", use the Load information provided by the people who made the Powder and Bullets you are actually using. For example, if you are using Hodgdon Powder, either get one of their Manuals(FREE ones available) or go to their web site. Use the "Starting Loads" they recommend.



Or do the same thing with the folks that make the Bullets you want to use. In either situation, they will provide enough info to get you going.

Hot Core,

I kinda heard that there were those on this board that didn't think much of this methoid but I thought I would ask anyway.

I have a book that shows a max load that is the same as the starting load in another book, Between the high and low charges of all the sources I have found for the material I have on hand to work with, some have 8 grain spreads. That would equal 80 rounds loaded for each bullet/powde/primer formula to do a round robin .3 gr test.

My current idea is to load 1 round each at .5 gr to check for pressure signs and then shoot them at the same target to get a quick but dirty idea of where OCW is most likely to be found. Then go from there.

But since it is too cold to go to the range I thought I might ask around to see if anyone has worked up loads for these components and save myself a little time.

Thanks

Rich

It really depends on what you want to do. The OCW is intended to find a very general load that will provide "good" accuracy in many guns of the same caliber. The Audett (sp?) takes it a step further and fine-tunes a load for ONE GUN, giving optimal accuracy.

I load for 3 swedes and using the OCW method I found a load that all 3 like (and one likes a LOT), and it only took about 2 hours. I set my stuff up, FL resize and just start tossing powder and cramming bullets, and have very resonable accuracy with all 3 guns. For example, two of the guns are stock mil-surps and one shoots one inch @100yds, and the other shoots 2-2.5 inches @100yds. the third swede is sporterized with a scope, and it shoots THE SAME LOAD into 5/16" groups.

I am not interested in supreme accuracy, but I do like the ease of loading one load for each caliber, and the OCW works great for that. FWIW, the load it like was VERY near what Dan predicted after loading for his swedes. Sounds to me like it works.

Too cold? Heck it was a balmy 16 degrees here today while I was at the range. Had to walk through a foot of snow to get my target to the 100 yard bunker. A week ago saturday it was -2 while I was shooting. Barrel cools a lot faster when it is cold and you can shoot quicker.

I don't have either of those calibers but using the OCW method does work. All you need to do is check out some other sites. Audette's method works also but it does get tedious. I load for 4 different 308 Win rifles and have found 2 loads (Different bullets & powders) that all FOUR like. I know several shooters who have used the OCW method & documented their positive results. Just cause you post alot doesn't always mean you know alot ...heh heh heh