I was able to get out earlier today and run this test. I've had good success with the OCW method so far, so i used it again. I strayed from the original procedure and i seated all rounds to the lands. For my rifle, this is 2.269" measured from the bullet ogive.
The gun:
Gradous built 6.5 Creedmor
24" Krieger 1-8.5" twist
Surgeon action
Mcmillan A5 stock
It was 92 degrees today, and right off the rip i had ejector swipe marks plus hard bolt lift on the 38.1g and 38.9g sighter loads. The freaking sighter loads! This was no good. I got pissed and ran back home (thankfully i live near my range) and decided to just "jump" the rest of my loads .030 thousandths due to the overpressure. I got back out and set up again with the same conditions. This time, i was able to shoot all powder charges round robin with a one minute cool down in between with no overpressure signs.
I learned a couple of things......One, my gun seems to prefer jumped rounds vs. loaded to the lands or jammed. I have three different loads with three different bullets now that have all preferred a .030 to .040 thousandths jump. Two, RL-17 isn't as temp sensitive as i thought because i ran this same load with the same components with almost the same results back in the spring.
I've attached a pic so let me know what you all think.
Kevin
How many yards is this target?